GQ_South_Africa_2017

Wealth

Words by Nkosiyati Khumalo

Tech entrepreneur

Ashley James co-founded

PropertyFox in 2016,

promising an easy,

cheap and fast option

for selling property

The smart money: FUTURE-PROOF YOUR CAREER s HOW HEALTHY IS YOUR LIFE COVER? sEMBRACING CHANGE

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AS A

FOX

GQ: It’s been about a year since

PropertyFox launched. What’s the

uptake been like?

Ashley James: Th e uptake has been

overwhelming. We’ve been able to help

South Africans from all nine provinces

sell their homes. To date our model, which

charges much lower commissions than

traditional estate agencies without

compromising on service, has saved South

African home sellers around R9m in agent

commission. Our customer-focused model

is being very well received. So it’s been

a positive start for PropertyFox.

GQ: What kind of growth has the

company experienced?

AJ: Taking into account that PropertyFox

was only launched in

experienced exponen g

listed over 600 homes ld h

total sales valued at R ll

provinces of South Af

GQ: What have been

being a disruptor wi hi h

space? Have you had y

from more traditiona y?

AJ: We’ve had natural

traditional players, bu l b l

our model because we k h ll

in South Africa have b

much to sell their hom h

been unswayed. It has b b

a pioneer in the space Th l d

were our fi rst clients a d h d

into a space where we h b

able to be a major infl u

on converting

traditionalists to the

new model. When

people hear there is a

more aff ordable and

quicker option for

selling their homes it’s

not an overly hard sell

GQ: How have you

approached your

marketing strategy,

and how has that

changed as the

business has

grown?

AJ: Starting off , this

was a challenge

because our brand

was unknown and

we were trying to

sell a solution that

sounded too good

to be true. Before

we knew it, we had so

traction from below-th l

and performance mark

channels (social medi

etc.). Analytics from th

channels allowed us t

understand our audie

well. Having a strong

presence from the get >>

T

he process of selling your home

can be peppered with frustrations

and unexpected costs, like high

commissions from real estate agents.

Disrupting this traditional model, online

platform PropertyFox’s ease of use and

low commission feels almost too good to

be true. A year into operations, James

off ers a lowdown on the model that may

forever change the real estate game.

OCTOBER 2017 GQ.CO.ZA 59

PropertyFox

co-founder

Ashley James