Market Strategy and SWOT Analysis of Zillow

Consider yourself in the market for a new house, and you may benefit from a single platform that provides you with everything you want. You may look at available properties for sale and rent, contact a real estate agent (realtor), pay rent, apply for a mortgage, and obtain closing and title services. It would have been unthinkable a few years ago, but because of the intelligence and invention of Zillow’s founders, it is now a reality for house buyers. This blog will further explore their marketing strategy for unravelling the mystery of Zillow’s success.

Zillow’s mission and vision statements.

Mission statement: 

The goal statement of Zillow is to “create the world’s largest, most trustworthy, and lively home-related marketplace.” Trust, according to Spaulding, is critical for a firm like Zillow. He mentioned how many real estate agents believe Zillow is in business to drive brokers out of the profession.

“Trust must be at the heart of everything we do,” he said. “If it isn’t, it won’t appear to our customers; to our consumers who go to the website to look at property values; to the real estate agents with whom we want to create strong connections,” Spaulding added. “As a result, we attempt to instil a degree of faith in our objective that is extremely evident to our personnel.”

Spaulding stated that Zillow attempts to replicate the ethos of fellow Seattle tech titan Amazon in several aspects. Amazon’s founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, has always maintained a mindset centred around being “ready to be misunderstood for lengthy periods.”

Spaulding highlighted that Zillow does not place high importance on short-term performance, necessitating faith in the company’s beliefs and goals.

“We aim to do much of what Amazon does,” he said. “We don’t think about our business in quarters. Yes, we have shareholders; yes, we are a public corporation; and yes, we have goals that we want to achieve. Yet, we want to take activities that foster trust among our employees and the broader market. If it means preceding a short-term decision to position the firm for the long run better, we’ll do it.”

Nevertheless, Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff highlighted last year at the GeekWire Summit that Zillow’s culture only partially fits what Amazon has developed. He has sought to build a gentler, more collaborative, and accepting working culture, which puts his organization at odds with others in the IT industry.

Rascoff stated that he understood the allure of working in a high-pressure, Amazon-like environment from his days as an investment banker, but it’s not what he wants for his workers right now.

“I left investment banking after a few years because it was a terrible lifestyle, but I wouldn’t exchange that experience for anything,” he remarked in October. “So, if you walk in with your eyes wide open, and that’s what you want at that moment, that’s fantastic.” Zillow is rather unique.”

Vision statement: 

“To unlock information and empower our people, customers and partners to make better decisions”. 

Zillow was originally a startup but now employs over 400 workers in administrative or leadership roles around the country. The organization has discovered that verifying that every manager adheres to the company’s basic principles takes time and effort.”We’re at a stage in our growth where we’re starting to give more advice to our managers about how we want them to lead in the spirit of our culture,” Spaulding said.

Recently, there was a lot of internal disagreement at Zillow about how to achieve this. The firm eventually decided to create a “leadership playbook” that defines what strong leaders do at Zillow and provides advice on how to treat employees. It also covers four essential leadership concepts.

Nevertheless, the playbook needs to teach managers how to lead like Barton or Rascoff, the company’s CEO. It’s more of a leadership paradigm that encourages people to accept their unique leadership styles.

“It’s about executing it in a way that is real to them, their team, and their team’s vision,” said Spaulding.

Zillow’s positioning strategy.

Zillow is a comprehensive real estate software that may help you purchase, rent, or sell a house. You may browse millions of homes and flats for sale or rent on the search page, narrowing your results with decisive search criteria.

Listings might include everything from 3D walkthroughs to publicly accessible tax data. If you see a house for sale or rent that appeals to you, you may contact the owner or listing agent directly from the app. When you’re ready to work with a real estate agent to purchase or sell a house, use Zillow’s real estate agent directory to search for local agents and read actual reviews. And the app’s mortgage capabilities make it simple to calculate payments or find a lender.

The Zillow app allows homeowners to sell or rent their properties. The My House option will enable you to identify and claim your property, view local comparables, calculate the estimated worth of your home, and make the sale or rental listings. Create a Zillow home listing for free, and potential home buyers or renters may contact you through the app.

Zillow has been around for a long time and has earned the trust of buyers, sellers, and real estate professionals. As a result, Zillow has become one of the most popular websites for offering a house for sale or rent. Entrepreneurs who wish to do it themselves utilize a vast network to obtain their clients the finest discounts possible.

