Money pours into Rightmove as revenues soar |
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Wednesday 3rd August 2011
Rightmove’s revenues shot up 20% in the first half of this year to £47m – of which an incredible £33.4m was profit.
In its half-year results for the six months to June 30 released this morning, Rightmove said that there had been strong growth across its entire business, with a 3% increase in the number of agents and developers listing properties on it and a 45% leap in revenue from additional advertising profits.
Rightmove’s website traffic has seen a 23% increase, up from 3.9bn page impressions to 4.8bn when comparing the first six months of 2010 to 2011, with May 2011 being the website’s busiest month ever.
As part of this strong performance in traffic, significant growth has been seen in Rightmove’s mobile traffic which accounted for 14% of all property searches in June 2011 compared to just 5% in June a year ago.
The number of advertisers on Rightmove now stands at 18,480, a 3% year-on-year increase, and revenue from additional advertising products has seen a 45% increase.
Take-up of additional advertising products has helped Rightmove to increase its first half-year revenues by 20% to £47.0m, up from £39.2m in 2010, with underlying operating profit for this period of £33.4m.
Rightmove’s managing director Ed Williams said: “We continue to invest heavily in advertising and development to ensure we can provide value to Rightmove member agents in enabling their properties and brand to reach the largest possible audience.
“Increased take-up of our additional products demonstrates the confidence our member advertisers have in using Rightmove to achieve their advertising goals.”
The size of Rightmove’s lead over its competitors continued to grow, with overall market share up 1% to 83% of all page impressions on the top four UK property websites. The first six months of 2011 also saw Rightmove cement its position as one of the top ten most used websites by UK consumers, alongside web giants such as Google and Facebook. No other property website comes within the top 100.
Williams added: “Our ‘Britain Moves at Rightmove’ television advertising campaign successfully reflected how Rightmove has become firmly engrained within the home-moving habits of the British public. This is highlighted by our position as one of the nation’s top ten most used websites.”
Rightmove shares have doubled in value since this time a year ago.
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Added by PropertyHawk on 2011-09-13 21:05:27
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HD, good to read your comments here “, the last two months have seen Zoopla bringing in more quality buyer and tenant leads, and many appraisal leads, than rightmove. “. Your finding seems no longer to be an exception in both number and quality. Are you able to share your findings please around the uniqueness of response i.e. the percentage of duplication between rightmove and Zoopla viewing and valuation leads, this would be highly useful?
Latest MediaTel / UKOM survey shows 51% of portal competitor Zoopla’s audience does not go to rightmove…. |
Added by Andy Smith on 2011-08-08 09:36:50
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Hi PeeBee,
Perhaps I should have stated landlord leads, but we do get many vendor leads too from Zoopla. I never gained any from RM in 6 months. We have only just started with INEA, so the properties will start to come in this week for extra commissions although there are very few agents signed up in my area. We have stepped back in terms of advertising etc. One of the main reasons is that I am not prepared to take on instructions that are over priced because I don't have the time to waste for the sake of earning a few quid on EPC's and throwing it away on advertising. I have been appraising properties all year, but other EA's especially the large chains are still ramping up prices by 10-20% above anything else on the market to gain the instruction and are happy to have it on their books for years. I'm trying to run a respectable business and do not want to be seen as just another agent. Another reason is simply that we don't have many buyers in Swansea. There are lots of SSTC's, but few complete. It's a struggle down here at the moment. We are only selling to investors at the moment and many of those are properties that are let and the landlords are off-loading or retiring. I keep running the numbers and sales just do not add up for us in the current market and that's why all our time and effort is going on lettings and management. Because of this our business is booming and we are expanding pretty fast. Once new staff have bedded in, I will look at re-launching sales again, but only if the figures stack up. |
Added by PeeBee on 2011-08-05 15:36:50
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Andy Smith: You state in two separate posts...
"Zoopla brings in all the vendor leads we need and lets most of our properties. We also use INEA which is fantastic for networking and gives us 100's of properties to earn commission on." "Yes we do only sell 2 or 3 per month simply because we have stepped back from sales for several reasons." Is this a case of 'make your mind up'? That is how it reads... Interesting to know what your "several reasons" were. |
Added by Ric on 2011-08-05 11:10:12
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Stephen.....even RM would not even want you to do that.
