Supermarket giant branches out into estate agency market

Permalink: Supermarket giant branches out into estate agency market
by Kay Murchie

Supermarket giant Tesco is back in the property market through estate agency Spicerhaart.

Spicerhaart has launched an online estate agency service with the backing of Tesco and the new website is called iSold.com - initially targeted at sellers and buyers in Bristol.

Steve Shore of iSold said: “We are offering a full estate agency service without the High Street presence.”

The new brand, whose slogan is ‘We simply sell homes’ will have a basic online selling service cost of £999, rather than the standard estate agency fees of between 1.5% to 2% of the selling price.

As well as being advertised on the iSold website, homes for sale will also be advertised on property portals such as Rightmove and Zoopla.

Tesco will advertise the service to users of its own website.

The launch comes just a few weeks after the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) called for a “shake-up” of the way in which most Britons sell their homes, including new legislation that encourages innovation in the estate agency market.

The watchdog said it wants to see new entrants to the market, particularly online services, stating it is “more important than ever that people get a good deal when buying or selling a home.”

In 2007, Tesco briefly launched an online property selling business called Tesco Property Market (TPM), which allowed personal sellers to bypass estate agents.

The flat fee of just £199 caused arguments with rival estate agents saying it undercut them and conflicted with their businesses.

After just four months, TPM was sold to Spicerhaart. However, the estate agent points out that “this is a new business”.

Tesco is the world’s fourth largest retailer and as well as being the UK’s largest grocer with a 30% share of the market, it is also involved in the finance industry.

It recently announced it had taken the next step to become a bank by signing up Fiserv. US-based Fiserv provides information management and electronic commerce systems to the financial services industry.

Tesco said Fiserv will assist it in becoming a full-service bank by providing account information and banking transactions for Tesco Bank customers.

In addition, Tesco has a partnership with the insurer, Fortis, which will see it form a new motor and household insurance company.