Considering those characteristics, the archetype Zillow most likely belongs to is Everyman.

What are our current perceptions of this archetype?

• A yearning to connect with others; 
• the desire to belong and fit in;
• Cultivate solid everyday qualities, the common touch, and the ability to blend in.

These are the message levels of the archetype.

Level 1: Isolation and alienation;

Level 2: the orphan who is abandoned and lonely and craves companionship;

Level 3: the newcomer learns to connect, fit in, accept assistance, and build friendships.

Level 4: the humanitarian who thinks that all individuals have intrinsic dignity regardless of their talents or circumstances.

The Ordinary Guy/Gal stereotype may help brands:

• whose use helps people belong or feel like they belong; 
• whose purpose is something used regularly; 
• with pricing that is considered medium to low (or is an upscale variant of a product that would otherwise be cheap);
• provided or marketed by a company with a down-home organizational culture; 
• that wish to distinguish themselves firmly from a higher-priced or more elitist brand.

Let’s take a look at Zillow’s SWOT analysis.

Strengths: 

Brand Recognition: It is the fundamental strength of the organization. It has come to be associated with online property searches. Customers are well-versed in Zillow. Zillow is the most popular real estate brand. In 2021, Zillow rated 49th as the most popular website globally, 16th in the United States, and first in the business and consumer services sector.

The company’s website receives 221 million average monthly unique visitors, with 2.5 billion expected in the first quarter of 2021. Zillow may use its brand reputation to enter new markets. With customers familiar with Zillow’s platform and high customer satisfaction, the market is likely to be more open to the brand’s offerings.

Product Portfolio: Zillow has spent a lot of money to develop a great brand. From its founding, the Zillow brand has evolved from a simple real estate website to a suite of services that target the whole real estate life cycle. The Zillow brand is founded on trust to provide a simple transaction experience for each client. Zillow (prime agent, research, offers, rentals, house loans, and closing services), StreetEasy, Trulia, Naked Apartments, and HotPads are among its brands.

Moreover, Zillow is home to the Bridge, Dotloop, Interactive, Mortech, and Retxly company brands. It has been made feasible via strategic purchases as well as advancements.

High level of customer satisfaction: ConsumerAffairs gives Zillow 3.9 stars out of 5 stars, G2 gives it 3.8 stars and 8.5 stars out of 10. Some factors that most appeal to customers about Zillow include good quality generic leads, a significant volume of properties and customer solutions listed on the website, and Zillow Premier Agent benefits, among others. Thanks to its dedicated customer service department, the organization can achieve extraordinarily high customer care.

High-skilled workforce: Zillow invests significantly in its employees to ensure it is highly skilled and motivated to drive its agenda and accomplish its objectives. In 2021 and 2019, the firm was named 47th and 69th on the list of coveted Fortune 100 best companies to work for. Glassdoor named the firm the most excellent place to work in 2015, 2016, and 2017, ranking 33, 10, and 29, respectively.

During the COVID epidemic, the firm created rules and perks that offered flexibility, equality, and employee support. It was also named the most excellent workplace in Seattle in 2021. Because the organization promotes a dispersed workforce and allows workers to work from home, it was called UrbanBound’s 2021 Relocation Program of the Year. Additional advantages include:

• A robust dealer community.
• A solid distribution network.
• Excellent strategy.
• Success in new areas.

Weaknesses:

High levels of inventory: While the firm has a large inventory, the time it takes to purchase and sell items is significantly greater than the industry average. It may incur opportunity costs, as well as other costs.

High transaction costs: While the corporation has done much in the real estate market, it has yet to do much about the high transaction fees. With both the selling and purchasing parties earning fees, transaction costs rise, exposing the firm to competitors like Opendoor and Redfin, which offer reduced transaction costs.

Gaps in customer satisfaction: Customers identified gaps in this service, even though the company’s customer satisfaction scores are higher than the industry average. These include: limited seller leads since the new immediate offer systems produce more buyer leads and few seller needs in a few locations; and varying pricing that may be pricey in more expensive places.

Opportunities.

New Technologies: Emerging technologies provide greater efficiency and efficacy, ultimately lowering costs. They are crucial in assisting Zillow in developing a distinct pricing strategy to meet the company’s high transaction costs. Furthermore, by utilizing modern technology, Zillow can retain its existing clients by providing outstanding customer service while attracting new consumers through value-added offerings.