They would rather take £2k a month of 4 agents, than £2.5k a month off one (on the basis that the other 4 agents will atleast double the stock of the one) RM users are not interested in you! they are only interested in the property portal with the most property in a village, so like Ace says, buyers looking in your village would stop using RM if just you were on it. That said, feel free to convince an agent in every village in the UK that your idea is a good one, you would be a hero in my eyes if your idea caught on!...although have you ever thought if you want a website with just your own property on "promote your own a little more" it would be cheaper than you current thought process! |
Added by Andy Smith on 2011-08-05 10:44:02
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Hi Brian,
Yes we do only sell 2 or 3 per month simply because we have stepped back from sales for several reasons. RM may well be perfect for agents that sell a good number of property. I was stating my experiences which have not been value for money. It is down to each EA to decide whether or not it is financially viable to use RM. I pulled out of RM because we simply did not get enough leads to cover the costs. Same as why we do not use the local property newspaper. From memory that was costing £1,000 per lead. With regards to INEA. I think this is a very positive step and will no doubt expand quite quickly. I don't see why any EA would turn away extra income streams. |
Added by AceofSpades on 2011-08-05 09:46:13
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Stephen - well you are a fool then.
With just your stock on Rightmove in your area, do you actually think the locals will ONLY use the one portal to find property, if all they can see if listings from ONE agent? They wouldn't look at the other portals that are displaying the rest of the local stock? Or ignore adverts from other agents in the paper? Turn a blind eye to reputation and recommendations too? Good luck with that mate. |
Added by Stephen on 2011-08-04 21:26:04
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Err, I think we are missing comething here.
Estate agents are in competition with one another. We don't work together and we never will. So how can we join together to demand a price from Rightmove. Agents who are not in rightmove is either too small or too big to bother. I wish everyone agent in my area would leave rightmove and go to the other crap portals with 50% uptake. In fact I would be happy to pay rightmove to stop putting ads for the other agents, as I will definitely be laughing all the way to the bank. |
Added by Ric on 2011-08-04 18:21:46
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| TDGP "Just for fun" would start to charge more and a new monster would be created.... |
Added by Fun Boy Agent on 2011-08-04 17:33:03
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Just for fun.. consider we all get onto TDPG with our listings.
Then,,,,, just for fun, TDPG get more clicks, then, just for fun RM try another price hike to get profits up even more, and just for fun, all agents took a 2 month subscription holiday from listing on RM. Just for fun of course. What would happen? |
Added by John on 2011-08-04 16:59:00
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Interesting stuff Ric thanks for a bit of an insight as I had half guessed myself on those sort of rates but had been told by someone else that it certainly varies... hmmm
Sorry to all for change of subject |
Added by Ric on 2011-08-04 16:49:49
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John - You couldnt have asked at a better time.
Just got an email headed "an offer you cant say no to" and a statement within "we will do whatever it takes" to get my business from TDPG. So you cant resist, I replied "excellent, 2 years for free please, rolling contract no ties" and you guessed it they will not do this. They will however offer me a deal per branch for less than £40, rolling contract no ties! but on pointing out my stock would double the property count in each specific village on there website, I suggested perhaps "free for a period" is the right thing......anyway, it appears communications have broken down when I said "no" to his "cant say no offer". What ever it takes, surely therefore they would be doing it for "free" if I have told them thats what it will take! |
Added by HD on 2011-08-04 16:48:13
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John
I don't know about free, but if its true what others have said on here, you would be amazed what some others pay or have been offered by TDPG. I won't say numbers, because they will be deleted, but its pretty shocking. |
Added by PeeBee on 2011-08-04 16:43:18
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"...simple truth is that Tescos controls the buyers..." Sorry, Gloria Andaluza - but yet again I disagree strongly with what you have to say.
Tesco open their doors: the "buyers" walk in. They may buy something, they may not. EVERY MEMBER of staff in Tesco, ASDA, Morrisons, M&S - the list goes on right down to Arkwright's corner shop - are dependent upon THE PUBLIC buying goods in their premises. Now - with that in mind - WHO is in control?? |
Added by John on 2011-08-04 16:33:07
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| Sorry don't want to change subject but do some agents pay for the DPG and others get it free ? Are there any discussions on this site regarding this as I would be very interested for feedback. Thank you |
Added by HD on 2011-08-04 16:27:53
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Ric, we're outskirts of London.
