Integrating Open Data reuse Business Models †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Integrating Open Data reuse Business Models. Answer: Introduction Zoopla is a British company co-owned by Daily Mail, General Trust and Countrywide, a real estate agent. Zoopla PLC was founded in 2007, and its website started being operational in January 2008 (Yoruk 2018). Alex Chesterman and Simon Kain established the company. The company offers work-flow tools to more than 40000 and letting agents across the United Kingdom. Since its initiation, the company has grown tremendously becoming the best property portal in 2011 and the Best Brand in 2013 (Yoruk 2018). The company target UK national adults who are settling down and looking for houses (Field 2014). In 2016, Zoopla was ranked the second among the best performing property search engines commanding about 38% of the market share. However, Zoopla faces a stiff competition from Rightmove who are top among all companies as well as On The Market which was launched in January 2015 (Fraser 2017). Zoopla has continued to create and grow brand awareness and constant customer engagement as well as investing heavily in advertising and marketing (Brown 2016, pp. 18). Subsequently, Zoopla brand awareness had increased among adults from 26% in 2010 to 80% in 2014 (Hilary 2015). To counter competition, Zoopla Company has also invested heavily in product differentiation to stand out, maintain uniqueness and help in staying ahead of the competitors. For instance, unlike other competitors such as On The Market only offering the listing of the property alone due to its limited search tools, Zoopla will help its customers to be aware of when the property was first listed and the history of how the price of the same property was reduced. The above aspects are critical for buyers to consider when considering the price offer for a particular property (CollinsonandMonaghan 2017). Zoopla Company has also proved to be among the best among the property search companies in the UK due to its strategy of cornering a fledging market commonly referred to as merger and acquisition to ensure that it gain a competitive edge. By 2016, Zoopla had purchased nearly all of its competitors totalling to 13 as well as several mergers (Yoruk 2018). The strategy has given Zoopla an added advantage of accumulation of more revenue and income which as results makes it one of the most performing properties and real estate Company in the UK. For instance, in 2016, Zoopla got ahead of its rivals by acquiring software company, Property Software Group for 75 million pounds thus giving it direct access to more than 8000 estate agents across the UK (Yoruk 2018). In 2015, it acquired Comparison Services from Uswitch. The process helped Zoopla Property Group to grow its revenue to 96.4 million pounds by March 2016 (Fletcher 2016). Zoopla has also derived its unmatched success from improving the customer experience by providing more services which are helpful to their clients. The company has focused entirely on its mission of continuous innovation aiming at enhancing the consumer experience. Zoopla has strived to transform its professional expertise by delivering more exceptional value at a lower cost to its consumer making them a leading player in the market (Verbeke 2013, pp. 30). Thus, Zoopla existence and success in the property market has been felt across the UK following its well-crafted branding. The position ensures that they offer the best customer experience brought by continued product differentiation, merger and acquisition as well as providing their clients with tools which give more exposure to help in making decisions. A business strategy is an action plan developed to achieve a specific goal (Johnson 2016, pp. 39). It is also the scope and direction of a business over a long time which gives an organisation a competitive advantage while using its resources within the changing business environment, and at the same time striving to meet the market needs and the needs of its various shareholders (Montgomery 2011, pp. 12). Zoopla has adopted strategies such as merger and acquisition, product differentiation as well as value creation which have helped it grow revenue by 130 % up to 96.4 million pounds in between 2015 and 2016 (Yoruk 2018). Zoopla Property Group is striving to obtain more information from the market to be able to adjust to the changing conditions and needs of the changing environment. Currently, UKs government has policies which are supporting technological advancements within its state. Being an online search engine, Zoopla has capitalised on the process to grow massively and tremendously. Zoopla has been able to maintain its position at the forefront through the launch of various mobile and other digital platforms to enable its customers to access their services quickly and easily. Through their continued innovation and acquisition of different software companies, Zoopla has grown to reach up to 54 million visitors on their sites per month in 2017 (Fletcher 2016). In 2017, the British economy was ranked the sixth largest economy in the world growing at 1.7%. The household consumption stood at 1.5% in the same year (Yoruk 2018). The British government is also striving to reduce the unemployment rate and also reduce the taxation rate to enable various investors ready to invest more in the housing sector (Field 2014). With this decreasing rate of unemployment in the UK, more adults are earning a good salary and have access to mortgages which increase the demand and need to own homes. Consequently, it means that more people in the UK are using Zoopla to search for various properties to buy thus increasing revenue (Pannell and Blood 2014, pp. 56). Economic growth is directly related to consumer spending levels in the UK. Many residents in the UK seeking to own a home are highly motivated by the quality of the property being offered as well as the pricing (Tallon 2013, pp. 6). Thus, when buying a property, the UK citizens have behaviour of looking at that area which provides a higher value at a much lower cost. In the UK, the government profoundly controls planning of housing; it encourages the house builders to offer a small costing housing accompanied with more affordable and lavish properties (Field 2014). Therefore it has helped Zoopla grow its customer number since it provides all the information on affordable and quality housing as encouraged by the government. Many socio-cultural factors in the UK influence the residents investment on property buying (Tallon 2013, pp. 7). Due to increase economic growths in Britain, houses are erected around educational centres, retail and leisure facilities with the aim of avoiding future social problems. The UK government has heavily invested in social amenities such as security, hospitals and schools (Tallon 2013, pp. 8). Hence, many estates and other properties are located in areas with such facilities which most home buyers in the UK deem important when considering where to buy home. Thus, with such amenities being found around most areas, the residents will have an urge to buy a house in any place across the country (Field 2014). It has forced many people to choose Zoopla as the avenue to search for