Creation of the project of company Easy Flat - exchange of apartments between students of various countries

The student group of six share a particular interest and privileged segment of the population to which the group belongs a larger student group. The management school is based on education by means of internships abroad, which led to identify a need for searching for a flat abroad.

In fact before this idea came about several possibilities to facilitate or improve the lives of students was discussed, and it stopped longer than usual on the concept of home exchange between individuals that existed for several years. And it turned out that this kind of service is not specifically addressed to students, and offered mostly to houses and not flats.

Thus, these findings led to glimpse into an interesting aspect that could possibly be exploited: the sharing of apartments with other students But this initial finding does not obviously make the project viable. Easy Flat is a service company whose mission is to help European students by allowing them to exchange their homes through an Internet portal.

The home exchange system is not new, in fact, the market is currently dominated by companies, Intervac and Homelink, which are both active since 1953. However, the advent of the Internet has been instrumental in revitalizing the area, making information accessible to more and sharing it much faster.

The relevant public has been greatly expanded through the Internet tool. Therefore it can be said of the trading market for apartments it is a market still young and therefore dynamic. Note that it is difficult to quantify the population of traders and the number of exchanges made each year since the organizations that offer such a service simply put people in relationship, but do not supervise the deals made then.

However, the formula is attracting more and more people, as evidenced by the growth in membership in recent years recorded by the exchange organizations. The current market leaders (mentioned above) had each, in 2004, 15,000 members in over 50 countries. The trading market for apartments is a young market (the Internet is a relatively new tool), dynamic (many sites offering such offers are created each year) and growing (growing number of members).

In this category come into play real estate agencies or organizations assisting student organizations in the appeal of a home for internships or academic exchanges. However, once again, it is important to emphasize that the service from Easy Flat is different:
First because it passes through an Internet portal, easily accessible to everyone and which allows a rapid turnover and regular announcements that are broadcast, and then because it offers an exchange and not a lease allowing the economy of a second rent without having to give up his home, and finally because, targeting a rarely financially independent student clientele, the service is much cheaper than real estate agencies in particular.

The main challenge of the service is of course the ability to attract more members quickly as possible: indeed, without a significant number of offer, the website is of little interest since then members have little chance to find a satisfactory offers. Thus, communication and promotion have a role in the success of this business.

Tags: Business study, apartment exchange between students of different countries, strategy and analysis