ORGANIZATIONAL STUDY ON ZOLOSTAYS PVT LTD

A SUMMER INTERNSHIP

Submitted by

SASIDHARAN R

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT
SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
KATTANKULATHUR – 603 203

SEPTEMBER 2021
 DECLARATION

I, SASIDHARAN R, hereby declare that the work which is being presented in the summer

internship entitled, “ ORGANIZATIONAL STUDY ON ZOLOSTAYS PVT LTD”, in partial fulfilment

of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Business Administration is my own work

carried out by me under the supervision of DR. S SUJATHA( Supervisor) during the period 15/05/2021

to 15/07/2021 in the School of Management, Faculty of Management , SRM Institute of Science and

Technology, Kattankulathur.

The matter presented in this Summer Internship has not been submitted elsewhere for the award

of any other degree/ diploma. I declare that I have faithfully acknowledged, given credit to and referred

to the research works which have been cited in the text and the body of the report. I further certify that I

have not wilfully lifted up some other’s work, para, text, data, results, etc., reported in the journals, books,

magazines, reports, dissertations etc., or available at web-sites and have not included them in this Summer

Internship report and cited as my own work.

Place : Kattankulathur

Date : 01-09-2021 SASIDHARAN R

Certificate from the Supervisor

This is to certify that the above statement made by the candidate is correct to the best of my
knowledge. Certified that a check for plagiarism has been made on the software.

Name and Signature of the Supervisor

 BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr.SASIDHARAN R, (RA2052001010140) School of

Management, Faculty of Management of SRM Institute of Science and Technology, a bonafide

student registered for the MBA Degree under the supervision of Dr .S SUJATHA, has

satisfactorily completed all the requirements for the submission of Summer Internship for the

award of MBA degree as per provisions of the MBA Regulations. He/ She has successfully

completed the Summer Internship and well defended the presentation before the examiners.

Place: Kattankulathur

Date: 01-09-2021

DR. S SUJATHA Dr. V. M. PONNIAH

Supervisor Dean

INTERNAL EXAMINER EXTERNAL EXAMINER

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am over helmed in all humbleness and gratefulness to acknowledge my depth to all those who

have helped me to put these ideas, well above the level of simplicity and into something concrete.

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my supervisor Dr. S Sujatha as well as my Dean

Dr. V.M. Ponniah who gave me the golden opportunity to do this project on the topic (Organizational

study on zolostays pvt ltd), which also helped me in doing a lot of Research and I came to know about

so many new things. I am really thankful to them.

Any attempt at any level can‘t be satisfactorily completed without the support and guidance of my

supervisor.

I would like to thank my Zolostays employees who helped me learn different information, and guiding

me from time to time despite of their busy schedules, they taught me different things, that helped me in

making this project unique.

SASIDHARAN R
ABSTRACT

Objectives of the project:

• To understand the Pre- Sales process in Co-Living Industry.

• To generate leads for the company
• To conduct online promotional activities for Zolostays Property Solutions.

. The first part of my project was to do competitive analysis and SWOT analysis for the
company before handling the Pre-Sales domain. For this, I used several research papers and
websites for reference and submitted the assignment to the manager which helped them
analyze the competition.

The project is mainly focused on Lead generation for Zolostays Property Solutions, which
was done by me, through several online promotional activities and how CRM is responsible
for smooth and automated functioning of all the activities.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter No. Title Page No.

