With just days to go before the launch of OnTheMarket, Zoopla has followed in the footsteps of Rightmove by issuing an upbeat report on its popularity with users.
It says it has hit record levels of both website and mobile activity during the period from New year's Day to January 13, with new highs in the number of visits across platforms.
On Tuesday this week the ZPG sites - Zoopla and PrimeLocation - saw a record level of traffic at just under 2m visits in a single day, with traffic for the period up 7.3 per cent over the same period last year. It is also claiming record levels of appraisal leads being sent to local agents via its websites, up 38 per cent year on year for the same period.
A statement from Zoopla Property Group also claims it delivered appraisal leads worth an estimated £150 million in fees to member agents and is set to smash that figure in 2015 based on early indications and enhancements it has made to its product.
Mobile traffic was up 32 per cent in the first two weeks of January compared to the same period last year.
There have now been five million app downloads with app traffic up 61 per cent year on year.
The bullish statement goes on to say that ZPG has the largest social media presence in the UK property sector, reaching an average of 4.5 million people per week via the Zoopla Facebook page alone.
Comments
It seems OnTheMarkets position is, with a few previously noted exceptions, that agents signing up to them may only advertise on one other[b] UK[/b] portal. This, of course, leaves the door wide open to agents marketing their properties on portals physically located outside the UK. So, whether agents are looking for additional exposure to UK customers or access to financially secure overseas buyers from, say, China via Juwai, or Asia via iProperty, the US via Realtor.com, or for that matter anywhere else in the world courtesy of the 500+ portals available through the XML2U distribution network, they can do so without infringing the OnTheMarket membership restriction.
An XML2U feed provides a significant marketing opportunity for agents looking to offer their properties around the world, on both free-to-advertise portals and those that charge for their services. Portals can be cherry-picked by the agent from a distribution list of more than 500 mainstream and niche portals on all Continents. XML2Us principal claim to fame is its ability to extract the property data direct from the agents website his export file, and convert the data into multiple formats to satisfy 95% of the worlds portals and other online marketing platforms (like Twitter and Facebook) without engaging with the agents software or technology provider.
It's a shame their share price is diving ! what's going on there then
Yes these are great figures for Zoopla, will this growth continue at a similar rate over the next 6-12 months Only time will tell. An exciting yet precarious time for the property industry!
Well they must be happy...but it would seem these will be the highest figures they achieve at least for the next six months or so...
Rightmove & Zoopla are both selective when quoting activity levels and also very shy when releasing comprehensive search data (Zoopla releases nothing unless they cherry-pick it). These numbers (above) relate to a focused period of intense advertising, which is simply not carried on throughout the year. I have recorded Rightmove search activity in 30 locations for the previous 12 months and can categorically state that the activity trend is very much a downward one. I would expect this trend to reverse post OnTheMarket though, as RM will be the only website that has anywhere near 100% market coverage. A point that will soon be picked up by the property searching public. As for Zoopla - I'd save the pennies on advertising and see if I could ride it out if I was them.
enjoy it while you can Zoopla!