I was a little skeptical joining up, which i normally am for everything when people are trying to sell me something, but its doing a job for me. Just about to sack TDPG which is doing diddly for us. |
Added by Ric on 2011-08-04 16:17:39
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| Hi HD Interesting to hear your Zoopla comments! You dont need to tell me the village, but are you north or south, I am in the Stockport, Cheshire area and Zoopla gives little up here! It seems to be Zoopla strong in the South and not so in the North, I might be wrong but thats what I hear or the impression I get. |
Added by AceofSpades on 2011-08-04 16:13:50
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The prospect of RM taking private listings is one of the biggest fears on this forum - not mine though for sure.
IF they did, it would give all of the sheep agents the confidence to come off their site....get off or pay up! ...and what would that leave them with? Lots of Joe Public's listing on their site, getting themselves in a bit of a pickle because they have no idea what they are suppose to being doing and how they are suppose to do it. All the while, the days of £33.4 million proft seem to be sailing away. If I was selling? I'd use an agent. Take the 1.5%, maximize the exposure of my property to your new and existing candidates, with you experience and expertise. And importantly - getting me a decent price. If I was buying? It is FREE for the buyer to use an agent - NO BRAINER! The tip of the iceberg is that buying a property through an agent is a massive USP in itself, against buying privately from Joe Bloggs. Joe typically doesn't have a clue, has no knowledge of how to measure a chain, let alone what one is, who simply wants loadsa wonga, offering you restricted viewing times because he/she is out at work between 8am - 6.30pm. Don't come after 7pm as the kids go to bed.... I think Rightmove going for private sellers is what most agents will actually want and need but don't know it yet. Your biggest worry is that RM buy out two or three successful independents per area and then offer their own agency brand, expanding month on month - that's the real danger ;) |
Added by Jonnie on 2011-08-04 15:53:05
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Lets look at this for a sec – RM are turning a profit of 71% - they can send a BDM into see one agent sign them up at £350.00 a month (say) and have all that agents property loaded up the next day – Jubbly……………. Or as some say here they could start doing private sellers or just become an agent themselves, what a lot of aggro? Plus the moment the private ads pop up I expect there would be one of those lunch meetings where the top boys and girls from LSL, Spicerhaart, Countrywide, Connells tell RM they are not pleased and they are to choose between self seller market or them, that’s before Arun, KFH and the other big independent outfits start talking. Plus, how much of your 71% profit margin will you have to get rid of to administer thousands of private one off clients – lots. However – RM are building something else that never gets acknowledged and that’s historic house market data and that I predict is the next move……………….yup, another flippin index! Im not talking abhout the short press releases they do on average prices now, a proper one. So, it was the big agents that started RM and they would all have that lunch together and do it again if they had too, just this time more of the mid size lot would want in and everyone would hold onto the shares this time Jonnie |
Added by HD on 2011-08-04 15:50:40
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Ric, you are correct.
I have said myself before, if rightmove don't provide me with the leads I need, i will leave. If RM, did start their own private listings (which I dont think they will), but if they did, and it still paid its way for me, I would stay. Currently for me at the moment, the last two months have seen Zoopla bringing in more quality buyer and tenant leads, and many apprisal leads, than rightmove. |
Added by Ric on 2011-08-04 15:36:26
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HD they do in an odd way but RM still charge per month to these companies so if they told a vendor £350 a month until you sell....watch the take up....Imagine Mrs Smith, 8 months unsold £2,800 down with RM! Yet with an agent nothing lost until she sells.
The little onliners just hope to get enough or lets say at least one each month to pay the £350 monthly bill (or whatever it is!) Perhaps they should control some of the cheap ones which just feed RM but to be honest they cause no harm and are often selling over priced property for people who want to pay peanuts. I like having the current bunch of onliners, it almost confirms the importance of High Street Agency in a hard market, as just popping it on RM is not always and often simply not enough. |
Added by HD on 2011-08-04 15:14:00
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RM are already sort of taking private listing from vendors already, via these cheap little online agents offering to get you onto rightmove for £50 or £100 quid or whatever.
