The next steps in Aussie’s evolution

Q. Why is now the right time to reposition such an iconic brand?

If you look at the Aussie story, we’ve never stood still – constantly evolving, constantly changing. We were a non-bank lender when we started, then we moved into broking, then took on bricks-and-mortar retail. As of today, we have 215 stores in communities all around Australia.

The proposition has continued to evolve and it’s evolved around one thing: what a customer needs. John [Symond] had that original insight when he saw an opportunity in the market for customers to get a better deal. Today, we see the same opportunity. We see an opportunity to offer not only a better deal but also a better experience.

The proposition has continued to evolve and it’s evolved around one thing: what a customer needs. John [Symond] had that original insight when he saw an opportunity in the market for customers to get a better deal
- Brad Cramb, chief distribution officer at Lendi Group

Q. What does Aussie’s new proposition seek to improve?

Today’s experience is a bit fragmented when you’re buying a property. Brokers do a great job, but they rely on a lot of third parties [real estate agents, buyer’s agents, conveyancers, etc]. There are a lot of hand-offs, etc, as people are looking for property, all the way through to owning it.

We see a future where we could provide a one-stop shop – a seamless experience for our customers as well as our brand.

Find.Buy.Own encapsulates what we’re offering; it’s creating an ecosystem around the broker and it’s designed to address some of the problems brokers and customers face.

Q. How does this change the property journey?

Brokers today have a great service proposition and they’ve done that through creating great referral arrangements on the ground in their communities. They understand how the property system works [and] they can be great advisers to customers at certain parts in their journey.

When our brokers are handing off customers to referral partners… it’s a bit clunky for the customer. They’re re-entering their details or they’re having to do re-authentication and they’re going through different processes.

Ultimately, while there are great partners out there for many brokers, it is a bit of a risk because you’re handing off to another provider. [The customer] may not come back.

We see an opportunity to create more of a seamless experience for the customer within one platform for the customer to take away a lot of friction.

Q. Aussie launched Aussie Buyer’s Agents earlier this year. How does this service fit within the new ecosystem?

A lot of the pre-approvals that are occurring right now are because people are looking for property but they can’t quite find the property.

Brokers may [already] have a referral arrangement with a buyer’s agent, but why not do it all in-house?

And why not give them an ‘Aussie’ experience, where they never have to go off platform, when they’re looking for those listings?

Giving [customers] a great experience ultimately leads to more customers.

We have aspirations to be the biggest buyer’s agent under one brand in Australia by the end of the calendar year and we’re well on track for that. Customers can have the experience in the app and they can have the experience on ground.

We will also launch a retail arm for our buyer’s agents.

We’re working closely with our franchise council to really scale this proposition to be a business within a business for existing retail stores where they’ll have a buyer’s agent in-store who operates a service model to existing customers.

Q. Where does the in-house conveyancing service, Aussie Conveyancing, fit?

We acknowledge that many of our brokers [may] have an existing conveyancing relationship [and] we’re not here to change that. What we are here to offer is a proposition that we think will become more and more compelling for everyone.

We’ve really only just scratched the surface of this. [At the moment], 20 per cent of all of our lodgements that need conveyancing are going through Aussie Conveyancing.

To have 20 per cent of lodgements already (within a very short time of launch) tells me the experience is great for customers. It’s great for brokers too.

Q. How have brokers and customers responded to the app?

We’ve just passed over 100,000 downloads of our app for Aussie customers [and] we have 70,000 active users.

The way we talk to our brokers about it is it’s the opportunity to have their business in their customer’s pocket. If they’re not in their customer’s pocket, who else will be?