Zoopla.co.uk set to integrate propertyfinder.com to deliver unrivalled offering to UK estate agents and home movers
19th Oct 2009
Following the acquisition of the PropertyFinder Group from News Int'l over the summer, Zoopla.co.uk - the UK's fastest growing property portal - will integrate all of its websites onto a single, world-class technology platform in the next couple of weeks. The move will combine the best features of each website and deliver an enhanced experience for the group's estate agent members and millions of home movers that use the sites every month.
All of the brands in the Zoopla portfolio - Propertyfinder.com, HotProperty.co.uk and ThinkProperty.com (recently acquired from Guardian Media Group) - will become 'powered by' Zoopla and there will be significantly increased marketing investment put behind the Zoopla.co.uk brand from November onwards. UKPropertyShop.co.uk, the leading online agent directory, also owned by Zoopla will remain separate for the time being but members will continue to enjoy enhanced exposure in the directory as part of their membership.
The combined platform will offer huge advantages for agent members and an unrivalled set of features. By uniting the 3rd and 4th most visited property businesses in the UK, agents will benefit from greatly enhanced exposure for their listings and their brands. The Zoopla group will also power an impressive range of property partnerships with leading UK websites including MSN, Yahoo!, Guardian, Tiscali, UpMyStreet and Virgin.
There will be no change to fees for existing members but the combined group will now offer a unique dual pricing structure, giving agents the flexibility to choose between paying a fixed monthly fee for 'unlimited' leads or paying on a 'pay-per-lead' basis. Agent members will also soon be offered a whole range of new features exclusive to Zoopla.co.uk including valuation leads from potential vendors and a variety of premium placement opportunities to enable the agent's brand and listings to be featured more prominently.
Alex Chesterman, CEO of Zoopla Limited, commented: "The driving force behind our recent acquisitions was a desire to combine the expertise in the businesses and to create a unique, market-leading proposition for our member agents and the millions of home-movers using our websites every month. We plan to continue to transform the online property landscape in the UK and partner with our member agents to deliver more leads, more viewings, more services and help them to win more instructions and business. It is our intent to be the most efficient marketing partner for UK estate agents and provide them the widest possible exposure and best value online marketing services."
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For further information, please contact PR Team on pr@zoopla.co.uk or +44 (0)20 3873 8770.
Notes to editors
Zoopla awards
We are proud to have won numerous awards and added several trophies to our cabinet:
- Winner: 'Best Property Portal 2009' (Daily Mail UK Property Awards)
- Winner: 'Best Real Estate Website 2008' (Websiteoftheyear.co.uk)
- Winner: 'Best Property Website - Gold Award' (Web User Magazine)
- Winner: 'UK's Most Promising Internet Company 2008' (First Tuesday)
About Zoopla.co.uk
Zoopla.co.uk is a unique property website offering users information and tools to help them make better-informed property decisions. Our aim is to provide the most comprehensive source of residential property market information in the UK to help buyers, sellers, owners and estate agents alike and give them an advantage in the property market.
In 2007, following the success of bringing DVD rental to the web with LOVEFiLM.com, Zoopla founders Alex Chesterman and Simon Kain realised that the UK property market had yet to fully enjoy the benefits of the internet in terms of its ability to deliver transparency and efficiency. They set out with the mission to transform the property market for both professionals and consumers by:
- offering users FREE access to instant value estimates, sold house prices and local information and trends
- enhancing estate agents' marketing efficiency by providing exposure/leads on a pay-for-performance basis
- helping users find local agents and other property professionals to assist them in the transaction process
- letting buyers make offers on ANY UK home and owners test interest in their homes before choosing to sell
- creating an environment where anyone can ask/answer questions and share their knowledge about homes
By providing FREE value estimates for EVERY UK home, sold prices and local information as well as hundreds of thousands of property listings for sale/to rent, Zoopla.co.uk is fast-becoming the ultimate destination for users to both search for property and to do their market research. We continue to be the UK's fastest growing property website and largest and most active property community, with over a million user contributions to our website in the past 12 months alone. We also offer unique features, like TemptMe. and AskMe., which allow consumers to gain an insight into the market and discover information they won't find anywhere else. Our estate agent directory, FindAnAgent and our unique AskAnAgent feature also help guide users to local professionals directly for their expertise.
We launched our website in January 2008 and since then we've been on a non-stop path to transform the UK online property sector. Our user numbers continue to grow impressively and we have consistently been the UK's fastest growing property website for the past 18 months, now attracting over 1.5 million visits per month to our website.
In July 2009 we acquired Thinkproperty.com from the Guardian Media Group and in August 2009 we added Propertyfinder.com, one of the UK's largest property portals, which we purchased from News International.
Our value estimates are calculated using a proprietary algorithm (secret formula) that we have developed by analysing millions of data points relating to property sales and home characteristics throughout the UK. The algorithm works by comparing relationships between home prices, economic trends and property characteristics in given geographic areas. Our estimates are constantly refined, using the most recent data available and a variety of statistical methodologies, in order to provide the most current information on any home.
Zoopla Limited is a privately held company with a highly experienced and proven management team, backed by well-respected angel investors and leading venture capital firms Atlas Venture (atlasventure.com) and Octopus Ventures (octopusventures.com).