When I first started using Rightmove in my own practice 6 years ago, i met with a rep, and they checked me out and said that to qualify to use the site, we had to carry out valuations and visit people in their homes etc, which we do. I actually like rightmove, but I think they need to be outlawing these cheapo little practices. |
Added by Ric on 2011-08-04 14:51:30
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Hi Gloria, (always good to have differing opinions)
I do think that the day RM allow for private sellers most agents will think "what the hell are we funding them for" at the minute we fund them as they are a great platform for property and do only allow agents to advertise. Plus they already have a market share of property in the UK and people only use the site for this reason. BUT as soon as vendors start withdrawing property from Agents in the UK because they can go direct with RM will be the day the EA business owners will say thats enough and the only fight back will be to withdraw. I may be wrong and I suppose only when and if the time comes will we know, but if any agents on here would share their thoughts that if RM allowed private sellers would you come off RM or stay on? I honestly think that the fear agents have of coming off RM would go away in an instant as the only actual way to then stop a very powerful force having the first real impact on the online market would be to take away immediately the very thing people visit that site for. And I can not imagine 75% or more of the public will sign up to Pay RM money upfront quicker than it would take the agents could rubbish RM. I am however assuming most agents like me would feel there is no other option if RM allowed for private listings as our monthly fees would then be funding the private market which at present we may moan about RM fees but they are atleast on the agents side and publically show this. |
Added by Monkey Tennis on 2011-08-04 13:09:02
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| I agree with Gloria, its only a matter of time until Rightmove gets more powerful/profitable than the estate agency industry and at that juncture they will announce private listings which will obliterate low-middle market agency. Premium estate agents will survive in some form becos joe millionaire wont be arxxxed uploading his property details and showing all viewers . |
Added by Gloria Andaluza on 2011-08-04 12:38:40
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I disagree Ric, saying that the definitive moment will arrive when agents will declare with one voice that now is the moment to walk will never arrive because there will never be a definitive moment, just incremental changes, none of which trigger the reaction by themselves, only when viewed in retrospect will agents be annoyed but will not risk being the only agent in town not to be on RM.
My sister works for a supplier to Tescos, they get squeezed like you would not believe, it sounds horrendous to me. Every so often suppliers try and form some half hearted group, but it always fails, simple truth is that Tescos controls the buyers, so they get to control the suppliers to. Same thing in our line, RM will one day monopolise all the buyers, so agents will be in such hock that bit by bit we can be removed. I am not desperately concerned, I will retire inside 10 years, but I would not tell my daughter to get into this game. |
Added by Ric on 2011-08-04 10:24:20
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Gloria, I think the ONLY day RM will move to online agency or letting private sellers join is the day Agents do exactly what Chris campaigned for. But even then they would need to see 50% of members come off and continuing trend in that fashion.
Them doing this now or at any point when membership is steady would cause an instant problem for them and one they would not solve. Millions of properties on RM one day and none the next, when the agents all come off for a valid reason. Then they have to convince people over night that RM will continue to attract numbers becuase of its brand name, yet with no properties it is just like Tesco, Google convincing people to pay direct etc (both of which can boast the brand name but not the stock and users go on a few times, see nowt and rarely return.) They would have to replenish millions of property within a week or two and hope another property portal does not say Thank You RM for stepping aside over to us! Even I would consider the option of propertal portal business if RM let it core revenue go! It would leave the door far too wide open to be shut and agents would quickly be able to say and would that "RM has proved no longer useful to us and you hense no properties on there, go on have a look, my website has more houses! why not visit XYZ.com where every agent has its properties displayed.........over night success for that website. Only if RM do enough to cause that mass walk out will the above ever happen and they are not daft because they know it would be the wrongmove.com! |
Added by Gloria Andaluza on 2011-08-04 09:35:31
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Chris, you just summed up why Rightmove fees will only go up.
I also suspect it is only a matter of time before they start an online estate agency as well, at a price none of us can compete with. |
Added by Brian on 2011-08-04 09:24:14
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Andy Smith - you lost any shred of credibility you had when you announced being proud of being in the INEA a web for the very poorest agents. So you selling 1 2 or 3 a month??
