And I think that we’ve got probably a younger generation in this office in terms of people between Y and Z, but anybody brave enough to say they’re part of Gen X? Anybody? Yeah. V is part of Gen X. Gen Y? Who’s part of Gen Y? So anybody born between 81 and 96? Yeah.
So I’ll admit I’m on the tail end of that. So I’m getting up there in age. And do we have any Gen Z’s in here, Jackie’s? Not a gen.
Z. So the point is that what’s happening is this digital transformation, and it’s in Thailand and it’s happening around the world, and that Generation X. And this isn’t B.
But in some respects, I think a lot of people, maybe the younger generation can relate to this, maybe in their parents, is that this is the way things are, this is the way that we’re done, and we’re not really open to too much change. Right. Where Generation Y came along and they’ve got a little different way of thinking.
Right. We look at things and we say that okay, this is the way things were done in the past, but there’s got to be a better way to do this. We have to be able to improve on this.
And Generation Z, the new generation, is kind of like, what, are you kidding me? You used to do things that way. That makes absolutely no sense. So the point is that this generation is aging in the workforce and this younger generation that’s more inclined to looking at things differently and changing the way things were done in the past.
And that’s a very important aspect to our business in going forward. So let’s continue down that thought process and look at the example of ordering a taxi. Does anybody remember what those are? By show of hands, does anybody know what yellow books are? Okay, so a lot of people know what a yellow book? Have you ever touched one? Yeah, the younger people.
Have you touched a phone book in your life? Mixed emotions. Okay, so Generation X was about the way they used to order a taxi. I mean, this wasn’t in 1878, but the first phone book was in 1878.
But the way they used to order a taxi is by going to the Yellow Pages and picking up the phone, calling a taxi and say, hey, I need a taxi this time. And this address, this is where I’m going, right? Maps, paper, totally offline or standing in the street and inhaling down a cab, right, where a Gen Y, a millennial named Anthony Tan, who’s 38 from Malaysia, started Grab Taxi in 2012, right, which is obviously a play off of Uber that happened in North America in 2009. So, again, in line with Generation Y way of thinking is that, okay, this is the way that you’ve done things in the past, but there’s got to be a better way to do it now.
When we move to Generation X, what’s next? Right? And what Generation X? Because their Savviness with phones and they’re on their mobiles all the time, and Generation Y falls into that as well. But what’s next is everyday everything apps, right? So apps that take into account every aspect of your life and using them daily. And I think for anybody who’s watched the Netflix specials or go on Netflix, they’re just pumping you full of information in terms of getting you to come back every day and use their application.
So, again, following on the same line of thought, grab transport, grab food, grab Pay, grab delivery, it’s just evolving to everyday everything apps. So, again, let’s look at how that applies to a great example here in Thailand. Wind bike versus grab bike, right? So show a hand who prefers grab bike ordering ahead of time.
Yeah. So that’s maybe roughly more than 50%, and who’s a wind bike person just walks out and puts up their hand. Okay, so less.
Right. So when Grab got launched in Thailand, what happened exactly? Right. I didn’t know if anybody was going to get that.
There was chaos in the streets. Everybody beat each other up and they fought. And I couldn’t find an example of, like, a wind guy punching a grab guy in the face.
But, yeah, it was chaos. Right. And there were some real problems.
I remember I was in Phuket when Uber tried to come to Thailand, and the mafia, taxi mafia in Phuket, they shut that down right away. Right. Where the grab approach to it? Right? They took a different approach.
They worked with some of those taxi drivers, educated them about how it worked. But ultimately, why did that happen? Why were people fighting? Because of the benefits to who? Okay? To the customer. Right.
So Grab taxi came in and they launched a product that took into account pain points of customers, right. And probably even the people servicing those customers as well. Right.
So what are some of those problems? Can we think about what some of the problems were that they solved? Great point. So price transparency. Right? And I know firsthand myself, I go to the same wind station outside my house every morning, and every morning they give me a different price.
Right? And it’s the most frustrating thing. I’m like the guy every day. So it cost me 20 baht on the way here, cost me 40 baht on the way back.
And I’m done trying to fight and explain why the price is different. Right. So 100% price transparency.
Anything else? I mean, you grab a full driver data or whatever, you have a point to go to the motorbike taxi, drive off my phone, never find them. Great point. So I’m just going to repeat it for the microphone.