ABSTRACT vi
LIST OF TABLES viii
LIST OF FIGURES ix

1. INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Industry Profile

1.2 Organizational Profile
1.3 Product profile

2. FUNCTIONAL DEPARTMENTS & ITS OPERATIONS

3. ISSUES IDENTIFIED

4. SWOT ANALYSIS

5. FEASIBLE SOLUTIONS

6. FINDINGS

7. SUGGESTIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

8. CONCLUSION
 LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

1 Top 8 cities 10

2 22 tier 2/3 cities 11

3 Zolo logo 12

4 Porter’s force model 16

5 CRM 27
1 ) INTRODUCTION :

At 440 million, India is home to the largest millennial population globally in absolute terms,
with millennials comprising 34% of the country’s total population. Migrant bachelors have
for long been used to taking up space in rented accommodation on a sharing basis or
staying as paying guests, etc. However, the process of renting, spaces offered or options
to choose from, have been scattered and unorganized. This paved the way for a more
organized and professionally managed system termed as ‘co-living’.
Co-living is a far better managed system with extra comforts and facilities and fewer rules
and regulations, in comparison to the standard paying guest arrangement or rented
houses. Such spaces typically offer shared units pooled with common amenities such as
wi-fi, common kitchens, laundry, and housekeeping, etc which are all included as part of
the monthly rental. It is a plug and play kind of a format with more flexible terms of exit and
choices when compared to the conventional rental apartments.

The co-living market in India has been evolving at a rapid pace with newer operating
models coming into play. It has brought in opportunities, primarily catering to young working
professionals and student population, that are being serviced by a barrage of startups.
Entrepreneurs and promoters of co-living companies are being heavily backed by
investments from national and international institutional investors since they see a lotof
growth and upside in this segment. Operators have started tying up with developers in
major cities, especially the IT driven locations owing to the higher proportion of single-
young professionals, for ready-to-move-in as well as built-to-suit property options to cater
to the upcoming trends in the sector. As per recent pre-covid reports, the co-living market
size in India is expected to grow more than double in the next 5 years to close to $14 billion,
translating to ~6 million beds.

The shift from unorganized PGs to the more organized segment would be more
pronounced. Though most established players follow standardised practices, however,
implementation of more stringent hygiene practices would now be required like frequent
building disinfection and deep cleaning, daily and frequent sanitization of high-touch
surfaces, etc to keep up the demand. These increased sanitization requirements would
end up increasing costs for the operators, and with pressure on rentals, margins maybe
impacted in the short term.

For the ever-moving millennial population, co-living is one of the most beneficial meansof
accommodation by providing an affordable, convenient and safe choice in a new city.It
also eliminates the equation of owners-vs-bachelors which is an ever-pressing issue while
finding a good apartment to stay in. However, in an unprecedented time like this, co-living
will be a challenge since most people will prefer to go back to basics and focus on single
occupancies instead of sharing. The industry will have to bear with this for the next couple
of months, but once businesses start settling in, there will be newer opportunities and the
co-living market should bounce back.
Co-living segment in India is growing at a rapid pace and its market size is estimated to
double by 2025 at nearly USD 14 billion across top 30 cities, according to a global property
consultant Cushman & Wakefield.

The demand for co-living in terms of beds is slated to grow to 5.7 million by 2025 from
4.19 million this year. The co-living space in India is worth $12 billion, according to a Red
Seer analysis based on the size of the population of millennials in the urban workforce. The
report says the industry, which has an addressable market of 10 million customers,is not
winner-takes-all and has plenty of room for many players to grow and reach a sizeable
scale.

At 440 million, India is home to the largest millennial population globally in absolute terms,
with millennials comprising 34% of the country’s total population. Counting the Gen Z
population, the median age of the country is 28 years, making it one of the youngest
emerging economies. India is therefore, a market with high growth potential for the co-
living sector.

India, in recent years, has witnessed large migration from the country’s rural parts to
metropolitans. Although this has led to an increased demand for rental housing, the Indian
real estate market has remained nearly stagnant in the past decade. Additionally, many
students in the age group of 20-24 years and 25-29 Years might opt for core living instead
of student housing and thus their numbers have to be included to calculate the total size of
co-living market
Over 50 per cent people in the age group of 18-35 years are willing to rent co-living spaces
and pay up to Rs 15,000 a month in top Indian cities including Delhi NCR, Mumbai and
Bengaluru, according to a survey by Knight Frank in 2018. Proximity to work and social
infrastructure remained the top priority for millennials while selecting a location, while only
5 per cent gave importance to rental costs.

According to a PropTiger report that came out in February this year, total occupancy
recorded in hostels within college campuses across India was only 3.4 million students,
leading to a demand-supply mismatch of 8.9 million students. This deficit for co-living
spaces is currently being met by the unorganized sector, which includes PG
accommodation and rental houses, etc.

