OnTheMarket (OTM) has announced that it has secured the support of yet another major estate agency, as part of an ongoing public relations campaign.
The signing of Rettie, which operates in Scotland and the North of England, was announced this morning and follows on from the recent announcements that Leaders Romans Group and Edward Mellor had selected OTM ‘as one of just two major platforms it will be listing properties with going forward’.
OTM, as part of its ambition to increase market share, is keen to specify that all three agencies – LRG, Edward Mellor and Rettie – have adopted a ‘two portal strategy’, with a quick online search revealing that they have all opted for Rightmove – and not Zoopla – as their one other major website.
When OTM launched a decade ago, it did so with a view to increasing market share, mainly at the expense of Zoopla, and it would appear that history is repeating itself, albeit without the previous ‘one other portal’ rule once imposed by OTM, which banned its agents advertising on both Rightmove and Zoopla.
While OTM has so far failed to dislodge Rightmove and Zoopla as the two biggest portals, it has made some inroads into this highly competitive market, and with the backing of CoStar, now firmly believes it can replace Zoopla as the number two property portal on its way to achieving its longer-term objective of challenging the market leader, Rightmove.
Jason Tebb, president of OTM, said: “We are delighted that Rettie has become the latest agency network to commit to OnTheMarket. The addition of such a strong regional brand continues our momentum and further strengthens our presence in the region as we continue our push for growth across the country.
“The business is making tremendous progress towards its goal of becoming the leading agent-friendly platform in the UK residential marketplace. We believe that we are now the fastest growing residential portal in the UK following the acquisition by CoStar Group.”
