Lamudi Philippines Sponsors Special Transporter: Refueled Movie Screening

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Lamudi, together with MyProperty.ph and Metrobank, recently sponsored a special movie screening of Transporter: Refueled for members of the media, which includes of course yours truly, WazzupPilipinas.com.

We were treated first to a sumptuous dinner at TGIFridays before the actual movie at myCinema Greenbelt 3 in Makati city.

As expected, the two head honchos of Lamudi and myProperty.ph were there (Lamudi Philippines managing director Jacqueline van den Ende and Myproperty.ph General Manager Henry Winter) to greet us and share their very fascinating stories before the start of the movie. Apparently, the invitation brought in lots of interested media people as myCinema was fully packed that some had to sit along the stairs since seating capacity were limited to only 50 people. However, the cinema house is "intimately" designed, it was not really uncomfortable especially when nibbling popcorns and sipping soda while enjoying the new Transporter movie.

I took a video of the speeches to be able to capture everything they've said. Using the new Prestigio 5508 smartphone to record the video so I could test the video recording capability of the new phone that I currently have for review. I intentionally used the phone for photos and videos to review its performance in the dimly lit myCinema movie house. I still have my trusted Sony mirrorless camera with me but I refrained in using it so I can really try out what the smartphone can do. Was I impressed?

We enjoyed the meals, the movie and the stories of Lamudi, and how it now has acquired myProperty.ph, and its new partnership with Metrobank which you can hear about in the video.

I was actually surprised to hear Lamudi being a startup since I perceive them as a big company already. I saw Jacqueline pitch during the Slingshot Manila event at the PICC and was surprised she was there as a startup. It seems they are really doing well based on how they projected themselves and the figures they have been reporting. The word "startup" has been the "in" thing used recently aside from "technopreneurs" to denote a company with a great and world-changing idea that's in its emerging state, still trying to raise funds, but actually disrupting the usual or traditional methods and practices.

True enough, Lamudi has changed how we usually hunt or search for properties. They have made it very convenient for all parties from both ends in looking for their ideal and preferred lots, houses, condos, etc.,

Below is their official press release report on their 2015 growth:

Lamudi Philippines (www.lamudi.com.ph) is now officially the most visited real estate website in the Philippines. Citing its own data and that from web analytics platform SimilarWeb, Lamudi reported that visits to its platform for the first six months of 2015 is 34 percent higher than those recorded for the entire 2014. In addition, at 320,000 monthly visits, Lamudi’s site visits via desktop are now at least 28 percent higher than its nearest competitor.

2015 was also a year of milestones for Lamudi. In February, the company secured $18 million in funding to boost its operations in Asia and Latin America. In May, Lamudi acquired competitor MyProperty.ph to further cement its position as the Philippines’ number one property website.

A first in Philippine real estate, Lamudi Philippines is also harnessing its massive online and listings data to generate reports and other content for Filipino homebuyers and property investors. For example, Lamudi analyzes data from its listings and regularly publishes content on condo, house, and commercial property price data.

The company’s onsite search data also provides a picture of online property-hunters’ behaviors and preferences. Lamudi found that most Filipino homebuyers still prefer houses over condos, despite Metro Manila’s condo boom, and that Quezon City is the most searched city in the Philippines for properties. Furthermore, Lamudi found that U.S.-based house-hunters are looking for houses more than half of the time (57.8 percent) and that after Quezon City, Makati, and Manila, Tagaytay and Baguio are the fourth and fifth most searched cities by Filipino-Americans.

Henry Winter, General Manager Myproperty.ph

Kian Moini, Lamudi Founder

Paul Hermann, Lamudi Founder

According to Lamudi Philippines managing director Jacqueline van den Ende, these reports generated from the platform’s data provide sellers, brokers, and property developers much-needed insight to inform their marketing strategies.

“For a while, we’ve known that Filipinos are rapidly moving online to inform their purchase—from clothes, gadgets, and even real estate. But most sellers of real estate still have no idea as to how homebuyers behave online. Our data provides these sellers with data on buyers’ preferences, from location, price range, size, type, and even amenities.”

To tap into mobile-first consumers, the Lamudi Philippines app is now available for both iOS and Android devices, while the website itself has a mobile version. van den Ende said the importance of being available on mobile cannot be overemphasized. In the first half of 2015 alone, 32 and 15 percent of Lamudi’s traffic came from mobile and tablet users. Swedish ICT provider Ericsson also reported in June that mobile penetration in the Philippines will reach 40 percent by the end of this year, thanks to the popularity of more affordable smartphones.