Rightmove is just a quality business and our competitive EA industry will keep them NO 1 for a good time yet as with a few exceptions those that spout about having left it are the small boys not selling enough to be noticed. |
Added by Chris on 2011-08-04 01:44:58
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Last month, I set up a web based forum for agents to get themselves organised and demand lower fees from Rightmove or threaten them with a mass exodus!
I mentioned this forum several times on this site in various threads and while hundreds looked at it, only a handful joined, including a few portal owners hoping to pick up some business, so with lack of interest, I scrapped it. I now have no sympathy for agents who moan about Rightmove or their fees. I gave you the chance to do something about the situation and was effectively told to p1$$ off. I only have a few more years to run my business before I retire and sell it or shut it down, so I'll carry on with RM for a little longer. Save your breath, no one will take part in a mass exodus, so let's just carry on as we are shall we! |
Added by B B Baracus on 2011-08-03 22:59:25
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RM are on fire.
You're not. RM must be doing it wrong . . . idiots. You tell them how they should be doing it. |
Added by customer contact on 2011-08-03 22:11:18
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| We are with rightmove we have had 1 call fron their so called customer service dept in 1 year. their local rep is arrogant and very unable to give straight answers regarding questions in respect of charge rates.......they should offer better customer service and reward loyal agents by adjusting their monthly fees downwards instead of "Sweethearting" some, and not others. |
Added by van basten on 2011-08-03 17:51:07
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Rightmove wether right or wrong is still the best tool by miles to sell instructions.
There are no other sites that come near. I tried digital property group as a poss alternative....primelocation does not even have a BUNGALOW search facility.When I queeried this I was told by customer services that"a bungalow is a type of house sir "" that is why we list all bungalows under a HOUSE banner and not bungalow" And most of you who critisise RM are happy to put your properties(mis described) on a shoddy excuse for a portal that is primelocation. |
Added by Gary on 2011-08-03 15:34:06
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| The Truth, looks like AceofSpades just made your point about the stupidity of some agents. He just attacked your point, and in doing so backed it up. As you say an online EA through RM is only a matter of time and numbnuts like him will be the amongst the first to get rolled. |
Added by Ashfod Agent on 2011-08-03 15:25:33
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And Rightmove wins again by getting everyone talking about THIER BRAND, good or bad, it's all good publicity for them. Got to hand it to them really!!
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Added by AceofSpades on 2011-08-03 14:36:18
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The Truth - IF you hated Apple or Coca Cola, you wouldn't buy their ipads or bottles of fizz.
Now, I know plenty of agents who think Rightmove is great. There are some that thinks it's good, but a little steep. Some hate it, but this is only because of the fee. Take the fee out of the equation and everyone loves it. Either way, it is the most user friendly portal of the lot. It's easy to use, smooth and an all round excellent site. What's the point in having lots of portals? Defeats the object for the end user. The important factors for a portal are: - High volumes of visitors - check - Deliver xxx number of leads per month - check - Good stock levels - check - An enjoyable experience for the end user - check Now, Rightmove deliver of these plus more. It does not matter if you love, hate or envy them; if they deliver this and you can afford the fee, it is a no-brainer. Your comparison to coca cola and apple is confused and stupid. If you do not like the physical product of Apple, you don't buy it. It is a personal and closed decision. A service such as Rightmove it not - there are so many extra factors to Rightmove and what it does for your business, which you have failed to grasp. I find it embarassing that you don't like paying your car insurance, but your DD leaves your account each month - ha ha ha ! See how silly that sounds? |
Added by Gary on 2011-08-03 14:20:21
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Reading Fun Boy Agent slam the RM business model is amusing when they are worth £1.3 billion and he is sat on the junior negotiators desk of his local EA.
I also like this bit “They cant go direct to the public, they dont have the bods on the ground to do the listings” he will get a shock then when RM offer vendors the option of vendors uploading directly. Most Agents outsource all their floor plans and photos and EPC’s. After RM becomes even more of a household name they won’t need EA, vendors can pay for the particulars agent and list direst themselves. |
Added by Sibley's B'stard Child on 2011-08-03 13:41:50
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FBA,
If it were the case that another site had more listings than RM then it would be silly not to use them. I quickly realised (when first looking for a house) that that wasn't the case. I guess it's coincidental (or perhaps precisely because of?) that RM is a much nicer website to use. |
Added by Ray Evans on 2011-08-03 13:36:22
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@The Truth.