The migrant workforce and students have been availing such shared rental
accommodation options for the last 3 to 4 decades.
Pan India capacity of major co-living players as of fourth quarter 2019 stood at over 2 lakh
beds and, the same is estimated to reach to 6 lakh beds by 2021.
1.1) Industry profile :

Zolo is a Nexus and PE funded, series B company which provides fully managed co-living
spaces. Founded by alumni of IIM, IIT, AIIMS, ISB in 2015 and valued at more than $100
million, they are India’s fastest moving technology startup in the co-living spaces.

Provider of fully managed co-living spaces intended to offer housing options to students
and young professionals. The company's spaces include fully furnished rooms, hygienic
and healthy food, daily housekeeping, internet facilities and security, enabling young
professionals with a flexible and dynamic fully managed setup when coming to a different
city from their hometown. These properties offer affordable rental abode to its residents.
With top-notch IT companies and colleges in their vicinity, Zolo fulfils the simple essentials
of life and creates an environment of trust and friendship.

Zolo has 220+ properties spread across 10+ cities and is home to 25 thousand happy
residents. They are present in all the major cities namely Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai,
Delhi, Coimbatore, Kota, Pune, Gurugram, Hyderabad and Noida. Their living spaces offer
all kinds of basic and luxury living amenities. The biggest USP for a resident comes from a
vibrant residential community, omnichannel platform and top-notch services.

Serving approximately 50000 customers daily as we speak, they have aggressive growth
plans of catering to around 60000 by the year-end. Yes, that’s a growth that Zolo is poised
to grow at in the current year.

Mission statement:
We are folks on a mission to solve the long-stay accommodation problem in India, with a
firm belief that one does not need to buy a house to live comfortably. We strive to provide
an excellent alternative to paying guest accommodation in India.
1.2 Organizational Profile

❖ Earlier, the team worked on a product called “AugBrain” related to educational

technology between 2014-2015. Due to a lack of a right model for developing the
product the team decided to start something unique which could impact more lives.
Thus, began Zolo- a flat aggregator, hostels, and PGs accommodator in India
enabling clients to book rooms and accommodations via online.

❖ ZoloStays raised a total of $35M in the latest Series B funding round. Nexus
Venture Partners, IDFC private equity, InnoVen Capital, and Mirae Asset Global
Investments are the investors to the startup. The company funding began with $1
million from Nexus Ventures Partners. In FY 2018 stats, its revenue had immense
raise to Rs 26.4 crore.

❖ The recent $30 Mn fundings to ZoloStays also helped in fueling up the startup with
a strategic investment from OLX, Chennai-based Olympia Developers, and Pani
Computers Family Office. The startup plans to achieve INR 100 Cr ($14.4Mn) in
revenue in the next financial year. The company has also partnered with large
builders to provide fully managed accommodations, based on the concept which
is popular in cities like New York and Hong Kong.

❖ Zolo has raised a total of $98M in funding over 4 rounds. Their latest funding was
raised on Jul 7, 2020 from a Series C round.

❖ Zolo is funded by 6 investors. Investcorp and Trifecta Capital Advisors are the most
recent investors.

Dr. Nikhil Sikri Co-founder and CEO

Akhil Sikri Co-founder and CTO

Sneha Choudhry Co-founder

Isha Choudhry Chief People Officer

Aniketh Shetty Business Development Manager

Sameer Brij Verma Board Member and Advisor

 2 ) FUNCTIONAL DEPARTMENTS & ITS OPERATIONS

❖ ZoloStays works on a revenue model which has two segments for benefitting singles
and students.

❖ The working of Zolo is a methodical yet straightforward process. The real-startup

takes residential towers from builders on a lease, which is called as “Zolo Select”,
where it manages and provides all amenities to tenants. In this “Select” segment
they provide 40% accommodation to 40 years old and above occupants.

❖ Another model or segment called as “Zolo Standard” where they lease out small
buildings like G+5, G+4 in which premium amenities like club, tennis court, pool,
etc., don’t exist and these buildings consist of 50-70 rooms.

