Reintermediation or disintermediation? : the impact of e-commerce on commercial real estate brokerage

Abstract

The objective of this thesis, entitled "Reintermediation or Disintermediation? The Impact of ECommerce on Commercial Real Estate Brokerage", is to evaluate the impact of e-commerce on the functional areas of commercial real estate (CRE) brokerage. Our selected functional areas include: database, search engine (sort/match), tour guide, analysis, negotiation, and documentation & closing. The Introduction and Chapter 1 provide an overview of the CRE brokerage industry and current e-commerce business models, Chapter 2 through Chapter 7 examine each functional area from current state and future outlook perspectives, and, lastly, the Conclusion presents our vision for the future of e-commerce and CRE brokerage industry. In the process of evaluating the six functional areas, we will analyze the current business models of the major CRE brokerage-related e-commerce companies and attempt to identify the business models' potential success factors in relation to the functional areas. We will also discuss how commercial real estate brokers can leverage technology to remain competitive in their evolving marketplace and how e-commerce is likely to impact the brokerage industry's future compensation structure.