- Purplebricks is an online estate agent founded in 2012 by brothers Michael Bruce and Kenny Bruce.
- It is the highest-rated estate agent in the UK.
- The company is backed by investors including venture capital firm DN Capital as well as Neil Woodford, Paul Pindar, and Errol Damelin.
听
About Purplebricks
听
Purplebricks uses leading technology to improve the process of selling or buying a home. The Purplebricks platform breaks the constraints of a traditional estate agency by enabling buyers and sellers to engage 24/7. The company currently operates in the UK, Canada and Australia.
The Bruce brothers saw flaws in the traditional business and set about creating a better model which utilises technology to provide help and transparency to its customers. The site allows customers to book valuations, schedule viewings, give feedback, make offers, negotiate sales and instruct lawyers 鈥� all without the restriction of office hours. The company vision is to become the only place people go to buy, sell and let their home.
听
听
Estate agent of the Future
听
Purplebricks has spent over five years developing and building its technology and has a large team of developers helping it become the 鈥楨state agent of the Future鈥�.
In December, Purplebricks teamed up with Amazon Alexa so that customers can receive updates on the sale of their home through voice assistants. This technology is in response to a recent customer which survey showed that 48% of customers wanted to receive updates about their house sale either once or a few times a day. With the new partnership, customers can ask Alexa questions such as 鈥榃hat viewings do I have today?鈥�, 鈥楬ow is my property performing?鈥� and 鈥榃hat new messages do I have?鈥�.听
听
听
Purplebricks says it will continue to invest in technology to make the lives of its customers more fulfilling.听
听
Struggles
听
Purplebricks faced a 5% drop in shares after founder and CEO Michael Bruce left the company last May. Vic Darvey was appointed CEO and set the mission to claim a 10% market share in 3鈥�5 years.
Despite great success in the UK, Purplebricks struggled to secure a place in the American market and folded its US operations entirely in July.
There has been controversy regarding the validity of Purplebricks reviews since last year. A recent report alleged that Purplebricks Canada sent employees emails asking them to increase the number of good reviews on Facebook and Google in exchange for days off. 听The leaked email obtained by Forbes is particularly significant as the company was just awarded Feefo鈥檚 鈥榯rusted service鈥� award. The accreditation is described as 鈥渁n independent seal of excellence that recognises businesses for delivering exceptional experiences, as rated by听real customers.鈥�
Feefo has stated that all reviews are verified as genuine, and the award is a reflection of Purplebricks鈥� commitment to outstanding service. A spokesperson for Purplebricks Canada stated: 鈥楾he email, though sent in good faith, was a complete one-off and was an error of judgement鈥urplebricks Canada recognises that it鈥檚 vital for all reviews to be genuine and authentic.鈥�
听
听
听
Partnership with Team GB
听
Last week, Purplebricks launched its biggest-ever marketing campaign as the 鈥渙fficial estate agent of Team GB鈥� in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics. The campaign is set to last a few months, featuring Olympic medallists Laura Kenny, Bianca Walkden, Moe Sbihi and Dan Goodfellow.
听Purplebricks says the aim of the campaign is to encourage 鈥渋ts ambition to be the nation鈥檚 favourite estate agent鈥�.
听
