Property Portal: High-quality, low cost

There are a range of options with current suppliers, depending on who you go with and what sort of package you opt for. A rate of £100 to £1000 per month, per branch is common. Major players such as Rightmove and Zoopla have a strong hold over the market. Their brands are popular and well-known, yet their service comes at a premium.

AM is due to challenge the current duopoly with a new approach - the success of which is unproven. As a result many critics claim the model is flawed.

There must be a place in the market for a property portal with customer incentives and rewards, slick user experience and clever functionality - particularly a portal which doesn't revolve around satisfying shareholder profits and excessive media advertising budgets.

A high quality product doesn't need to be overly expensive. German supermarket chain Aldi is snatching more of the grocery market share, jumping from 3.1% to 4.8% in fewer than two years. At the same time its turnover rose 35.7% to £5.27bn.

"We keep prices constantly low while keeping product quality consistently high, which is exactly what shoppers want," said Roman Heini, Aldi's UK group managing director.

"They had become used to thinking you have to pay more for better products. We've shown them this doesn't have to be the case."

Aldi's low-price strategy has won market share from all of the UK's big four grocers - Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons - forcing them to cut their own prices.
Source BBC business

So it is clear that in a market dominated by a few big players there is room for a quality service, at a cheaper price to flourish. And as the Aldi example shows, competition forces prices down across the board, so agents would surely benefit from a new entrant into the property portal market.

One such offering is presently being launched by the guys at lookingforahouse.co.uk based in South Wales. Richard Beere and James Richards are launching a portal hosted by ITCS, founders of AgentPro. Their new site will offer incentives for end users (homebuyers/renters), innovative lead-generating functionality, no-fuss online subscription, a 3 month free trial, and monthly branch costs of only £25, which is locked in for 3 years.

Adopting a sustainable online marketing strategy complemented with social media, the guys want to keep costs as low as possible for agents. The portal is initially being targeted at agents based in Wales and has already received an abundance of interest and sign-ups for its free trial offer.

Initial interest has already exceeded our expectations. We've spent the past few months talking to agents to see exactly what they want from a property portal. As a result, we can offer a service specially tailored to their demands - and at a much lower cost. Online property portals have charged too much for far too long. The latest attempt by AM to combat the duopoly of Zoopla and Rightmove doesn't address the excessive listing fees charged by the current portals. Lookingforahouse.co.uk offers a cheaper service which not only benefits agents, but will appeal to their customers too.

Looking For A House is targeting January 2015 for its launch date, and is set to expand into the international market in the not too distant future.