globrix.com

globrix.com is currently one of the fastest growing UK property search engines. It has plans for international expansion to Europe and the Americas in 2009.

globrix.com operates on a free-to-list, pay-to-upgrade model, is backed by News International and is currently the property search engine for UK newspaper The Times.

Ownership | Market Position | Key Measurements | Market Coverage | Advertising Model | Financials | Site Sections | Technology | Key Management | History | Recent Press | Information Sources

Ownership

globrix.com was launched in January 2008 by Daniel Lee and Ian Parry, both former execs at Norwegian-based search company FAST and UK-based search company Autonomy. globrix.com is backed by media group News International.

Market Position

globrix.com is the fastest growing UK property search website and the largest free-to-list property site. Agents do not pay for their listings to be included, but can pay for extra brand exposure if they wish to. Simply listing properties on globrix.com will be free forever. globrix.com currently lists around one million properties (the exact number fluctuates with the market) and new agents are added to the site daily. globrix.com offers advanced search functionality, with users being able to search for property via hundreds of keywords, price change or by drawing on a map.

globrix.com won ‘Estate Agency Service Firm of the Year’ at the 2008 Negotiator Award and was awarded ‘Best Property Portal UK’ at the 2008 Daily Mail UK Property Awards. globrix.com also powers timesonline.co.uk Property Search.

Key Measurements
(November 2008)
globrix.com sends more traffic to estate agents than any other property website and is in many instances the second largest traffic provider to agents after Google. In November 2008 globrix.com was ranked as the 6th most visited property search website/portal by Hitwise.

Market Coverage

globrix.com covers for sale properties, rental properties and flatshare properties across the whole of the UK. globrix.com is planning international expansion for 2009.

Advertising Model

Estate agents, letting agents and those offering property related services are able to promote their brand further on globrix.com with banner advertising. Advertisers pay to advertise only in the locations that matter to them, with keyword targeted advertising. Only two agents are able to buy advertising in each area which enables advertisers to have relative exclusivity in the areas that matter to them. In 2009 globrix.com will be launching globrix.com Extra, a premium statistic package similar to Rightmove Plus which agents will be able to pay to access if they wish. In 2009 globrix.com will also be offering self-service featured property ads, agents and members of the public will be able to ‘feature’ their property so that it stands out in the globrix.com search results. globrix.com also offers Google advertising and email marketing and data sales.

Financials

Unknown.

Site Sections

globrix.com is designed to be as simple to use as possible, with the aim to get house hunters on the estate agent’s website as quickly as possible. There are no property details pages (unless the agent is hosted by Rightmove or FindaProperty or doesn’t have their own website, in which case globrix.com provides property details pages) and once the user clicks on property in the search results they are taken directly to the representing agent.

The key sections of the website are:

• Property to BUY
• Property to RENT
• Flatshare
• Myglobrix.com – a registered users area where users can save details of properties they like and give them star ratings and add their own notes. They can also save specific searches and control email notifications for new properties that match these searches, Myglobrix.com is also the place to opt-in for price watch alerts for particular properties.
• Agentglobrix.com – This is the globrix.com agent extranet. Here, registered agents can monitor their traffic stats, control how their properties appear and alter their details.
• globrix.com Blog

A ‘New Homes’ section is in the pipeline for 2009.

Technology

globrix.com has invested heavily in search technology, in particular in crawling, data text-mining, dynamic navigation based search, AJAX and Ruby-On-Rails. globrix.com technology allows deep crawling of websites to find and accurately extract key meta data for inclusion in the search engine; such as price, location and features. In addition, the globrix.com search platform allows high performance, fast search indexing and querying allowing users to experience an instantaneous response to their search, refine by detailed property features, and retrieve the latest properties on the market. As a data company, globrix.com has close to 1m properties, making it a powerful source for statistics and property trends. In 2009 numerous new features will be launched around property analytics, and local community information. The technology platform has the flexibility to be applied to other markets, and internationally.

Key Management

The key management are:

• Daniel Lee – CEO
• Ian Parry – CTO

History

Development began on globrix.com in late 2005 and it was launched in beta on 1 January 2008.

Recent Press

This week globrix.com data reached the front page of both The Evening Standard and The London Lite. globrix.com data is regularly used for house price stories in national and regional press, with recent coverage being found in The Telegraph, The Times and on BBC News and Channel 4.

The globrix.com blog is updated with any company announcements.

Information Sources

Management Interview
Site Review

1. globrix.com Partnership with LetMC

   This week UK property search engine globrix.com announced they were working in partnership with letting agency software provider LetMC. ...

2. globrix.com and Vebra Reach Agreement

   Free-to-list real estate search engine globrix.com announced on Friday that negotiations have concluded with Vebra, bringing to an end the software provider’s block on the globrix.com crawler....

3. globrix.com Introduces Price Change Search

   Bankers are glued to their computer screens watching share prices plummet and now house hunters can do the same. UK property search engine globrix.com have introduced a new search function that allows users to see quickly and easily which properties...

4. globrix.com Scoops Negotiator Award

   On Tuesday in London there were 18 trophies up for grabs at the inaugural ceremony for the Negotiator Awards. And the winner is......

5. News Corp Enters US Online Property Market With globrix.com

   A short announcement on globrix.com’s blog late last week revealed their plans to break into the already crowded US market. globrix.com Chief Technical Officer, Ian Parry, explained the details in an exclusive interview with globaledge.co.uk. globrix.com will initially enter the...

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