❖ Generally, graduates prefer to choose Standard segment which comes at an

average of Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,000 per month for twin-sharing. Where in, “Select” side
rooms starts from Rs 12,000 on an average. The leased period with the builders is
typically between three and nine years, and with customers, the agreement is for 11
months. It takes a month’s security as part of the rental agreement. It provides six
amenities – food, housekeeping, DTH, WIFI, concierge, repairs and maintenance.
The food provided by the firm is a mix of both South and North Indian, with a slight
regional variation.’

❖ The startup claims to have 16,000 ‘live beds’ and 50,000 ‘locked-in beds under Zolo
Standard and Zolo Select offerings category. Costs are around 25 percent lower
than industry standards with a very high customer satisfaction score.

Future plans :

❖ The company plans to expand to around 60,000 beds by December 2020, and also
start operations in Mumbai.

❖ They are also planning to venture into two/three student cities like Manipal,
Davanagere, Bokaro, Varanasi, and Coimbatore. They are already present in Kota.
Student cities are places where the student population is more than professionals.

❖ They also want to go the extra mile for younger professionals in the existing cities.

❖ In this sector, the more options they explore in a city, the more amenities they can
provide like - bike on rents, cars on rent, gym memberships, etc.”
Business line of interest :

□ Investment in apartment type properties in the operating cities\

□ Family residential properties

□ Expanding to fully furnished 2BHK and 3BHK PG apartments along with single
rooms
□ Couple-friendly properties to compete in the market.

□ New residential projects in new cities in South India.

Porter’s force model:
Competitive rivalry :

This one seems to be quite High. There are quite a few strong players who are
dominant in the market which are NestAway, OYO Life, CoHo, Stanza Living and
CoLive and they are present in almost all the cities where Zolostays operates.

Threat of new entrant :

This one seems to be relatively low or at best Medium. It is not easy for someone to just
enter into the market and provide quality accommodation at such large level and
affordable price. There are innumerable regulations and other obligations to be dealt
with after Covid-19, plus this industry is having cut-throat competition now even from
the unorganized local PG services which are cheaper.

Threat of substitute :

This one seems to be quite low. It is difficult to come up with a substitute to the services
provided by Zolostays as it is quite the substitute only for the real estate market. I
would say this threat is a low as there is not any substitute present for rental
accommodation

Bargaining power of buyers :

This fluctuates, but right now the bargaining power of buyers seems pretty High as
there seems to be many other competitors and a lot of inventory that is not rented out
due to covid-19. The other difficulty is that you are not delivering your product to the
consumer right now but in the future when you don’t know what the bargaining power of
the buyers will be, since customer can cancel his booking in future before moving-in as
per norms. To be safe, even in a time of a shortage of inventory, you would have to
assume the bargaining power of buyer is high even at times when it isn’t. Zolostays has
Flexible Price Policy, and may give certain additional offer to a customer.

Bargaining power of suppliers :

This one seems to be low. There is lower switching cost in changing supply of Raw
Materials or Labour. There is negligible threat of forward integration by suppliers. There
are large number of suppliers of Raw Material and Labour for Zolostays.
3) ISSUES IDENTIFIED :

5 FORCES ANALYSIS

Oyo Life
NestAway
Rivalry among the competitor CoHo

Threat of New Entrants Local unorganized PGs

Bargaining power of supplier is always low

Bargaining power of supplier in case of real estate or Co-Living Industry.

Bargaining power of Buyer Bargaining power of buyer is very higher in

this case as the customer has a definite
budget for investment and he
Expects to get the deal within his budget.
to get the deal within his budget.
Zolostays deals with Flexi Price Policy, its
possible in this case.

Threat of Substitute Threat of substitute is low.

So to sum up with:

Competitive Rivalry: High

Threat of New Entrants: Low

Threat of Substitute: Low

Bargaining Power of Buyers: High

Bargaining Power of Suppliers: Low

4. SWOT ANALYSIS

STP
Segment Cosmopolitan Cities
Target Group Students, working professionals, couples
Positioning Zolo - Your Safest Home

SWOT Analysis
First mover advantage
Strong brand image
Price competitiveness
Strengths Excellent operational efficiency
Prime Properties also available
Many prominent award holders in startups category
Manage properties with affordable amenities.
10+ cities presence and dominant market share

Unprofessional staffs
Weakness Lack of new residential buildings
Conservative marketing strategy
Limited property staffs

Expansion in other parts of India

Infrastructure development
New government policies will lead to easy clearance of projects, in turn will
Opportunities decrease the life cycle of project.
Tax incentives for investing in real estate sector
Apartment accommodation
More projects for couple and family accommodation

Lower barriers to entry

Threats Unorganized local PG services
High Cost in Metro cities
Covid-19 pandemic
5. FEASIBLE SOLUTIONS

• To do competitive analysis

• To conduct online promotional activities for Zolostays Property Solutions.

