Product management at Earth Infra.

I have done my summer internship in Earth Infra. It a relatively new company. But through its massive branding activities have created a name for itself. Almost all the product at Earth Infra is different from what the industry has to offer. I had the chance to observe Tech One (crown jewel of Earth Infra) being develop. I actively participated in its marketing activities. I would be explaining the processes of product development and testing through it.

By- Arnab Sarkar (12BSPHH010197)

The product portfolio of Earth Infra.

In spite of being a relatively new company Earth Infra has a good mix of product portfolio. Residential and commercial been the broad classification, it has ventured into apartments, studios, shopping areas, office spaces and villas. All these types of real estate is unique in its approach and has it very different target customer. Earth is very aggressive in developing projects. A evidence of this fact can be that being a young company is not only developing projects in NCR but has also entered into tear two cities.

Product portfolio of Earth Infra

Shopping Areas 15% villas 8% Apartments 31% Apartments Studio Office Space villas Shopping Areas Office Space 31% Studio 15%

It is pretty clear that Earth Infra has an equal ratio of apartment buildings and office spaces. This portfolio is a result of the latest changes in consumer needs. Studio apartment a concept purely borrowed from the west; is gaining popularity with developers in India. This is because of the growth of professionals who are always on the move. The studio apartment were oversubscribed even before the completion of the project. All most all the land in Delhi is either under construction or constructed. These is only few spaces left, hence Earth had most of its projects in the NCR region. Earth infra al so has villas in their portfolio. Villas are considered to be a niche market, because of its price and location. There are few developers in India who pure specializes in villas. This market is a high risk and high profit area. Earth believes that their brand will be able to penetrate in this market as well. Apartments and office spaces are most important. Not only there is a demand for it and it sells like hot cakes. But this help in creating a good and popular brand value. A good industry name is very dear to the founders of this company.

Earth has a presence in almost all the verticals in this industry. Still there are few areas like hospitality industry, amusement parks and town ships. Are few areas where Earth still needs to mark its presence.

New product development and screening of new products.

Tech One is a one of the latest product, in development stage at Earth Infra. The product was developed after doing a very detailed research. The problem with residential projects is that they cost huge in terms of development. And if it fails there is very less areas to work with, to with a product a new look. Tech one being one such type, which earth infra hope to be remembered by. In real estate location plays a very important role. A location not only dictates what type of property (residential/commercial) would be developed, but its price and the features of the property as well. Tech one is very unique in every sense of the word. It has three office buildings, an open area shopping space, studio apartments and an entertainment block. It is very rare that all these things are developed at the same time in such close proximity. And note only that all the three buildings for office had a unique design. There was a possibility to rent/own a part or the entire floor. Beta Tech a part of Tech One is a office building where investors can own from smallest of area to the entire building. These owners will then receive rents according to the space/equity they have in the building. A close look in Delhis real estate would reveal that there are certain area marked for shopping while some are famous for official purposes. Hence why such a bold move as to combine office space with studio with shopping with entertainment space. The answer is in the study of the area. Adjacent to Tech one there are many IT companies opening up. Hence it is safe to say this are will gain popularity as a IT hub. Office spaces are needed in these areas. Second comes the entertainment and shopping area. This project has an open area shopping space. This idea is not common as malls has captured the city, and the last successful open area shopping complex was developed by the Britishers and in at least 100 years old. So the question arises why to develop such a concept. The reason is there is a plan to develop Asias largest university merely two kilometers from this project. And not only there is no entertainment value in that region, there are practically no area left for restaurants. So this only tells us that there is guarantee foot falls. So a huge shopping area is advisable. That may be true but Earth does not want to over whelm office goers with a noise and commotion of a shopping mall. The open space shopping area will give the office goers a change to take a break from their closed closet to stretch their legs and check out the latest trends. The idea was never to ask people to jump from one building to another. In the entertainment area there will be a Universal studio. This movie hall would be targeting the student who have 2-3 hours to spare between classes. Not to mention the only hall in a 5 kilometer radius.

Next comes the studio apartments, they were highly anticipated and oversubscribed from the start. The reason being that there are many professionals especially in the IT industry, who are always on the move. Instead of checking in a hotel, studio apartment gives great facilities (room service, cleaning) and privacy at the same time with a fraction of the cost. Hence most of the IT companies have pre booked these studio apartments. The shopping space also complement this studio apartment. Given a close look to Tech one it is clear that tone of research is done before proceeding with the project. There is a room for everything and every decision has a logic behind it. Any new product development starts with the analysis of the area, and what the location will need in the near future. After the analysis there can be many alternatives. Like in case of Tech one, one of the promising alternative was the development of a huge office space. This would be one of the low risk ideas, as all the other area adjacent to earth infra is developing big office space only. But the reason as to why this idea was dropped is simply because there will be a need of shopping, entertainment and professionals travelling there. Most importantly these need cant be meet by guest rooms and cafeterias. Another aspect which helped earth create a name for itself was LEEDS certification. All its products are ecological friendly. Like most of the developers tend to develop all most all of the land they acquire. Earth started to develop only 70% of the area. They were the first to get LEED certified projects. Another factor for dropping this idea was, it didt generated even sum of money. Earth Infra being a company still very new and in the growth stage need money constantly. In other words a office space is only sellable once it is partially complete. But where was an idea to own a shop with guarantees foot fall. A cheap and affordable accommodation where you know people are bound to visit are easy to sell at a nascent stage.

