Target group research with smart platform
Single people live in the city, the elderly in flats and young families in new housing estates. So much for the clichés. In practice, customers’ profiles and wish-lists prove much more subtle and different for each project. Our portfolio company Recognize developed the platform Hartje Wonen for VOLT, which helps developers, builders and investors to identify the target group – and their wishes – at specific project locations.
Development of housing project with real-time data
The local estate agent knows for sure: everybody wants a semi-detached house. And the sales statistics prove him right. “But these statistics only say something about the total housing market within a municipality and are based on historical data,” concludes Henriëtte Havinga. The director of VOLT Creative Energy advocates real-time insight into a project: “Who‘s interested? What type of home is popular with your target group? What else is on your (potential) customer's wish-list? This may vary from district to district. What you want is up-to-date and real data of your specific project.”
Hartje Wonen smart platform
In order to gather that current and real data, Recognize developed the Hartje Wonen smart platform, which offers VOLT and its clients various tools for quick market research and analysis of target groups with regard to such things as functionalities for a project site, questionnaires, statistical reports and a dashboard. “It’s really quite user-friendly,” says Havinga. “Once all the content is available, a project site can be live within three hours. With Hartje Wonen’s tools you can, for instance, consult interested parties who have registered via the project site. I'm thrilled, not only in terms of the content, but also in terms of cooperation. Recognize provides valuable input for new functionalities, which allows us to continue to develop Hartje Wonen.”
Better insight into target group
What other advantages does the platform offer besides this rapid launch? Havinga: “Given that you don’t need to hire an expensive market research agency, you can save costs and manage your data yourself. And insight of course. Depending on what you want to know, Hartje Wonen can show the market, your target group and customer requirements for your specific location at all phases of a project, preferably at the earliest possible stage of course. Significantly improved insight into your target group helps boost sales, not only of homes, but also of additional amenities and facilities. And that also offers opportunities for VolkerWessels Telecom. A good example is Block 63 at Strijp-S in Eindhoven. Our research showed that 98% of the interested parties needed fibre optics. So VolkerWessels Telecom joined in.”