The boss of Purplebricks has said that the online agency will be spearheading a drive to make the brand credible and trusted, as it seeks to fulfil its ambition of 10% market share by 2023.
CEO Vic Darvey said that the ultimate goal is to bring more transparency to the buying and selling of homes.
In an interview with marketing magazine The Drum, Darvey says: “We’re seen as a frontrunner in the tech space, but we also need to establish ourselves on the virtual high street and in communities.”
He says that the brand overhaul is not simply about price, as was emphasised by the early commisery adverts: it is not about offering support pre-, during and post-sales.
Darvey tells the publication of the importance of becoming the official estate agent to Team GB at this year’s Olympic Games, but does not divulge how much it is costing.
He does say that it is the most important association “we’ve had for some time”. He also adds that the firm will use data gleaned via its site to create a customer experience that “can’t be replicated on the high street”.
He said: “Estate agents are miles behind. When we start to see Generation Digital getting on to the housing ladder their expectations are going to be completely different. You can’t send them a conveyancing pack in the post and tell them to fill it in – the whole process is going to be online.”
He even envisages a future where a Purplebricks dasboard could be performing a function for customers in five years time where it is controlling all household bills.
He said: “We’re not saying we’re going to do that, but we have the credibility to get there.”
The interview is slightly odd, as it compares Purplebricks fixed-fee format with “competitors like Zoopla and Rightmove”, but does provide an interesting insight into where Purplebricks might go in terms of marketing.
Comments (19)
#11
Interesting that Vic Darvey with no agency experience thinks he and a team of executives with zero agency experience can double their market share when a team of highly experienced estate agents couldn’t do it the 5 years previous to his tenure with a firm that was new and exciting!
The hilarious comment that purple bricks has great tech should be met with nothing but laughter… working on a monolithic system which hasn’t been updated in 6 years and can’t be updated without starting from scratch! This is the same joker who thinks it’s a good idea to remove die hard purple bricks agents to make way for those whose faces fit! So much for getting rid of the ‘Bruce’s boy club’they have now lost all the culture they once had, all trust in senior management and executives has gone following this latest cull and they are now scraping the barrel of whoever they can beg, borrow and steal from the high street… stick them on a less then average version of the original training course and hope they can get to 10% market share. The mere thought is an insult to all agents in the Uk!
Dream on Vic and try and catch up. We are decades ahead of you with IT. You do less than most high street agents and that is a fact.
We don’t charge for a no sale and our fall through rate is 16% and 99% of those are lenders declining. We also are responsible employers (no self employed driven into the ground) and provide not just a service to the local community, but contribute to the local economy.
Vic, Remind us again what support you provide to your customers that is different and is a benefit?
And your contribution to local economy is what precisely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are in profit and you have lost how many £m’s now …. £100m?
Amen
“…you have lost how many £m’s now …. £100m?”
£102.28million loss to 30/04/19 apparently* – and rising daily.
Or is that falling?
* Figures posted on Londonstockexchange.com – doesn’t include period from incorporation (April 2012) to 1/5/14.
Less commisery “and more data lies in future” for Purplebricks, says boss. So no change there then!
Data, Lies, Purplebricks
That’s all you need to read.
What a joke..
I expect that the personal stories of the PB people who have been deceived and double crossed will soon become more widely known. The stories of the TOs who were promised that they were building a business, only to have it torn away from them overnight. For five years many of these TOs have worked ridiculous hours and invested money in what they believed was a business that they owned and could eventually sell (as per their contract) . They have had to spend huge amounts on recruiting and training LPEs in their team and even had to foot the bill for local marketing initiatives.
Not to mention incentives and financial support for the LPEs, who they thought were the team that they were building.
Vic Darvey- how can you and all the other toadies alongside you behave so monstrously and show absolutely no compassion and yet still expect the public to trust you? The alignment with the British Olympic Team is nothing short of preposterous.
The lack of blame on the Bruce brothers is absolutely baffling, they set the company up in this way, signed the TPOs up to a 5 year license, spent a load of other peoples money then cashed in and left their staff to it. This situation was always likely to happen, yet there is still a love in for the Bruce brothers on social media.
Michael and Kenny ran a grand 3 level shill game.
Level 1) Involved the Investors – The shill was Neil Woodford et al.
Level 2) Involved the Employees – The shills were a few original TO’s who did little videos about how rich they became
Level 3) Involved the Public – The shill was the clever use of trust pilot at every opportunity (even a buyer who didn’t buy would be asked to give a 5 Star trustpilot).
A shill, also called a plant or a stooge, is a person who publicly helps or gives credibility to a person or organization without disclosing that they have a close relationship with the person or organization. Shills can carry out their operations in the areas of media, journalism, marketing, politics, confidence games, or other business areas.
Their biggest coup was Neil Woodford’s investment. Without that, much of this nonsense would never have happened. At the time, he was the darling of the city and walked on water. Overnight-credibility doesn’t come cheap. Or, you can do it the hard way and earn it. I never thought I’d find myself feeling sorry for PB staff but it seems they’ve been scammed, along with the public.
VIc has arrived from Alison Platt land where a new lexicon has formed to accompany the tech tools and novel way of selling houses es
Lost in translation , all the customer wants is their house to be sold quickly efficentally and achieve a good price He doesnt want a Bricks dashboard to a pay his household bills
He also desn’t want to ask Alesha to find out its been on for 4 years unsold He already knows that !
“He also desn’t want to ask Alesha to find out its been on for 4 years unsold He already knows that !”
True, Hillofwad – but maybe Alexa can tell the vendor why he is unsold in four years… because his “Agent” clearly doesn’t have a frickin’ Scooby!
I’m pleased to see Vic looking to treat the customer better than the LPEs.
It’s a joke, just like the shares I was promised but couldn’t cash.
If they’re anything like my kids, ” generation digital ” will require more not less hand holding when ( if ) the time comes to buy.
This chap makes me smile 🙂
I think he believes his own drivel
Traditional agents are miles behind? You’ve spent how many hundreds of millions on marketing combined with an eight year loss leader and the best you’ve managed to get to is 5% market share.
Pipe down.
What credibility does it have to be the ‘Official Estate Agent of the Olympic team’ – as if the athletes care. Its a sponsorship sellotaped onto a cause with no overlap of purpose or mission. My guess is they got it fairly cheap as the British Olympic team look to sell sponsors in new categories – should we watch out for ‘Office Engine Oil of the Olympic Team’, ‘Official Cling Film Supplier..’ – ?
Official Estate Agent to the British Olympic Team..wtf lol…
The more I say it the funnier it gets !
Strange that, no care for the agents on the ground who do all the front facing customer service yet expect to have some trust back after recent events?
Banging on the wrong drum Vic.