It has been over a month since Boomin, backed by Michael and Kenny Bruce, formerly of Purplebricks, launched in a bid to challenge the dominance of Rightmove, Zoopla, and OnTheMarket.
Supported by a major marketing campaign, Boomin is hoping to increase market share, mainly at the expense of the main portals.
But while Boomin has increased competition and choice for agents and consumers alike in the portals landscape, it will clearly take time – and a lot of money – for Boomin to establish itself and have a chance of challenging the main portals, new data and insight seen by EYE suggests.
The research undertaken by a leading property analyst focusses on Boomin’s London stock listing as compared to Rightmove’s.
The analysis is only for Greater London (M25) listings, but acts as a sample broadly reflecting trends across the UK.
The data reveals that Boomin launched last month with an average of 21.3% market share for sales across all postcodes, and 10.4% for lettings.
In comparison, when OnTheMarket launched in January 2015, it had 30-40% market share for sales and lettings in most postcodes, and in some central London ones up to 80%.
“This meant they [OTM] had at least a fighting chance of retaining users who responded to their initial advertising blitz,” said the analyst who produced the research. “Boomin, however, is scarcely making a dent in some of the largest markets.”
In the E14 postcode, for instance, Boomin had just 113 rental listings compared to Rightmove’s 4,079.
Overall, Boomin has less than 5% market share in the top five lettings postcodes in terms of volume, and less than 10% in the top 10 sales postcodes.
According to the data, Boomin carries just 10% of Rightmove’s lettings listings, and 17% of sales listings.
The analyst, who has asked to remain unnamed, believes that very few active property searchers are likely to visit the Boomin platform twice, which suggests that its current advertising campaign is going to be fundamentally counter-productive, as they may deter the “early-adopters and word-of-mouthers”.
For estate agents, the lack of a branch ‘home page’ is considered to be “a serious negative”, according to the analyst, who added, “There’s nowhere a branch or a brand can show off its strength and depth or advertise itself. Why not?
“If they [Boomin] have it, they can’t later take it away – does this foretell a longer-term strategy of side-lining branches and agencies in favour of direct client to applicant communication?
“The underlying goal of their launch advertising campaign should be getting agents to sign-up out of FOMO [fear of missing out], but they’re definitely not creating that FOMO and I don’t see how they’re going to.”
Comments (30)
“If they [Boomin] have it, they can’t later take it away – does this foretell a longer-term strategy of side-lining branches and agencies in favour of direct client to applicant communication?”
Who doesn’t agree with that statement, something I have been highlighting for many months? No I’m not the ‘Anonymous analyst’ but having done a quick check (you could) its not difficult to see confirm the analyst and the assumptions made, could easily be confirmed by school children.
A ‘leading property analyst’ commenting only on London stats so likely London-based then (aren’t they all) and wanting anonymity. Very strange. Not a good look for PIE either.
Just remember if PB had performed as they wanted we would all be out of a job!
Why anyone would support them after they tried to de-value an entire industry, and potentially ruin our business, is beyond me!?
[Sentence removed as it breached posting rules]
Anonymous ‘analyst’ slates easy target two weeks into their launch based on ‘lack of traction’. Come on guys…. does this really pass for cutting edge property news? It’s more like a ‘he said, she said’ bit of playground banter with zero substance.
“Alter” Latin for one or the other
Agents have already been given a number of choices . The offer is underwhelming .
The search doesn’t allow street by street road by road which most customers want Why switch apart from the free offer ? which is just a hook .
Boomin’ remind me of Walmart .
Backed by some heavy hitters they arrived in Smallsville ,Montana opened up a large store with amazing offers & prices Killed off the local opposition only to close the store down having built a larger one elsewhere a few years later leaving the town a store free zone with tumbleweed blowing through.
Customers now having to travel a number of miles and the prices put up .
There is no such thing as a free lunch .
I find it very odd that this article is based on an opinion from an ANONYMOUS ‘analyst’, it seems that there could be an axe to grind or someone with an agenda.
It is hard to take this as credible with the cloak and dagger approach.
Woo hoo Dom! we’re on the same page!
Why on earth would an agent support Boomin over OTM? Genuinely curious. I can’t see anything different with Boomin, and their motive is obvious to me but it seems not to some agents?
One is run by two people who have lied to agents in the past whereas OTM has just had a change of leadership with a former agent at the top who seems to be generating a buzz from what I can see. I went to Jason’s town hall recently and was given the floor to say what I wanted, and I did point out where I thought OTM had gone wrong, I liked what I heard back, so did others on the call. Agents seemed to be united around the same goal, we were all in agreement about how we see the portal landscape – so in all honesty, what am I missing?
