Chen Jinsong, chairman of the World Bank, released a five-character microblogging

Zhang Xiaoling newspaper reporter

Intern reporter Wang Fan Guangzhou, Shenzhen reported

On the evening of July 6, Chen Jinsong, chairman of the World Bank Group released a microblogging with only 5 characters - "Soufun World Bank" and then deleted. This move quickly led to speculation between the two companies.

The following days, rumors about Soufun into shares of the World Bank were rampant. On July 8, the World Bank Group released a "unified reply on the cooperation between SouFun and SouFun." The company is actively engaging with a number of excellent Internet companies and no mature results have yet been announced yet.

People close to the World Bank said SouFun and the World Bank line of cooperation, the two sides allotment or may, but the acquisition of the World Bank line search room is entirely impossible.

From competition to cooperation

In addition, the revenue from SouFun subscribed to $ 160 million in 2013 from $ 17 million in 2009 as part of its listing distribution business in collaboration with traditional real estate agents.

However, while the real estate market downturn, SouFun by publishing real estate information provided by the agency and collect port fees for the benefit, but it does not give a good intermediary commission income growth. In the past few months, Soufun encountered more than the intermediary shelves to boycott Soufun's profit model challenges.

That time industry insiders predict: in the case of adequate funding, SouFun is entirely possible acquisition of offline intermediaries, the emergence of network and intermediary integration phenomenon.

As a traditional real estate agency that focuses on first-hand agency services, the World Bank Group is actively deploying the Offline To Mobile (O2M) model to transform the Internet. Since 2014, when the company officially changed its name and started the "auspicious clouds strategy", it has devoted itself to explore the O2M model. After the platform is set up, the consumer community transaction service will compete directly with the existing e-commerce businesses such as SouFun.

Although there is competition between the two parties, the advantages of the World Bank are offline. The key point is the transaction of selling houses. In 2013, the total transaction amount of house transactions reached 317.5 billion yuan. The strengths of SouFun lies in website operation and promotion of mobile terminals. The emphasis is on customer First excavation. Both have complementary characteristics.

Zhang Dawei Centaline Property analysts pointed out that by Soufun such a platform with media properties, the World Bank can provide customers with more value-added services, for it has a certain good. But on the other hand, "SouFun is known to all because of its public platform attributes, once the property has changed, its listing will also be rocked in the short term may be positive, but in the long term is not necessarily "Zhang Dawei analysis.

Zhang Dawei's focus of this cooperation is more on the disadvantages that the commercialization of a neutral trading platform may bring to the real estate brokerage industry. Independent trading platform with media properties, once controlled by one of the parties in the transaction, the future platform will be more commercial. Housing prices in the future rankings, project reviews, corporate negative, is it right?

And once this kind of cooperation is established, it may arouse a demonstration effect in the industry. From the perspective of the development of the real estate website platform, it will cause a neutrality retrogression and consumers will also be misled.

Industry O2O change

For Soufun and World Bank possible marriage, the industry analysis, the dismal real estate market this year, making the real estate agency or choose to merge the route, real estate agency or usher in the revolution, O2O officially started.

SouFun and the World Bank if the cooperation reached, which means the real estate agency and real estate Internet together, the two together constitute the second-hand housing market O2O mode, to achieve online information inquiry and offline viewing experience of the integration of the formation of a closed-loop business.

Real estate agency O2O test has already started. Online, the financial giant safe launched a good room network, put forward the "go to intervene" slogan, Ecuador and Rui official release platform price review network also formally launched recently; offline, and more to resist the real estate off the agency, SouFun, And have launched their own Internet platform. Last month, Q Housing and World Real Estate cooperation is an example. Lin Jiale, general manager of the world's real estate business, said the current real estate brokerage industry is an opportunity for intermediaries. In the Internet mode of thinking, the transformation and upgrading of traditional enterprises has become the trend of the times.

In the real estate transaction process, buyers bear the relatively high transaction costs. Safe housing network to explore the intermediary, house price reviews provided by the open house price reference, in terms of homebuyers are not useless.

However, Zhang Dawei believes that the traditional intermediary can not be replaced, compared to the cost of millions at every turn, transaction costs accounted for only a very small proportion. "The house is not as fast-selling as it is too cautious to just trade through a website, and once the site devotes a lot of manpower and resources to the screening, it becomes an intermediary."

21st Century Real Estate Group Marketing Director Sun Yufeng also said that the Internet has provided tremendous convenience for real estate transactions, but this technology can not replace the transaction itself. Brokers as the media's emotional exchanges and human services, is an integral part of the real estate transaction process, the real estate agency can not be eliminated, the store can not be eliminated.

Fan Jun, chairman of the tricks, took the opposite view. He said: "The traditional intermediary model must be changed. The real estate transaction will be farther and farther away from us. There will be other ways to replace second-hand housing transactions, No incision has yet been found, and once found, the collapse of the industry takes only 2-3 years. "

The same policy with real estate consulting Co., Ltd. Zhang Hongwei, director of research believes that the concept of the Internet, with this platform to packaging, is conducive to the performance of enterprises in the capital markets. As for the cooperation between Internet companies and intermediaries can ultimately achieve profitability, the traditional intermediary will disappear completely, it is hard to say.