I have a great deal of sympathy with your views. EA's built RM into the force that it is - all for free! However, that is all water under the bridge now. Whatever other portals come up with RM has the clout to match them and some. It is wishful to think that any of the EA's will group in big enough numbers to make a difference by withdrawing. As an independent for over thirty five years I do not like it but it is a case of use them or don't . |
Added by The Truth on 2011-08-03 13:15:08
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| RM are one of the most amazing companies in the UK. They illustrate perfectly the general level of stupidity in the EA community. Firstly, it was EAs who set up RM in the first place. Admittedly a couple of the big multiples did have some equity, but sold out at the bottom of the market! But most of the EA early adopters had no equity - they just volunteered their listings. RM said 'thanks very much' and gradually accumulated more and more of them. Before the muppet EAs knew what was happening the end customers were hooked on RM. Then did the beast emerge from the closet. RM embarked on an aggressive price hike policy which they continue to this day. RM are a comic company because almost all their customers detest them! Can you imagine that with Apple, or Coca Cola? But it is the case with RM. Their customers loath them and wish them dead - but send the DD each month. And they sign up more and more and many of those who leave come back again with their tails between their legs. The growth and now total dominance of RM is one of the most comic stories in recent UK business history. I just wonder how long it is before they open an online estate agency division and REALLY stick it to the poor EAs. |
Added by Ray Evans on 2011-08-03 13:07:33
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@Fun Boy Agent.
Please do not be so insulting. I have been an investor in RM since the beginning and my firm also subscribed since the beginning. Where do I suggest that buyers or sellers PAY? I said of RM ...."They will provide everything that the agent needs and what is required by seller or buyer".... I do understand the 'model' |
Added by Chris Holmes on 2011-08-03 13:04:58
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You just have to admire the profit margins that RM make but you have to admire them even more for having the balls to increase their prices AND posy ever increasing profits. You can survive with out being listed on Rightmove as many buyers also look on the other portals because when you Google a property you get all the results of several property sites.
The model is flawed though with its "One price for all" structure which brings me nicely to my job in life which due to the activity of panels etc; has become a "One price for all properties" job in many instances. What job is that? providing EPCs. Often DEAs are expected to work for a flat fee regardless of property size so a 5 bed country retreat with a 30 mile round trip pays the same as a 1 bed flat a mile away. Only if you roll over and give in though. Like esate agents though DEAs are not united enough to take on the panels and raise the fees just as estate agents are not united enough to pull out of Rightmove en mass. Just imagimne though if they rally together and pull even 50% of the advertsing from Rightmove, watch the share price then! |
Added by Fun Boy Agent on 2011-08-03 12:53:13
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Sibley,
so if 90% of the 'stock' was on another site you would click that instead? no? yes? |
Added by Sibley's B'stard Child on 2011-08-03 12:50:44
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Addendum,
Plus (rightly or wrongly) I perceive RM to have a greater share of overall stock (be to let or buy) than other sites so I don't see the point in trawling through other sites to pick out the listings that aren't already on RM. |
Added by Sibley's B'stard Child on 2011-08-03 12:45:37
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IO,
Likewise, when I was looking for a house to rent I din't bother looking at any other site than RM. Of course, all the agent cares about is how many leads a site generates; all the end user cares about is ease of use, aesthetics and functionality. |
Added by Fun Boy Agent on 2011-08-03 12:41:22
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Ray,
It may have escaped your attention that Rightmove receive no revenue from Joe Public whatsoever. Their revenue comes in from Estate Agents. Estate Agents since 2007 have seen 50% of their previous volumes go west. As an industry we have less in the kitty by half. The 47 million Great British Pounds paid to RM is received from Estate Agents. Estate Agents trudge the streets, drop the leaflets, make the phone calls, take the photos, measure the properties, do the write up's, do the negotiations, deal with offers, deal with surveyors, deal with solicitors, listen to angry buyers, listen to angry vendors, etc. The EA makes his brochure and uploads it to RM, a few clicks later, there is an enquiry. End of the month the EA has to pay RM a small fortune no matter what commission he has received himself. That is how it works. IF.. agents stopped uploading to RM they would get no clicks. No longer market leader. IF RM wanted to only deal with corporates' the rest of us would gladly let them. IF RM claim that 70% of property on their site is unsold how does this sit with their 70% profit? RM could go so, so wrong at any time. They cant go direct to the public, they dont have the bods on the ground to do the listings, that is done by the Agents, their customers. Please understand the business model. |
Added by Ray Evans on 2011-08-03 11:45:21
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Part of my Monday post......