Is that about just transparency and security, right? So that Grab has access to data, access to the people who are providing the transportation feedback, et cetera, et cetera. Anything else? Sorry, payment by credit card. So more of a convenience, right? And along the same concept to that, it’s on demand, so you can order your Grab walk downstairs and it’s sitting there and it’s waiting for you.
So it’s real time, it’s on demand, and it’s just super convenient. So I think we covered all those things. So on demand, price, transparency and safety and traffic.
So this is why Grab has come in here and they’ve been able to solve pain points for consumers and also provide this digital booking system that provides more bookings for people who are operating Grab, the taxi drivers, right? And in doing that, they’ve really changed how the system and the process have worked about ordering a taxi here in Thailand. So where do I want to go next with this? So how to book? Okay, so what type of digital transformation is happening in the real estate industry? So that’s great for Grab. Awesome.
They’re ordering taxis now. Did Grab come in and create driverless vehicles that just picked you up and eliminated the need for taxi drivers? It’s a bit of rhetorical question. I think the answer is no.
Right. But is that the future of what will happen one day with one of these new generation people that becomes the CEO of Grab in the future and the technology advances 100%? That’s going to happen. You’ll be kidding yourself if you disagree with that.
So let’s look at some of those concepts and understand what’s actually happening in the real estate industry, because it is going through a digital transformation itself. Now, in order to understand what’s happening specifically in the Thailand real estate industry, you’ve got to understand what the main problems are in this market. Now, there’s a mixed group of experience in the room.
We’ve got some of the best real estate agents and the best business development people in real estate in the whole country. And then we’ve got a new generation of people that are just getting their foot in the door in the real estate industry. So when it comes to understanding what type of shape we’re getting into as a business, this is the point.
Right. And that ultimately my goal. And our goal is to have everybody in this business understand how we are the people that are changing the landscape of real estate here in Thailand and what that actually means.
So when you speak to your friends, when you speak to your family, when you speak to your customers, that, yeah, my job is doing this, but I play this piece that’s very important in a big business that we’re having right and that we’re working towards. So let’s look at what the problems are specifically in the Thailand real estate market. So then we can look at the digital innovation that’s happening that we’re driving in the market.
So number one, in general, is just a poor online search experience. And I think Plug spoke about this in his management meeting, and he used this exact example. And there’s a couple of things to look at here.
Number one, this is a project that we won’t name, where this website is. I think everybody can understand where this website is. But you look at the project itself, it was built in 2018.
It’s completed, right? If I’m new to looking online and trying to understand, I look at that picture, and I think that that’s not completed yet. So already the experience online. It’s telling me it’s built, but it’s an off plan picture.
It’s a rendering. It’s not completed. So already I’m not understanding what’s going on here.
Then I’m looking. Okay, there’s 211 units in this project. So how is it possible that there’s 330 units for sale and 447 units for rent? I can tell you why this problem is so big.
It needed two slides, right? And this is a real listing in that same project that you have one unit that’s listed by seven different agents, that’s listed at two different prices, right? So when we talk about a poor online search experience, we talk about inaccurate, outdated, duplicate listings, right? And it just starts off online. What other type of industry do you have these problems? When you book a hotel? Do you book fake hotels when you book a flight? Imagine booking a flight and showing up or having the person call you and say, actually, that flight is no longer available, or that price is the wrong price, or even not having one of these people contact you back for two or three weeks after you sent your inquiry, right? So the problem starts online. And I think everybody can understand in terms of our commitment to address some of these industry challenges, because these are challenges that everybody faces in the industry, right? So there’s no quick fix to this, but there’s a lot of things that we can do to improve that online search experience.
Number two is no price transparency. So when we look at real estate in Thailand, there’s no public data available to buyers or sellers or agents to make informed decisions. So as somebody who’s looking to buy or rent a property, I don’t know the right price to buy or rent for it, right? And then when I speak to an agent, an agent has limited information.
The only access to data they have is based on what they’ve done personally. Right? And if I’m a seller looking to list my property for sale, I don’t know what my price is, right? I can look at this website and try and make a determination, but I’ve got different prices and I’ve got seven different listings. So it’s very hard to understand the true value of a property in Thailand.