• To understand the lead generation process in Co-Living Industry.

• To generate leads and follow up with the leads generated by online promotional
activities.

• To manage the new clients and give them the property information

WORK DONE :

• Conducted 10 online Promotional Activities

• Generated 25 good quality leads from online Promotional Activities

• Handled all Pre-Sales activities and Helped the manager in closing the deals

• Used CRM and Leadsquared to automates tasks and workflows.

LIMITATIONS :

• Many customers didn’t want a shared accommodation due to Covid-19.

• The time was limited.

• Following up with all the leads takes time because of delay in confirmation.
6 FINDINGS

Methodology

1. To do competitive analysis-

I researched about 4 competitors of Zolostays Property Solutions as a student

and collected the required information for doing the comparative analysis with the
competitors.
Further the information collected was presented in front of the sales team and
then the data was handed over to the sales manager.

SWOT and Competitive analysis was used to present the information to the sales
department, and then data was handed over pdf format.

2. To Conduct promotional activities Zolostays Property Solutions-

To conduct promotional activities, we used many social media platforms like

Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and WhatsApp.

After identifying the target market where it was possible to do the promotional
activity, we started using digital posters and story-telling, creating posts about the
safe and hygiene of accommodation at Zolostays and its standard quality
amenities with the price range.
Also, we used to list our properties on portals like OLX, Quikr, Facebook
Marketplace, 99Acres, Magicbricks, Housing.com and Just Dial to reach the
maximum target market who is searching for accommodation in our operating
cities.

Promotional Activity Place Enquiry

Story-telling LinkedIn 7
Digital Posters Instagram 2
Posts and Stories Facebook 16
Posting services Facebook Groups 25
Listings OLX 10
Listings Quikr 3
Listings 99Acres 2
Listings MagicBricks 5
Listings Housing.com 5
Listings JustDial 0
1. To generate leads and follow up with leads from online promotional activity-

After confirming a promotional activity, we had to conduct the activity and

generate leads from it. We used Google forms and mentioned the link to form on
every portal and promotional post to fill-in if interested, to collect information of
prospected clients.

The form responses were further evaluated and leads were mentioned in
Leadsquared portal of the company and then we called or connected with the
leads on WhatsApp to know their complete requirements and their needs and
further shortlist properties for them which is part of Pre-Sales activities and then
we handed over those leads to the manager for closing the deal.

2. To manage the new clients and give them the property information

Studied the project thoroughly, and understood the process majorly by attending
the client meeting with the closing managers. And then prepared similar sales
pitch which was used to explain the project to the new clients.

The complete property was shown using the brochure, property video, presenter
and show flat and if the client was in town, we book a property visit for them with
the help of property managers and staffs.
7. SUGGESTIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

Outcomes of the internship :

Professional communication :

Working in a professional setting for the first time can be difficult to get used to. But it is the
best way to learn how to navigate the working world through real-life, hands-on experience.
One of the most valuable skills I gained from this internship is the ability to speak with
people in a professional setting. Discussions with bosses or coworkers are different from
discussions with lecturers or fellow students.
After this internship, I have a better idea of the appropriate way to behave as a professional.
This will help me a lot when I start interviewing for jobs because I will be more confident
and will sound more mature and experienced in a business setting.

In addition to the people who will be my references in the future, I left my internship with
new connections: senior employees, clients, fellow interns, etc.
These people can provide guidance, advice and help me in future job searches. Keeping
them in the loop on where I am in my career, and offer to help them whenever I can.
I made an effort during the course of my internship to build relationships with people
around the office.