Nothing changes – many same old views (not all) repeated over and over again! .....the Rightmove influence. It would seem that Rightmove, with most agents unqualified support – now of necessity, is well on the way to being a property Tesco if they so wish – I can see nothing to stop them - the horse has bolted. They will provide everything that the agent needs and what is required by seller or buyer. The subscription costs will such that they will be afforded only by agents with a high turnover and good cash flow. Size will increasingly matter. Time to stop gazing at navels folks. Small independents could bury their differences and probably merge their individual offices in some way into multi-offices under an agreed name ( if in a viable geographical area ) but their ‘headline banner’ name will be increasingly RM? So, possbly, "Rightmove – Your County (?) Agents"' ? |
Added by Andy Smith on 2011-08-03 11:36:31
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We stopped advertisind in the local paper as well as RM because neither were cost effective.
All I am saying is that I beleive many agents do not know if it is cost effective or not. They just believe that they must be in the paper and/or on RM. Our company is growing on a regular basis without either of the 2. Zoopla brings in all the vendor leads we need and lets most of our properties. We also use INEA which is fantastic for networking and gives us 100's of properties to earn commission on. |
Added by PeeBee on 2011-08-03 11:32:45
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Scottish Agent: "With some tailoring of their model, they really could dominate the market..."
Erm - I think if you check again you will find that they DO dominate the market... ;o) |
Added by Industry Observer on 2011-08-03 11:30:41
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My post relates entirely to lettings really but as so many estate agents also let then maybe appropriate to also post here rather than waiting for it to appear on LAT.
@Scottish Agent I sympathise but "a flawed model" - it is a mechanism to print money!! @Terry may be closer to the right line in terms of market domination. The true if unpalatable position is that Right Move as far as lettings are concerned is a necessary, and unavoidable evil. Why - two reasons. First Landlords expect to see their property there - and I really do mean "expect". I imagine vendors are the same though they are involved in a slower process, as lettings happen much quicker. Second the latest stats I have seen I think confirmed that 85% of lettings now come from tenants who have viewed on-line, and presumably an awful lot of them via RM. I am just re-letting my son's flat for him and the enquiries from RM far outweigh those from the other portals that the office which kindly lists these friends and families properties for me also uses. RM is far too expensive but then they are a with for profit company. What they also are is the most arrogant company I have ever encountered in 40 years of commercial life - but then when you are market dominant maybe you can afford to adpopt a "here's our best price for you, take it or leave it". I would imagine estate agents are maybe slightly less reliant than lettings agents, but both seem to be very much hostage to RM |
Added by AceofSpades on 2011-08-03 10:30:45
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They have created a product that is now a key marketing tool for most agents throughout the UK.
The massive profit margins? Credit to them. If it is worth the money, stick with it. If it is not, leave. You don't have to wait for a mass exodus, where you all leave at once, hand in hand, skipping through the meadows - if it really is that bad/over-priced, just end your account with them. It's not difficult really, but the same old merry go round of comments each time Rightmove is mentioned is very boring. Someone has already commented that Rightmove is MUCH cheaper than the local papers....there is no competition between the two. |
Added by Scottish Agent on 2011-08-03 10:21:47
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I'm also of the same opinion as Ashford Agent !
It's hardly surprising RM are making massive profits when they're charging 4x more than the vast majority of other property portals and charge small agents just the same as large ones. A small agent in a rual area with 15 properties for sale is charged the same as an inner city agent with 400 properties for sale. Yes RM may be good value if your average sale is £300k plus and you have a lot of properties on. Our average sale in Scotland is £120k and we have substantially less than 100 properties for sale. For us its simply not worth it. Zoopla and Scottish property portal s1homes can both be had for half the overall cost. With a bit of common sense RM could have 100% market coverage if their pricing relating to the amount of properties listed rather than blanket pricing everyone the same. Could you imagine Autotrader charging the same price for listing 1 car for sale as it would to list 50 ? Or ebay charging the same listing price for 1 item as for a dozen ? With some tailoring of their model, they really could dominate the market, but at present its flawed as the pricing is misproportional. |
Added by Ashford Agent on 2011-08-03 09:49:48
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I'm not surprised to hear the amount of profits they are making with the ridiculous prices they are charging.