New customer trends: Changing consumer trends and behaviours give Zillow new chances to meet customers’ changing demands and preferences. For example, Zillow is catering to a new generation of customers interested in digitizing house purchasing. Furthermore, millennials are approaching their prime home-buying years. Zillow’s business strategy is ideal for this demographic since they are technologically competent. As a result, the business anticipates a residential real estate boom.

Growth prospects for real estate: According to industry analysts and Zillow research, the sector will increase. Demand will be fueled by increased property availability, keeping prices modest, growing millennial housing demand, and the requirement to work from home.

Financial performance and assets: The financial performance of Zillow is far superior to those of its competitors. It improves the company’s ability to finance and invest in innovative and expanding plans.

Threats: 

Intense competition: The corporation confronts fierce rivalry from both established competitors and new market entrants. Nevertheless, the industry’s consistent prosperity has drawn additional participants, resulting in lower earnings and market share.

Real estate online fraud: The real estate business is a popular target for fraudsters; studies show that fraudsters launder nearly $1.6 trillion annually through house purchases and rental payments. As a result, Zillow must invest more in who is buying and selling while also maintaining a user-friendly onboarding experience.

Target Market of Zillow

We’ll do this by watching one of their commercials.

The video follows a young couple visiting various homes and flats until locating the one they’ve been looking for. When the video ends, it shows that they were perusing listings on the Zillow app from the comfort of their bed.

The 1970 song “Love You” by Delevan, New York-based singing group The Free Design serves as the soundtrack. This song has appeared in several TV ads worldwide, including those for Peters Drumstick ice creams in Australia, Freia Smil chocolate in Norway, DC Shoes and Delta Air Lines in the United States, mobile network operator Cosmote in Greece, and Toyota globally.

It is not the first advertisement for Zillow. Another commercial shows two life partners, soon-to-be parents, relaxing in their home, searching through apartments on Zillow and organizing a tour for one of them.

Aside from 3D home tours and interactive floor plans, Zillow also provides Home Loans and Zillow Closing Services, which provide an online platform that allows customers to conduct transactions more digitally and conveniently and the option to connect with a local Zillow Premier Agent expert.

We can infer that Actualizers are Zillow’s target market.

Values and lifestyle:

Actualizers will likely win in anything they choose to pursue. It’s due to their meticulous planning and complex effort.

Actualizers lead a perfectionist lifestyle, so they “bless” each day with excellent outcomes.

Most of the time, this sector is completely satisfied with their lives. They leave the scene feeling relieved because they know what they want and how to attain it.

Actualizers strive for success while keeping a strategic distance from the risks that come with it. Their work is more than just a means to an end.

Actualizers, on the other hand, enjoy and are enthusiastic about their work. They work hard to be satisfied with their current positions in their employment.

Yet, in the majority of circumstances, it is critical to prioritize family. Actualizers’ families might be key points. Money comes and goes, but family is eternal.

Actualizers who have children are unquestionably involved in their children’s life. Actualizers must teach and encourage their children to continually learn new things.

The physical well-being of children is equally vital. Actualizers go to great lengths to guarantee that their children are nourished and have a healthy, balanced lifestyle.

Actualizers like working out with their children and their partners and wives to spend quality time together as a family. They strive to exercise at least once a week.

This component benefits from superior judgment skills. They are interested in learning about various cultures, music, and world events.

This section aims to keep up with the fast progress of technology. The environment is an issue in this sector. Acualizers minimize their usage of plastic and recycle it since it is vital to do one’s part to protect the environment in which we live.Actualizers are ready to address societal issues like violations and violence.

This market is aware of how to spend its money. These people never throw anything out. They take excellent care of it. If people need to acquire a high-quality item, they will be willing to pay extra for it.

Actualizers care more about their comfort than their appearance. As a result, when women go shopping, they seek warm clothing to compliment their attire.

Shopping mindset:

Actualizers usually buy from premium firms as quality is an important aspect.

Actualizers are eager to acquire new products when they become available. This population like to be productive while shopping.

They organize their purchases ahead of time to make the most of their time. For example, they will choose a store where they can buy basics.

Actualizers will buy things from local brands on occasion. Individuals should assist smaller businesses.

After carefully analyzing its SWOT analysis and marketing strategy, Zillow has one the best business strategies in the world. The company faces several significant obstacles, including the recession, rivals, and internationalization. Zillow needs to grow its market and adopt cutting-edge technology to stay competitive.

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