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Agencies & People

ZPG flexes muscles as OTM battles on

The Negotiator

Howard Cundey imageZPG reports that 40 estate agent branches left OnTheMarket.com (OTM) and returned to listing with them over two weeks in October. Recent returners include the multi award-winning estate agency, Howard Cundey, which left ZPG in 2015 as a result of the restrictions of OTM’s one other portal rule.

Tim Foulkes, Director of Howard Cundey said, “We are delighted to rejoin ZPG; we realised that it was time for us to act in the best interests of our customers and our business. “Whilst we understand the motivation of Onthemarket, it just simply has not worked, whereas ZPG owns several household brands with an impressive audience and delivers us and our customers the results they need.”

The Jeffries Group, an eight branch leading independent, has also left OTM and returned to ZPG with a new longterm agreement with ZPG for both marketing and software services.

Stuart Whiting, MD, The Jeffries Group said, “We are big supporters of the OTM concept, however it simply has not worked for us and does not have the right strategy to succeed in our opinion. We are delighted to return to ZPG, we can see a path to having a net revenue relationship with ZPG rather than a cost, with their new MoveIT platform which will generate significant referral fees for us.”

Others who have returned to ZPG include Taylor Millburn, JonSimon and Midcalf Nicholls.

OnTheMarket.com said, “While we are naturally disappointed that any individual firm chooses to withdraw its support from OnTheMarket.com, two inconvenient facts remain for Zoopla Property Group.

“Firstly, according to its trading updates, Zoopla’s latest UK agency partner figure of 13,275, announced on August 31 2016, remains 19 per cent down compared to the figure of 16,373, announced on 30th September 2014, prior to the launch of OnTheMarket.com. Secondly, OnTheMarket.com continues to grow and the number of agent branches listing on the website at the end of September 2016 had increased by 16 per cent year-on-year.”

Ian Springett OTM image

Ian Springett

OTM also reported a record level of traffic of 10million visits throughout September; a rise of 79 per cent year on year, compared to September last year, when the portal recorded 5.6million visits.

Ian Springett, CEO, said, “This latest record achievement for traffic is another sign of just how much progress OnTheMarket.com has made throughout 2016.”

Battles are claimed as won by both portals, who wins the war remains to be seen.

November 27, 2016

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