Andy - I agree it can work if all agents pull togather on a small scale like a town, but nationally it will never happen. Agents are too scared to leave rightmove as the public ask for it, unfortunately im in that number!! |
Added by PbroAgent on 2011-08-03 09:46:50
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When the RM rep came in, and was trying to sell the premium property addon (or whatever they call it) I asked how many additional leads on average highlighting a property generated. For a company that is full of stats, this was one figure they weren't able to give me.
Perhaps because these add ons don't generate any additional leads. |
Added by Anonymous Coward on 2011-08-03 09:31:19
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I will say it again.
I don't work for RM, but I do really like the service. I think they are great value for money. Applicant generation is brilliant. User experience is amazing. For us agents Rightmove PLUS is really bloody useful if you use it properly. And the cost? Yes it costs, but I spend at least twice as much on the local paper. |
Added by Ric on 2011-08-03 09:11:34
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Morning Andy Smith
RM to be fair are streets ahead of Zoopla and a more cleaner straght forward website in my opinion and certainly not worth coming off RM just to fund Zoopla and save a bit of money. I have just responded to the local Zoopla rep who tells me, they had a full 55 valuation leads in my area so I am missing out not being with them, when I questioned "my area" they said 55 leads between every SK postcode, now SK1 to SK23 with a MASSIVE area of coverage .... @Marketeer Hi and can you tell me is Unique users referred to sometimes as unique "site" "urls" "referrers" or "user agents" on analytic pages, I am trying to work my companies Unique user information and I have 4 results headed with a "unique" prefix..... not sure which I should be looking at (thanks if you know) |
Added by Terry on 2011-08-03 09:05:41
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71% net profit
Surely this should be one for the monopolies commission to investigate |
Added by marketeer on 2011-08-03 09:03:53
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| Andy - you are certainly right about their stats. There is no doubt that RM are the market leader but they always quote page impressions. One person can make multiple page impressions across the course of a month. Think how many page impressions are made on the site by Estate Agents each and every day. You can't blame them though page impressions gives a really big impressive number so what salesperson wouldn't use that number! Worth looking at unique visitors - a much better metric. Latest Comscore unique visitor stats show RM with 6.6m, DPG with 4.5m and Zoopla with 3.2m. NOt quite 83% of the market when you use that measure is it. Still market leading though but not as big a share. But as they always say you can make statistics what you want them to be - especially if the audience doesn't understand! |
Added by Andy Smith on 2011-08-03 08:36:11
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If agents decided to stick together and stop advertising on RM, then perhaps they would listen and reduce costs.
This worked with the property newspaper in Swansea when the agents held a meeting. The result was to pull their ads from the paper. Result was the paper lowering prices and offering every agent the same priced deal. RM charges each agent differently depending on what it takes to get them to sign up or stay onboard. After long negotiations I got our charges on RM down very low, but ended up leaving them anyway because it simply is not value for money. I understand that most agents believe their business would collapse without RM! I find that hard to believe because the money saved will cover advertising on Zoopla and the newspaper which both draw in similar amounts of leads. Maybe more agents need to look long and hard at where all their leads actually do come from and not look at how many people click on property details etc. I like 1000's of others use RM for research due to most agents listing properties. The traffic stats are not quite what they advertise. |
Added by London Agent on 2011-08-03 08:13:23
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| "Increased take-up of our additional compulsory increase in our charges to loyal agents......" |
Added by Ric on 2011-08-03 08:05:40
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“Increased take-up of our additional products demonstrates the confidence our member advertisers have in using Rightmove to achieve their advertising goals.”
or it could have read “Increased take-up of our additional products demonstrates how lots of agents fell hook line and sinker for the buy add ons now or before April 1st and we will freeze your membeship fees, even though you not buying the add ons and us putting your membership fee up would be the cheaper option" |
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