Estate Agent Today

We have 58 guests online

Today's Headlines:

House prices fall or rise (take your pick)
4 comments
House prices went up slightly – by 0.4% – in July, the Land Registry has reported. It

Knight Frank stay quiet after conman is jailed
9 comments
A tenant who faked his identity when renting through Knight Frank has been jailed for three

Rich overseas buyers keep prime London market aloft
0 comments
Chinese buyers are expected to replace Russian investors as major players in the prime central London

Moving occasion: today's the day!
0 comments
The most popular moving date is today, September 1, the Post Office has revealed. The two next

Prospective first-time buyers sink to new low
0 comments
The proportion of buyers expecting to buy for the first time in the next 12 months

Housing market 'edging towards double dip' claim
2 comments
Net lending plummeted in July to the second lowest monthly figure since records began in 1993,

Henry Pryor Blog
0 comments
Welcome to a new monthly blog by Henry Pryor, estate agent turned entrepreneur, inventor and expert

Rightmove profits climb 39% as more agents sign up
14 comments
A rise in the number of agents and an overall willingness to pay more to Rightmove

Portal creates new 'check out your competition' stats
1 comments
Property portal Home has created some new statistic pages on its site which we reckon will

Six in ten mortgages are now for house purchase
2 comments
The proportion of mortgages being taken out for purchases, as opposed to remortgages, is at its

News Story

Tesco name to return to estate agency market

Friday 16th October 2009

Tesco is set to re-enter estate agency – with houses listed on the Tesco website – through Spicerhaart.

The move comes over a year after Spicerhaart’s purchase of Tesco Property Market from the supermarket chain.

The launch could be as early as the New Year and last night Tesco was confirmed as being involved.

A few locations will carry out the ground-breaking trials. It is thought there will be some valuers on the ground to win instructions but the bulk of the operation would be based centrally.

The operation is being launched under the banner of Indigo.

Yesterday evening, a spokeswoman confirmed to Estate Agent Today: “Spicerhaart is moving ahead with its new online estate agency business which will launch in the first half of 2010, subject to market conditions.

“The branding of the project, which is codenamed Indigo, has yet to be finalised and work on the software solution is continuing, with recruitment of web designers taking place.

“The business will start with a soft launch in a small number of locations which have yet to be finalised, although areas under consideration include Milton Keynes, Reading and Brighton.

“The agency is owned and controlled entirely by Spicerhaart and the management team, and will have a variety of business partners, including Tesco.”

Although, as confirmed by Spicerhaart, details are still being worked on, the new business is unlikely to copy the former, and swiftly ill-fated, Tesco Property Market model.

This launched, apparently as a property portal, in June 2007 to huge controversy, as it was regarded as a ‘Trojan horse’, using agents’ listing to get private sales.

Tesco Property Market, then headed by Mark Davis, also offered to sell houses for a flat £199 fee.

Agents who found that their properties had been added to the Tesco Property Market site without their knowledge quickly demanded their removal. Portals saw it as a huge threat. Fish4, which had supplied the properties, cancelled its contract within the first week. Rightmove and others refused from the start to give it access to their properties.

However, in September 2007, Tesco Property Market suspended its service when the OFT advised that it was acting as an estate agent, meaning that it would have to comply with the Estate Agents Act and other legislation.

In April 2008 it was announced that the business was being sold to Spicerhaart. Speculation was that the business had been sold cheaply.

Spicerhaart’s chief executive Paul Smith said at the time: “Spicerhaart is developing a new, innovative virtual estate agency business in partnership with Tesco, who will be the main distribution partner. This business… will offer a high quality estate agency service.”

Indigo is a company based in Crawley, West Sussex. It is listed online with related companies, including Darlows, Felicity J Lord and Haart. Tesco is not mentioned, in line with last night’s comment to EAT.

Separately online can be found an advertisement for a web designer to work for Indigo. Indigo is described in the advert as formerly Tesco Property Market, now owned by Spicerhaart.

There are four ‘Tesco Indigo’ companies listed on the Tesco website. These include one called Tesco Indigo, a private company incorporated on July 8, 2007, and another called The Tesco Indigo Limited Partnership, incorporated the same day.

Tesco was invited yesterday to comment on its possible move back into the estate agency market, but has so far not done so.

Send to a Friend Today's other headlines

View Comments 8 comments

Report Abuse

Posted By alex on Wednesday 11th November 2009 15:55:07

Get Profile

All I can say is that after dealing with Spicerhaart for the last 8 years, the whole thing is doomed from the start. It's not so much a matter of them selling vegetables more the case of it being run by vegetables.

Reply to this comment

Posted By Sue Clegg on Wednesday 21st October 2009 15:36:59

Get Profile

After trying 3 local estate agents, all pretty useless and expensive, I went with Tesco, but unfortunately it didn't last long. I'll definitely use them again or maybe Houseladder. Get a grip estate agents don't send kids out to do viewings, I might as well do it myself and save a fortune

Reply to this comment

Posted By frank Turner on Tuesday 20th October 2009 16:25:19

Get Profile

Mike Shitside,
Are you saying Estate Agents are vegetables ? Surely not LMAO!!!

Reply to this comment

Posted By club point on Friday 16th October 2009 20:37:40

Get Profile

Mmmmmm we will have to "check en out"

Reply to this comment

Posted By steve0 on Friday 16th October 2009 15:17:36

Get Profile

Funny I thought Spicerhaart were curry flavoured vegitables, I might be wrong about the curry bit but otherwise it looks to be true.

Reply to this comment

Posted By Brian on Friday 16th October 2009 15:11:35

Get Profile

Every little helps, which is lucky as Spicer's litttle market share is no threat, very different if someone qulaity, like say Connnells, Countrywide were invloved.

Reply to this comment

Posted By Mr Brightmove on Friday 16th October 2009 12:08:08

Get Profile

This is no real suprise. Tesco's are taking on the banks and just about everybody else. Mr Tesco was just dipping his toes in the water previously when Tesco Property Market was launched in 2007.

Reply to this comment

Posted By Mike Shitside on Friday 16th October 2009 11:14:46

Get Profile

A smart deal by Spicer and I can now confirm that having driven past my local spicer heart office they now display vegtables in their window.

Reply to this comment

Post Comments

Please login to post comments:

Post Comments without login

DISCLAIMER: The views contained in these user comments are not endorsed by Estate Agent Today (nor its associates and advertisers) in any way and are provided by users who wish to publish their independent opinions on our news. Whilst every effort is made to moderate these comments, due to the instant nature of the posting not all offensive material can be removed instantly. Please help us keep the comments areas tidy by reporting details of any infringements to team@estateagenttoday.co.uk

Most Read News Stories:

Three quarters of agents threaten to quit Rightmove
Friday 10th October 2008

EPCs on all properties for sale: VERY LATEST UPDATE
Monday 8th September 2008

HIPs abolition order is signed and ready
Monday 17th May 2010

NEWS FLASH – HIPs suspended
Thursday 20th May 2010

NEWS FLASH:HIPs face certain death
Wednesday 12th May 2010

RSS Feed

Share this article:

Digg it

Del.icio.us

Newsvine

Nowpublic

Facebook

Feedback:

If you have any questions or suggestions about this article or our news section, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Editorial Contact Details - Rosalind Renshaw | rosalind.renshaw@estateagenttoday.co.uk | 01252 843 566.