Have we really got to the stage where any anonymous Tom, Dick or Harry can ring up and give their opinion and become the lead story on PIE. Firstly, if you are a leading analyst you wouldn’t hide behind your facts if correct. Secondly, would PIE write a story if I rang up with some opinions about Zoopla, Rightmove or OTM? Could I just remain anonymous? Our industry needs innovation. It needs people to invest in them. It needs an alternative to the absolute out of control fees of Rightmove and the delayed need to get a return on the £2.2bn investment in Zoopla that will inevitably happen ahead of a float. Boomin are a great alternative option and are growing faster than any other portal launch to date. They launched only four weeks ago with the most agents of any portal at launch, they are adding 100’s of new agents every week, they are achieving a valuation booked (not a lead) for every four viewings booked and their awareness is growing massively. I know from talking to agents that their features are working perfectly for agents and they have some new innovations for agents coming shortly. Let’s spend time on helping agents not taking any negative anonymous comment we can scrap around finding to knock initiatives that help the industry and our customers.
It’s bad enough service supplier competitors to products such as Boomin can post anonymously and disparage a product that competes with theirs, but it’s 10x worse partial landscape opinion pieces such as this are ever published
The fact that any Tom, Duck or Harry can have their opinion pieces published without verification or concerns of the consequences reduces a respected trade publication down to tabloid tittle tattle.
These valuations that have been booked are they for all Agents on Boomin or just Platinum ones ?
All agents benefit from valuations because Boomin advertises you for a valuation in ALL your own listings whether platinum or gold. Unlike current portals who sell adverts to your competitors that they put in your listings. Boomin drives valuations to you as the agent who has listed the property.
Thanks for that, I meant do both Gold and Platinum agents get Matchmaker vendor leads ?
It’s true the industry doesn’t need another portal – even the worst Estate Agent in the U.K. could sell property in this market without any portal… yet when the market goes pop (which it will) … something tells me agents will playing a different tune
I haven’t signed up yet – that’s not because of any agenda – I’m too ****** busy
The way the market is at present, we only need a for sale board, we certainly don’t need any portals at all, let alone yet another one.
An analyst who wants to remain nameless what is the point in that? they are either confident enough in their analysis or they’re not.
What has not been taken into account is that portals as a concept is now a whole generation old and where for 15 years there was benefit in having all the stock in one place, that idea now works against professional estate agents and it works against buyers. It’s still great for dreamers and people who want to look at the pictures and videos
No-one had more to say about disruption than me so it came as a huge surprise to everyone that I had collaborated with ‘Boo Hiss Bruce’ as one shocked someone put it.
What is clear is there are passive intermediaries who can’t operate without the portals, there a portal reliant agents who can’t operate with the duopoly, there are portal benefiting agents whose place on the main portals is paid for by their competition and then there is professional agency (with or without ITZA premises) who now thanks to the duopoly being broken and Boomin innovation in digital marketing will now accelerate.
Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram are all bigger platforms than Rightmove or Zoopla, they’re cheaper too and reach a wider audience so while this analysis is comparing Boomin to the duopoly it hasn’t considered the digital world has changed.
Will everyone stop being so negative, they have only recently launched.
The marketing has been underwhelming, the leads non-existent and the market disinterested.
Think the boys have miscalculated this time, the market simply does not need another portal. OneDome are in front of Boomin, they need to re-think the marketing strategy IMO
Boomin will continue to believe their own hype nevertheless.
So it turns out that agents don’t want to invest in a business founded by two men who denigrated our industry, accused us of making profit out of misery (nice portmanteau by the way, very clever) and tried to consign high street agents to the annals of history?!
I am shocked, SHOCKED I say..!
It’s another site sent to help us, so what if it’s an IPO in waiting, they like us must be allowed to make a profit if it is at all possible and any challenge even small that will dilute RMs profit might just help those of you still with rm, stop the back stabbing and give it a chance, it surely can’t hurt you to suck it and see!
Didn’t realise Harvey Weinstein had a PIE account.
BOOMISERY!
Been on the site since launch and I think every agent will agree that there are more buyers than sellers at the moment.
However, as a company of multiple offices we have received zero enquires from Boomin…
Can’t see it lasting despite the fan fare and media attention. Buyers simply won’t swap from Rightmove.
I am only one office but same results. Zero enquiries. Did you get the email from Mr Bruce over the weekend? All very pleased with themselves at the volume of leads so far.
Same here – A big fat Zero! If you register as an applicant, you have to give name email telephone number and address just to make a simple enquiry. Personally I would just switch to another portal.
same here, single office and no real leads of any interest so far.. other than a couple (literally two) for rental property that was already let!
We are one of just two agents in our town that have “signed” up, out of fifteen of us. I cannot see how it will work if they do not get agents on board
Sorry but you need to smell the coffee (no offence intended).
I’ve been complaining that this venture has all the hallmarks of getting agents to create an animal it will then ditch and do direct business with the consumer once you have established them in the market. Now …..
“If they [Boomin] have it, they can’t later take it away – does this foretell a longer-term strategy of side-lining branches and agencies in favour of direct client to applicant communication?”
Don’t need a leading property analyst to know Boomin will fail within 18 months and all the ex PB staff they have employed will be running back asking for a job and if their shares are still available
Can only see this bleeding out over the next 12-18 months.
They can fool some of the Agents, all of the time. They can even fool many of the,agents, some of the time. But they can’t fool those agents that see it for the money-making IPO exercise it really is.
Boom!