ZOOPLA: DIGITAL BUSINESS
Competitive & Digital Business Strategies
Zoopla employs different strategies to gain competitive advantage and grow market share. The acquisition of companies like Alto (cloud software), Hometrack (mortgage data), PrimeLocation (property portal) and Yourkeys (reservations service), demonstrates Product Differentiation (Mintel Group, 2015; Laudon and Laudon, 2022). Zoopla’s distinction from other portals is highlighted by offering many unique services as one resource (Mintel Group, 2015; Zoopla.co.uk, 2021a). Zoopla seeks to Strengthen its Customer and Supplier Relationships (Laudon and Laudon, 2022), by building trust and loyalty. The one-stop-shop approach (Zoopla.co.uk, 2021a) solidifies loyalty and retainment (Zoopla.co.uk, 2021b) while features like ‘My Home’ allow consumers to personalise their experience.
Zoopla’s digital business strategies are Diversification and Product Development (Laudon and Laudon, 2022). Through the aforementioned acquisitions, Zoopla enters new markets and procures new services such as Cloud software (Zoopla.co.uk, 2022a), Progression Portals (Zoopla.co.uk, 2022b), CRM software and mortgage data to diversify their offering. However, while the business grows into new ventures, delivering value and better products to the existing customer base remains a priority (Zoopla.co.uk, 2021c). In-search Ads (Zoopla.co.uk, 2021d), Leads API (Zoopla.co.uk, 2022c), premium tiered offerings and enhanced web and app functions (Zoopla.co.uk, 2021b) are continuously developed to improve existing customer experiences.
Zoopla has a diverse range of well developed digital products catering to many aspects of the digital property industry (Zoopla.co.uk, 2021a). To prevent expansion into unrelated business and possible dilution of its value proposition, Zoopla should focus on reinforcing the links between the current software. To become the industry leader as an integrated resource platform for all things property and property management Zoopla should aim to have all members signed on to each product in the property purchase life cycle that the company has created.