MagicBricks.com is an online property portal from Times Business Solutions, which provides property listings, advice and news on buying or renting properties. In the first part of our interaction with Sudhir Pai, Business Head of MagicBricks, he spoke about the launch of new locality features, response to their website, profitability of their business, among others. In the second part of our interaction, he speaks about monetisation, luxury section, consumer complaints, consumer data collection, target, competition, scaling, marketing and challenges. Monetisation Medianama: How do you monetise your website? How much do you charge for ads and premium listings? Pai: We have a robust commercial model where bulk of the revenue comes from builders and brokers for listing properties, for banners and other kinds of advertising. Free listing is available for individuals. Medianama: How do you ensure, when an individual is posting, that he is not a broker? Pai: To ensure that agents don't go down that route, only one listing can be made on the website using one email Id and one mobile number for free. Beyond that, even an individual has to pay. Most people who want to list more will end up paying for the listings because of the email Id and mobile number. Medianama: Why did you decide to launch a luxury homes section? How have you monetised this section? Is it different from your regular monetisation strategy? Pai: It is a completely different section because our experience told us that a cluttered website is not able to cater to luxury buyers. A luxury buyer…