Leadership & responsibility :

While I was an intern, I was responsible for various areas of the business for which I
worked. I had guidance and mentors, but I did have to make decisions on my own.
Through these experiences, I developed a sense of leadership (especially with regards
to speaking for and defending my ideas and decisions, not to mention actually making
decisions!), confidence (along with taking ownership of my decisions and their outcomes),
and responsibility (my decisions would impact the business).
These traits are invaluable when it comes to a career, and an internship is the perfect
place to learn and perfect them
Sales & Marketing:

Mostly sales activities are carried out on calls only. Potential customers are identified
by various sources – cold calling, digital marketing, and other online promotional
activities.

• Carried out Pre-sales activities for Zolostays Property Solutions.

• Meticulously studied about the project. Understood the lead generation

process in the industry.

• Sales is not just about selling the product but identifying and fulfilling the
needs of the customer.

• To attend each and every customer effectively and efficiently, we designed a

process for sales wherein we decided there will be 3 stages for attending a
customer.

• The idea is to make them feel good. And I talked to no. of people, which makes
the enquiry a bit serious and hence a better chance to convert them.

• For every customer that has been identified, a Sales Value Chain is followed.
The Importance of CRM in industry:

CRM stands for customer relationship management, but it can mean many different things:
Some agents regard it as software designed to help manage clients, someconsider CRM
to be a business philosophy and others view CRM as a process that involves strategy,
software and systems to gather, nurture and ultimately convert contacts to clients — and
then keep the relationship going after the sale.

Regardless of your definition, nearly every industry uses some form of a CRM solution in
their business. Which particular product they use isn’t as material as what they do with it.

In talking with dozens of employees who use CRM to convert contacts to clients, six
benefits rise to the top of the list.
1. A crm organizes tons of information at one place:

Most successful sales professionals have multiple lead generation streams. You probably
get contacts from sources such as your sphere of influence (SOI), website, social media
platforms, direct mail campaigns, farming, online advertising sites and others. Maintaining
individual databases for all these lead generation sources is cumbersome at best, and likely
horribly inefficient.

With a CRM, however, you can consolidate information from all your lead generation
sources in one place. Contacts are easily collected and organized, and you can access the
information from various platforms (desktop computer, laptop, tablet or mobile device).

2. CRM allows us to make immediate responses :

Responding immediately to inquiries, particularly online inquires, is a critical component of

successful conversion. Many real estate and co-living CRMs include a customizable auto-
response feature that enables you to provide an immediate response to contacts.

You might be thinking, “But auto-responders are so impersonal!” While an auto-response

such as, “Thanks for contacting us. We will get back to you ASAP” is indeed impersonal,
you can (and should) customize auto-response messages to each specific contact or group
of contacts.

Try telling it like it is. “Sorry for the auto-response! I’m currently out with clients and I wanted
you to know that I received your message. Our team is already working on your inquiry. As
soon as my schedule clears, I will get back to you.”

In the field, a good mobile app, like the Premier Agent® App, can serve as your CRM,
notifying you of incoming leads so you can immediately reply to them. Being responsive
— and doing it sooner rather than later — is the key to starting the client relationship.
8. CONCLUSION

These two months of internship at Zolostays can be summed up as the most enriching and
experiencing two months of my life.The Co-living industry has a lot to offer and so much
potential to be a billion dollars industry.

And, every day was a new learning experience for me at Zolostays. With this first experience
in the corporate world, I have come more knowledgeable and confident as a person. Here, I
actually applied my knowledge of the sales and marketing domain which I’m gaining during
my post- graduation.
8. REFERENCES

□ Shah Kazmi : Marketing Management, Excel Books, New Delhi,

2007, pp. 290-291

□ Marketing Management, 15th Edition, Philip Kotler, Northwestern

University

□ https://zolostays.com/

□ https://seal.zolostays.com/

□ https://www.linkedin.com/company/zolostays/

□ https://www.magicbricks.com/

□ https://www.99acres.com/Home-Real-Estate.htm

□ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/competitive-analysis-zolostays-
coliving-space- sugat-nayak/

□ https://yourstory.com/2019/04/nestaway-zolostays-oyo-life-india-coliving

□ https://www.cbinsights.com/company/company/zolo-competitors