Interview with Peter Wright – realestate.com.au

Peter Wright is currently General Manager-Residential, for the REA Group owned market leading Australian property portal, realestate.com.au. As of July he’ll be General Manager of Sales and Operations.

propertyportalwatch.com spoke to Peter about his new role and where he sees the Australian portal market heading.

You’ve only recently joined realestate.com.au – what do you bring to the table? And what do you hope to achieve at realestate.com.au on a personal level?
I have a corporate IT and telecommunications background with a focus on general management, change management and sales growth management in evolving markets. In recent years I have been responsible for leading teams through cultural change, managing the co-ordination of multiple sales channels to accommodate new market offerings and developing systems and process to support large-scale organisational growth.

At realestate.com.au my focus is to continue to drive sales growth through value-added online real estate solutions. This means understanding the different needs across the real estate industry and delivering solutions that meet those needs. We are moving from a pure supplier of online services to a partner that assists agents to get the most out of their online channel. And from a staff perspective I want to see that the entrepreneurial spirit that has been so core to our business is maintained as we continue to grow.

It’s been a big year so far for realestate.com.au with a peak of 4.8 million unique browsers in March, are you happy with the way the website is ranking in this market?
Visitation to the site peaked at 4,872,106 million unique browsers during the month of March, a 10.9 per cent increase from the same time last year. We are confident we will reach the 5 million mark in the coming months. This is another data point supporting the inevitable move to online as the most effective way to search for properties and agents.

Where do you see the business going and how are you going to grow it?
Moving forward we are looking at tailoring a customised approach with agents, addressing their online and business advertising needs and offering marketing solutions that will add value to their bottom line. At the same time we will continue to build on the ease of use and the functionality of our website. Our success is linked to continuing to add value to consumers and agents. To achieve this we have restructured our business so there is a dedicated focus on agents, a dedicated focus on new products and a dedicated focus on the website. We are convinced this focus will maintain our leadership position in the marketplace.

What are the key challenges you are facing at realestate.com.au?
I see challenges as opportunities and like with any business, there is an ongoing need to work closely with our customers and consumers to offer them products that are relevant, targeted and cost effective. Bringing to life in a simple way online applications and capabilities is what sets apart the great web sites. We need to maintain our ability to deliver here. As a business I think it is important to focus on agent education by unearthing the power of online and demonstrating what it can do for their business, particularly where customers are looking at cost effective ways to make every dollar go the extra mile.

Likewise continued user education is essential to get the most out of online advertising. As the market tightens, we are seeing that agents are looking more towards online versus traditional media

How do you hope to win against your biggest competitors like domain.com.au?
We are focused on servicing the needs of our customers and consumers.

Rumours are that the REA Group is focusing on the core Australian business, realestate.com.au, are you able to comment on this?
We are allocating investment in proportion to existing revenues and growth potential.

Do you think Google is a real threat to property portals?
We see Google as a real partner as we are one of its largest customers.

Where do you see the Australian property portal market heading overall, and why?
It is inevitable that online will become the dominant advertising medium for real estate in Australia. This is because of the flexibility, cost effectiveness and exposure it offers to property seekers than traditional media. Online is far more measurable and offers greater lead generation with detailed reporting so vendors can track to see how their campaign are performing.

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