OnTheMarket betters expectations with 5.2m visits in July

Had an agents meeting yesterday evening. One agency tied into OTM contract was looking to end it as only getting a couple of leads pw. Prior was getting many leads from RM and Z.

No portal should restrain agents from acting in the best interest of their clients. Estate agency is based around the Estate Agents Act 1979. 'BEST INTEREST OF CLIENTS' No portal should restrain agents. Now could portals like OTM/AM actually be done under BPR's (Business protection Regulations' ?? Maybe?

The last Time I looked OTM's visitor count was about 6.8% of Zoopla, an 18% increase, assuming Zoopla's own figure has remained the same would bring OTM to about 7.2%. More worrying for OTM the recent increase in traffic appears to be driven mainly by pay per click rather than organic growth.

A better measure of whether they are making real progress would be visitor engagement which, according to recent data appears to be in decline. If you drill down into the OTM proposition what you might see is a very divided picture. In areas where most or all of the local agents have joined OTM and dropped Zoopla, maybe they have seen little or no impact in their business's. However in areas where only a few agents have joined OTM the position may be looking very different with the OTM agents suffering as a result of being targeted by their non OTM competition.

For OTM to break through they have to drive more organic traffic and attract returning visitors. To do this they need to sign up vastly more offices and retain the ones they have. I notice that this fanfare announcement is not accompanied by any new branch numbers, if those figures were good I'm sure we would be seeing them.

I predict that at the end of the first year many agents who are on a one year contract in areas not dominated by OTM will leave and that very few new businesses will join. Basically what we are seeing here is a failure to launch and putting the rights and wrongs aside, my view is this duck won't fly.

Sorry early morning maths block that should be 8.2%!

Notthing that you call miracle these days. It is easy to inflate the traffic.

We have left this OTM after 2 months membership. I suggest to do for those who think that they overpay for OTM . Any way you don't loose nothing.
They really treated our requests as the last matter. We complained regarding lack of communication and leads etc. we got maybe 8 leads per mont -2 per week. basically all enquiries that we had was people with dogs and kids for a studios in london :)))
Anyway was a waste of 600 pm. So cancelled after 2 months. Non lawyer have sent as a letter yet. I presume they might have so many simmilar situations that they don't even know where to start. The fact is this idea is like a someones dream. Nobody can ban me from advertising where i want. Good luck OTM. Next time i will better wait 5 years to start advertising with them, otherwice it feels like a scamm. Lack of professionalism on customer service side and ignoring the truth - it doesn't work. No disscounts were offered. No gaps in membership minimum commitment. THINK twice. We don't need new bicycle, just choose the right one!

"The reality is that we are on a growth path towards overtaking Zoopla and then building to provide a genuine, low-cost, alternative to Rightmove.”

Dream on, Ian.

Bit of a kick in the teeth for the OTM bashers. Spin this in a negative way if you can!

Brilliant! Those here who have been predicting the imminent death of OTM are being made to look very stupid now.

Interesting findings. Of course, traffic/page visits is all well and good, but it's converting them into genuine leads/instructions that is all-important.

After six months the number of visits is quite impressive, but still nowhere near the level of RM and Zoopla. I think Springett is getting a little bit carried away. He needs to wait a year/18 months before he can start crowing too loudly.

I don't think anyone, least of all me, has predicted the imminent death of OTM, far from it, if OTM dies it will be a slow lingering death.

The increase in traffic they have experienced I'd inevitable given the massive spend and the support they have from some agents, it's just not growing fast enough or on a firm enough footing to convince significantly more agents to take the risk of joining, or should I say risks.

I have read several celebratory comments in the other pub, a Pub that honestly seems to be full of ageing drinkers slapping one another on the back and ordering another round, a bit off putting for any new punters I'd say. My advice to them would be to stay where you are, don't venture out of the smoke filled room and never put yourself in the position of having to face real opposition.

I simply can't understand the negativity towards OTM. Rightmove have a monopoly that allows them to charge frankly ludicrous amounts of money for the service. Why would you not cheer on an organisation that makes an attempt to bring this situation to an end? Perhaps agents secretly like parting with a grand a month, for what is, essentially, a bit of web advertising.

Because, Richard, the whole OTM/AM venture smacks of self-interest, for the benefit of the agents rather than the customer (the very people who keep them in a job!).

The one other portal rule is, quite patently, a nonsense. Plus, it's been regularly flouted. The exclusion of online agents, too, is a regressive and anti-competitive step. I can totally understand the frustration agents have with RM and Zoopla and the fees they charge, but they're not the big bad wolves OTM would have you believe.

To me, there is an ounce of jealously behind the whole formation of OTM. Almost as if they are so frustrated that they didn't think of RM or Zoopla or the portal idea first, and are now trying to do all they can to bring them down. When, of course, all they've done is make RM stronger. Zoopla, the only realistic challenger to RM's monopoly, have been weakened as a result of OTM. They've bounced back well after the initial hit, but they won't be challenging RM anytime soon.

The idea that OTM is some kind of honourable, "standing up for all poor little agents out there" movement is what gets to me most. They're all in it for themselves as much as the board members at RM and Zoopla. It's often forgotten that Springett himself founded PrimeLocation, so it's more than a little bit hypocritical for him to then hold portals up as the big bad evil.

@ Rob. I'm sorry, but the customer of the portal IS the agent. On what basis can the person paying for the service not be the customer?

The portal provider simply designs and supplies a tool that will enable their customer to sell or rent properties efficiently and the agent then decides whether to use them or not.

The 'one other portal' rule was clearly introduced because they knew that RM and Zoopla were invincible without it and needed to use it to crowbar their way in. As for them being 'in it for themselves', I couldn't care less whether they are or not as long as they a) offer a decent product to the customer (for the voidance of doubt, the Agent) and b) do it in a cost effective manner.

Richard, your argument is not supported by the facts, the concept of OTM is not new and predates Zoopka. At the time it was conceived there really was a Rightmove monopoly, Zoopla emerged in the interim totally undermining the argument that Rightmove was unapposeable with an industry collective.

The strategy of targeting Zoopla first was and is ridiculous. All other considerations aside, if OTM had targeted Rightmove and brought them down to Zoopla's level then agents would have been in a stronger bargaining position with both. By targeting Zoopka OTM has made Rightmove indomitable while at the same time failing to bring Zoopla down.

As to your point about who is the customer, sure agents pay portal fees but customers pay agent fees and agents are supposed to act in their clients best interests. Anyway, the proof of the pudding is in the eating and OTM in unconvincing as voted by actual results no matter what side of the debate you are on.

If agents worried more about improving their own businesses and asked for and achieved a decent fee, then perhaps they would be better off than wasting their energy on such a negative nilistic pursuit as controlling the whole market in order to shut out competition for evermore