Are Display Suites Needed In The Modern-Tech Age?

What was once the lynchpin in off-the-plan apartment sales, Marshall White Projects has disproven the need for display suites for even its premium, luxury developments, as off-the- plan sales turn truly digital and buyers ditch display visits in their hunt for the perfect new home.

According to Marshall White Projects, buyers are more educated than ever before and are conducting more research online before seeking to act quickly on the information available to them.

In what represents just one of many projects sold online to owner occupiers recently, Marshall White Projects worked with the developer of high-end boutique apartment project, High and Spring in Malvern, to create a unique way of interacting with potential purchasers without the need of a costly sales display.

Creating a suite of digital assets including premium renders and digital fly throughs and targeting purchasers through their existing database and online real estate sales websites, Marshall White Projects successfully sold out the 27 luxury apartments in just under six weeks, without any print advertising or a display suite.

The project achieved a staggering sales average of approximately $1,050,000 per apartment, indicating that it’s not only savvy investors who are purchasing online but discerning “empty nesters “as owner occupiers who are searching for their next luxury home.

Leonard Teplin, Director of Marshall White Projects, said High and Spring’s impressive sales success was a clear indication of a new and unique approach to off-the-plan sales.

“The way we market off-the-plan projects is being completely turned on its head - a spike in innovative marketing techniques is at the core of our recent sales successes such as projects like High and Spring.

“In the current digital climate, buyers are visiting display suites less and less; they lead busy lifestyles and want to make the most of weekends. They want to get a sense of the product immediately without having to leave the comfort of their own home or office.

“It’s a testament to clever marketing - High and Spring apartments have flown out the door without the need for a sales suite to lure purchasers in – it’s evident in this instance that there’s just no need,” he said.

Using their intimate market knowledge to understand what buyers want, Marshall White Projects collaborates closely with each developer’s marketing agency to create a series of digital assets that communicate each project to their target market.

“With EDMS, incredible and realistic renders, video-fly-throughs, high-end video campaigns and even Apps on your Iphone, we are changing the way residential apartments are sold.

“Traditionally developers could spend $1million or more on impressive display suites. Now we are encouraging them to reinvest this money into quality digital assets to achieve a far more cost effect result within the shortest possible time frame.

“Two years ago, almost all of our projects would have featured a display suite. Now I would say that number is more like 30 percent.

“As buyers get savvy and realise they don’t need to leave their computer to find the right apartment for them, we are catering to this need to overwhelming success.

“It’s the way of the future and buyers are just as excited about this new step forward as we are,” Teplin said.