[The Masked Tulip]

I see that over Christmas the Globrix site now redirects to Zoopla. Seems to be a consolidation going on in the on-line house listing sites with Zoopla buying up quite a few of the competition.

[Eddie_George]

The Masked Tulip, on 27 December 2012 - 03:34 PM, said:

I see that over Christmas the Globrix site now redirects to Zoopla. Seems to be a consolidation going on in the on-line house listing sites with Zoopla buying up quite a few of the competition.

Yeah, I got this through email:

Quote

We are writing to let you know that with immediate effect Globrix.com has been acquired by Zoopla.co.uk, the UK's most comprehensive property website. The Zoopla website includes a lot more functionality including over 1 million current UK listings for sale and to rent, over 18 million sold prices dating back to 1995, current values for every property in the UK and a host of other cool features like SmartMaps and more. There are many more new features being added to the Zoopla website all the time in order to ensure that we are your first choice when it comes to all your property search and property research requirements. Should you feel there is anything missing, please let us know here.

[porca misèria]

I thought zoopla was already running a good second to rightmove, having attained the critical mass of getting estate agents to feel they have to sign up with both. I guess globrix still had that mountain to climb, and a buyout was the easiest/likeliest way for them to cash in, but interesting that zoopla thought it worth their while.

OTOH, zoopla have bought other sites before, and they must be doing something right to have made such a dent in the RM semi-monopoly.

FWIW, I'll be meeting zoopla's main VC backer in January (I'm a shareholder). I'll have to see if I can find anyone to question about this profligacy!

[Little Professor]

Zoopla has been on a massive spending spree over the last couple of years. They have been buying up anyone even vaguely related - e.g. UpMyStreet, houseprices.co.uk etc. The frustrating thing is that they never integrate the functionality of the sites into their own website. They just delete the sites and set up a redirect to zoopla.co.uk. Really good sites have been lost forever.

Zoopla must have taken on a ton of debt to make these purchases, and they seem to have no real strategy other than buying up anyone they see as competition. I can see them going spectacularly bankrupt in a year or two.

[RichB]

mind you - their map search is a shed load better than globrix ever was

[Gone baby gone]

Little Professor, on 27 December 2012 - 06:58 PM, said:

Zoopla has been on a massive spending spree over the last couple of years. They have been buying up anyone even vaguely related - e.g. UpMyStreet, houseprices.co.uk etc. The frustrating thing is that they never integrate the functionality of the sites into their own website. They just delete the sites and set up a redirect to zoopla.co.uk. Really good sites have been lost forever.

Zoopla must have taken on a ton of debt to make these purchases, and they seem to have no real strategy other than buying up anyone they see as competition. I can see them going spectacularly bankrupt in a year or two.

Yep, why they didn't do anything with UpMyStreet is a mystery. It's almost like the stories of companies buying up everlasting lightbulb patents. Why buy it to switch it off? Was is feeding competitors traffic? Very odd and there is still no replacement I can see.

[lurker07]

And I believe I heard that nice man mr. Spencer doing their advert voiceovers.

[Bradbury Robinson]

Little Professor, on 27 December 2012 - 06:58 PM, said:

They have been buying up anyone even vaguely related - e.g. UpMyStreet, houseprices.co.uk etc. The frustrating thing is that they never integrate the functionality of the sites into their own website. They just delete the sites and set up a redirect to zoopla.co.uk. Really good sites have been lost forever.

I used to like the simplicity of houseprices.co.uk, can't say I've ever used Zoopla since they bought them out, too much clutter for me.

[LetsGetReadyToTumble]

Bradbury Robinson, on 28 December 2012 - 12:03 PM, said:

I used to like the simplicity of houseprices.co.uk, can't say I've ever used Zoopla since they bought them out, too much clutter for me.

Agreed, and with houseprices.co.uk I could list sales for an area in chronological order, and then compare sale numbers per month with previous years. I haven't found a way to do that at Zoopla. Although, I do like their previous purchase price(s) and previous sales details features.

[out2lunch]

Competition is a sin - JD Rockerfeller.

Rightmove are aggresssively buying back their own shares and now with all this sector consolidation we must have hit the buffers. Perhaps this site will be taken over and deleted as we compete with eyeballs and clicks with Zoopla and Rightmove!

[porca misèria]

MrTReturns, on 28 December 2012 - 03:34 PM, said:

Competition is a sin - JD Rockerfeller.

Rightmove are aggresssively buying back their own shares and now with all this sector consolidation we must have hit the buffers. Perhaps this site will be taken over and deleted as we compete with eyeballs and clicks with Zoopla and Rightmove!

AIUI this site generates good money for its owners. They're only going to sell up if someone makes them a better offer.

Can't see either of the property websites wanting it myself. Maybe if someone with deep pockets were to try and set up as a third competitor in a disruptive manner? Who would the HPC lynch mob not instantly hate?

[out2lunch]

Stranger things have happened - Money Saving Expert made £67m odd for the owner. Perhaps we might get taken over by Heinz Baked beans, or ING Savings.