Concept development and testing.

A concept is just a refined version of an idea. When Earth decided to enter the villa business. There were several ideas, but when these ideas were developed into concepts many lost their glamour. The villas that were developed by Earth were very uncommon to what other players were offering. What earth did was they bought a land, developed the common areas like (roads, pavements, shopping areas, swimming pool, auditorium, etc.), divided the land into plots and was selling the land as villa space. Were the owners had the option to customize and build according to their wish. This approach makes a villa affordable for both the parties, at the same time provides exclusivity. When this idea was pitched to target audience it was greatly accepted. A concept is a reflection of what the project would look like, and since day one Earth has tried to challenge the dogma of this industry. But there was a drawback to this concept as well. People with enough money to buy a villa may not

necessary have the time to supervise their dream home. So the construction of such property may be a pain full task. By understanding this there was a slight modification done in the concept. Earth started providing consulting services for free of cost to the owners. Now this appears to be a perfect solution. While developing a concept there are many factors at play, for example how much a company can invest. In this case if Earth developed fully furnished villas, it would have to incur a lot of cost. And given the slow economy all that money may not slow immediate results. I realized that Earth as a company is very eager to grow. They tend to invest their profits in developing new projects. Hence a timely delivery of funds is very necessary. The company projected that half of the villas will be sold by 2014. Time money will be invested in developing projects in the tier two cities. And so the cycle goes on. Many a times I found that a concept is developed to with its product a competitive advantage. It is not related to the needs of the customer. Nor such concepts are aimed to make immediate profits. For example tests have shown that everyone buying an apartment space looks for a bigger carpet area. Hence what Earth did was they increased the area of their bedroom by few inches than its competitors. This was shown in the advertising, it was a huge success. These small things are a strategic decisions and created product differentiation. This is how people see Earths product differently. It was a very simple concept the bigger the better.

Product testing and elimination.

Product or service testing is done keeping in mind the objectives of the product, and what the company wants to achieve with this product. These are done to upgrade the product. There was a company named CES independent from the company taking care of the construction part. CES was responsible for testing the building quality and the design. By this Earth incurred that they are up to date in their development schedule and the quality of the construction is also mentioned. The reason as to why the process and timely delivery is so important is, people are charged at the completion of various stages of the project. If there is a discrepancy then the future plans of Earth will go hay. The design of Tech one was developed by the same company which developed the Burj khilifa in Dubai. These type of brand association helps a young company like Earth to mark its presence. Each and every aspect of Tech one was developed by working together. In one of the housing projects there was marble flouring given as default. But as the sales starts to increase many customs wanted tiles or wooden floor. Then this concept of providing preinstalled was abolished. This is the most unproductive way of service elimination where the customer comes and spells out their discomfort.

Earlier there was a facility that company was providing an assured return of 12% per annum. There was nothing new in this, all the other companies were doing the same. Hence this service was not differentiating Earth. The vision of Earth to stand apart was not fulfilled. Another thing was an assured return from a builder side fails to build a trust. The point is Earth being a new company was facing troubles connecting with the customers. Hence this service was dropped. And instead Allahabad banks bank guarantee was given. The idea was that people may not trust the builder but trusts the bank. Earth was the first company to start this approach. While improving the product it was realized that a swimming pool takes a lot of space. In the testing it was realized that indoor swimming pool is not that costly and the space above the pool can be used for various purposes like parking. Hence from now all the apartments are constructed with indoor swimming pools. Earth focused a lot to learn from their own mistakes. It spends a lot of time interacting with its customers, and tries to improve its products for the future. Dealers of Earth infra may not be the happiest. Due to the cries of the Greater Noida, many of the dealers were deprived of their commissions. Earth learned that dealers are a vital part of the sales. The company as to perform a service to its dealers as it has been doing so for its customers. Hence since the dust of the Greater Noida land grab scandal as settle Earth is trying to patch up the difference with its dealers. In general the success of a service is judged by the number of sales it can fetch. If sales are good then the service is also good. Earth had various offices in many different cities in different parts of the country, which is unique as most of their products are concentrated in Delhi NCR region. The reason for these offices was to provide value to the customers in every part of the country. Earlier local people ever hired to educate the local people about the efforts of Earth, but then this was also dropped and experienced guys from Delhi were send to head these offices. The only reason being the quality of the service can be monitored and mentioned. Earth being a new company has managed to make a name for itself very quickly, and the only reason for it is their product innovation and consistency. I realized that making a small change in doing things makes a lot of difference.