various properties since Zoopla has stood out to offer such necessary information to its clients (Pannell and Blood 2014, pp. 56). Zoopla has been operating in a very competitive environment from companies such as Rightmove and On The Market (Fraser 2017). However, since it launched its services, Zoopla has grown and right now the services are at the maturity level of the service lifecycle. Characterized by massive merger and acquisition, Zoopla is ranked second after Rightmove Property Company. Throughout its growth stage, Zoopla had the opportunity to merge and buy other companies like Uswitch and Property Software Group which helped it continue to grow and maintain competition (Fletcher 2016). With the fact that 90% of the property enquiries are now digital, Zoopla has invested 50% of its marketing budget on digital marketing; social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and other percentage has been dedicated to other forms of advertising including print, Television and radio advertising (Proctor 2014, pp. 8). The marketing strategy has helped Zoopla grow its brand awareness every year with up to 76% of the adults being aware of Zoopla by 2014 (Yoruk 2018). According to Porters five forces of analysis, threats from new entrants and threats from substitute products like from Rightmove and On The Market are giving Zoopla a stiff competition which poses a significant threat to the organisation (Fraser 2017). Zoopla has been able to use this feature as its strength to edge out its competitors, which has worked very well. The element becomes relevant since most customers prefer the site which gives them enough information they need before investing in any property. However, the company faces stiff threats from On The Market Property Company who are striving to overtake Zoopla and become the second-ranked company in the UK. Since it was launched in January 2015, On The Market is Zoopla a stiff competition, and at times it lists more properties that Zoopla (Fraser 2017). Zoopla marketing strategy allows the company to be more diverse in the market. The policy marks a right approach in the development and execution of its plans to re-position itself in the market and be on the competitive edge of the property search segment (Stamova 2016, pp. 8). With the plan in play, the following section highlights Zoopla marketing mix. A more sustainable marketing mix gives the company an opportunity to improve its marketing strategy thus improving organisations level of sustainability (Johnson 2016, pp. 41). Product/Service: The service offered by Zoopla forms its essential part, and it defines the company, and which promotes the companys brand. However, place positioning strategy and new segmentation, Zoopla need to continue improving its services and launching more platforms for its clients to counter the competition from its competitors (Hilary 2015). Pricing: According to Zoopla CEO Alex Chesterman, Zoopla motive is to transform consumer experience by offering more services to its customers and also transform their professional expertise by providing more excellent value at a lower cost thus creating more marketing share and becoming ahead of competitors (Proctor 2014, pp. 9). Place: Since most of Zoopla services are accessed online, the company should ensure that it launches more platforms for the customers to be able to access more services. It has been made possible by the acquisition of more software platform like Property Software Group (Fletcher 2016). However, Zoopla has continued to invest more in acquiring other subsidiary property sites to ensure that it takes control of the online property search engines. Promotion: To keep up with the competition, Zoopla has used its brand awareness strategy throughout the UK to ensure it reaches a massive number of the UK adult population which is their target clients (Tallon 2013, pp. 9). It has continued to use both offline and online advertising avenues to boost its brand awareness. Until 2014, the company was able to increase its brand awareness up to 76% of the population (Hilary 2015). Zoopla improving and renewing marketing mix would allow it to have a better and stronger market position in the market and also develop the organisations theme from a developmental point of view (Whitehead et al. 2015, pp.12). An important part of any marketing tactic is connected to how well the company promotes itself in the market (Proctor 2014, pp. 10). A combination of a market mix with well-organised and viable promotions would improve Zoopla position in the market. Conclusion The company has positioned itself in the market as an intermediary between the home buyers and the real estate, and property sellers. Many companies have emerged, with the recent case being that of On The Market posing a significant threat to the company. Thus, Zoopla should come up with new services which are distinctive to remain unique and competitive in the market. As the online shopping rise due to advanced technology, more opportunities are based around optimising and expanding services to fit the growing digital marketing (Proctor 2014, pp. 10). Zoopla should use the data gathered from customer feedback to improve the listing. Additionally, the company should list the properties that are popular and most preferred by the property buyers. The buying behaviour of the home buyers in the UK is influenced by several factors which Zoopla should take into consideration when listing; which will bring a positive client reaction since whatever they want is explicitly contained in the we bsite and readily available. From the information gathered, Zoopla should ensure that it capitalises on strong brand awareness through adverting and that they narrow the market and be more specific and target the customer specifications. The tactic will maintain the number of clients who visit the website to search for properties and consequently increase traffic. Zoopla can also benefit from the investment in big promotions by seeking brand ambassadors who will ensure that brand awareness is heightened (Brown 2016, pp. 20). With the effects of Brexit in 2016 already creeping in, UKs economy might go down, and Zoopla should ensure that they factor in the effects when evaluating the strategies for any changes in the marketplace. By doing so, the company will ensure that it is ahead of the game and the changes will not affect its operations to a large extent. References Brown, S. (2016).Brands and branding. Sage, pp. 17-26. Collinson,P.andMonaghan, A. (Dec 2017). Desperate UK homeowners are cutting prices, says Zoopla. The Guardian.[Online]. Available from: https://www.the guardian.com/business/2017/dec/18/desperate-uk-homeowners-are-cutting-prices-warns-zoopla[accessed on 30 March 2018]. Field, M. (2014). CBC Housing and Homelessness Strategy 2014-19, pp.41-49. Fletcher, N. (Apr 2016). Zoopla jumps 2% after 75m software deal. The Guardian. [Online]. Available from:https://www.theguardian.com/business/marketforceslive/2016/apr/19/zoopla-jumps-2-after-75m-software-deal [accessed on 30 March 2018]. Fraser, I. (JULY 2017). Battle of the property portals continues as OnTheMarket wins competition case. The Telegraph. [Online]. 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