And that’s where a lot of the problems start from. And last but not least is quality real estate agents. So I put a picture of myself here that’s older, I’ve got more hair.
So that was in 2012, I think, in Phuket. And that was one of my best customers. And we drank a lot of champagne together all the time.
We counted big stacks of money because he was spending lots of money. But the truth is, I knew nothing about real estate. I was just a nice guy that was opening doors for people, right? Again, it’s a challenge in the market is that there’s no formal training or certifications, right? And you combine that with zero one and zero two.
This is no knock against real estate agents, right? They just don’t have the data, the information and the processes to do their job. I remember one of the first properties I sold was to Anton and I had to do a contract, like a legally binding contract. And I’m like, Hold me, I was a school teacher a month ago in Thailand, right? So again, it’s zero one and two combined with zero three.
That just makes the process very difficult and very challenging. So I hope these problems sound familiar. If you’re paying attention to the first example and what happened with Grab is that Grab was able to come in and really add value to their client base because they were able to solve fundamental problems about creating on.
Demand access to rides, price transparency and making sure it was a safe environment where they can track and monitor and collect data and provide a better experience. So when we look at FazWaz, it’s very similar to what we’re doing, right? Totally different, but very, very similar is that our customers want access to on demand, updated, accurate listings. Right? Our customers have the right to understand the true market value of a property when purchasing, selling or renting.
And last but not least, they deserve a safe, transparent transaction process from the initial search online all the way to the transfer offline. So how do we do that? How do we provide that, right? And I mentioned this already, but we’re subject to the same challenges and inefficiencies in the market as everybody is, right? This is an industry problem here in Thailand and most of the time it’s private companies that come along and fix these challenges. So for us, we are rebuilding the entire real estate tech and service stack.
So what that means is we look at the initial search online and all the steps afterwards in terms of matching buyers and sellers to properties based on AI and ML, the virtual tour. So allowing people to look at a project, look at the facilities, look at the units before they decide to go and visit, right. To narrow down their interest.
Because we saw in the example that I showed you before, if it’s an off plan rendering and it’s a completed project, you might show up and say, yes, I don’t like this. I didn’t see pictures of it. And you’ve wasted everybody’s time, including the agent, including the buyer, including the seller value.
So one of the main pieces we’re delivering, which will be out in April, is a valuation model. And that valuation model is specific for real estate. And it will be the first time that it’s done here in Thailand.
And it will bring a new level of transparency to the market in terms of being able to value property. The offer process, the negotiation process, we’re building out the digital framework, and we’re working with Baker Mackenzie now that is doing all of our legal contracts. And we’ll create a system where, because the negotiations are happening online, it will automatically create all the contracts that’s required based on working with one of the biggest law firms in the world.
And last but not least, that as much as a digital process as this is. So we’re essentially providing the same framework, that same core technology stack that Grab provided to buyers sorry, to people looking for rides and to the people providing the rides. So we’re building that tech and service stack, and we need the people offline to support with it, right? We need the real estate agents, we need the customer support, we need the listing support.
Because unlike booking a taxi, buying or selling real estate is a more complex process, right? But ultimately, what we’re looking to do is turn ordinary people into real estate experts. And the way that we do that is provide that infrastructure, that price transparency and that security to give them the framework to do so. So, with that in mind, we’ve got a number of brand promises, what we’re trying to deliver as a business and going forward, and we’ll get to this in a minute, we’re going to talk about changing our routines and habits to make sure that we’re working towards this goal, right? We’ve got this goal.
We’re going to get jacked, we’re going to lose weight, and we’ve got to change what we do day in and day out in order to accomplish that. So our brand promises is, number one, we have the best online search experience in Southeast Asia for real estate, and I already think we have that, right? When we look at our website, we look at our information, we look at the data that we have in there, we have one of the best, most comprehensive, up to date, accurate databases of properties, and we have some of the most innovative technology tools that is going to create the best online search experience. Number two, the largest selection of most accurate listings.
So when we look at our change to our routines and our goals for next quarter, this is going to be a big part of this, right? How do we onboard? More content, more inventory? And how do we keep it engaged and up to date and accurate? And last but not least is the most efficient, transparent transactions from search to close. So these are the three brand promises that we are going to work rewards for our customers.