Tesco has abandoned its plans to create an online property store and caved in to estate agents’ demands not to undercut them.
Today Spicerhaart which owns the Haart, Felicity J Lord, Spicer McColl, Darlows and Baileys chains, and Tesco confirmed that final negotiations are taking place for the purchase of Tesco Property Market, the store’s online portal which had been offering clients the chance to market their homes for £199 online.
When Tesco launched the site last year, estate agents stopped advertising on it in droves after they discovered that Tesco was offering the new service.
At the time Spicerhaart, which was one of the store’s major agent advertisers, was the first agent to instruct Tesco to remove its details from the site.
“Your Move quickly followed suit refusing to allow its listings onto www.tescopropertymarket.com. The move forced Tesco to rethink its property portal.
Paul Smith, chief executive of Spicerhaart, said: “Final negotiations are taking place with Tesco to buy their estate agency business.
“Spicerhaart is developing a new innovative virtual estate agency business in partnership with Tesco, who will be the main distribution partner.
“This business, which will benefit from our well established property expertise, will offer a high quality estate agency service.”
A Tesco spokesperson added: “We have been reviewing our internet estate agency for some time and exploring ways in which we might be able to bring more value and choice to home movers.
“This has involved us talking to others in the industry and we are now in the final stages of negotiations for a deal to sell TPM to Spicerhaart.
“TPM and Spicerhaart will develop a new and comprehensive on-line estate agency service and this will be available to our customers at Tesco.com.”
