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 appraisal 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 Ltd, 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.’
