Category: Home

The Dutch living concept Stay or Go calls the members of its community on Grohe Rainshowers to test a special kind of shower head. This was sent to the members through email. By clicking the link in the email a personal page is created where the users only need to add their zip code. The rest is already filled out and users can then click 'send'. That's all you need to do to sign up. Then Grohe selects people based on their profile, including their zip code.

Through Dutch housing site Zuka buyers and sellers can chat with one another directly. Typical questions that aren't (as) easily caught in a database - for example 'from what time will the sun be shining in the garden?' or 'when was the exterior painted for the last time?' - can easily be answered in this way. In an extreme case one might even be able to make an offer from the chatroom.

The new housing site Brixter (Dutch) helps consumers appraise their own house or that of others. Based on an address (or looking it up through Google Maps) Brixter makes an initial estimate. By adding in further details (state of the kitchen, isolation, state of the paintwork, etc) Brixter comes up with a better estimate. The consumer can then publish this indication and the details of the house on Brixter. Brixter can also show actual housing offers.

Housing site Jaap (Dutch) now also offers a renovation service. People who stop using Jaap (e.g. cease looking because they want to renovate their own house first or people who want to renovate their new home) are redirected to a separate page on Werkspot.nl. There the consumer can look for a renovator through an auction principle and the renovations can begin.

Dutch housing site Moviq lets you 'flirt' with your house. You can set your house to 'flirt' and people searching for a house can make an offer. You don't have to accept, just like you don't have to accept an offer in a real flirt.

Housing site Miljoenhuizen.nl (millionhouses) shows houses that have been for sale for a specific period. It has, for example, the ability to show only those houses that have been for sale for over half a year, or have been added just under a week ago. The archive offers all 750.000 houses (in the Netherlands) that have been for sale since May 2005. A so-called heat-map shows in one glance where the market is tense and where it's going downhill.

House specialist Immospy, known in the Netherlands as miljoenhuizen.nl, is now available in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian. By focusing on Europe (instead of individual countries) almost 4 million houses for sale are made available.

Moviq is a new Dutch home and living site that offers not only a huge supply of houses, but also all suppliers in about 70 related service areas like realtors, notaries, contractors, truck rentals, and painters. Consumers can share their experiences with the suppliers with other users. Besides, the site offers content (text and video) for inspiration (em, Dutch).

Thus personal home brands slowly evolve. Now still aimed at suppliers, but soon the consumer will be central. Now there is only one mortgage supplier (Rabobank), but soon the home consumer will be able to choose here too. Now it doesn’t show all houses yet, soon Moviq will be the only place you have to go to find your house. Now it is still aiming at the period before buying a house, soon Moviq will keep inspiring you, even after you have moved. Now Moviq still sells your details to third parties, soon the relationship with the consumer will be core, and details will never be sold again. There are still lots of steps to take, but the amount of offers within the moving market show that Moviq has a huge potential. Well done!

Publisher Sanoma has bought Dutch living websites Leadz.nl and Woonwebsite.nl as an extension to their existing websites Woonklussen.nl and Allewoonwinkels.nl. The two newly acquired websites are both aimed at consumers who want to change their house or garden. At Woonwebsite.nl the user can ask for the services of a ‘Realtor’ to find the right contractor for a complete renovation. Leadz.nl is an auction site at which supply and demand for jobs on houses. Consumers can post their jobs, and professional companies can put their offers in.

Dutch real estate website Funda has now become accessible through mobile phones (fu, Dutch). Brands start dialogues through all kinds of screens and displays, and adapt their communication to the consumer, and the spacial context. In a next step GPS locations for example will also be included. Then you can see immediately if that house in the neighborhood is for sale. Or where the houses for sale are located in relation to the location you are at now. This is great when you walk around in a neighborhood that feels good to live in. A personal home brand more and more becomes a brand helping you in the area of housing, wherever you are in the world. This development is part of that.

Dutch mail order company Otto introduced its Life Style Agent. This small software program nestles in the task bar and continuously shows new offers in the area of lifestyle, fashion, and living. Not just of Otto, but of all kinds of sources (cc, Dutch). Brands are becoming pro-active. They continuously watch the world for us, and select exactly what we want. The brands who know us best, will offer us the most relevant products and information. These brands we will love most. This is a small step in that direction.

Dutch site for rental houses and houses for sale DirectWonen from now on also shows the price for which houses have been for sale until a year ago. The time the house has been on the market is also shown. The site has always been the leader in the area of rental houses in the Netherlands, but now apparently also offers information on houses for sale, with this history as a distinguishing extra value (em, Dutch). Thus personal home brands slowly develop. They stand next to the consumer and look at the whole market. Information about the price for which a house has been for sale earlier is not readily disclosed by the seller, but is very relevant to the buyer. Information about the status of the house before (rental or not) is relevant as well. In a while, housing sites will contain ALL rental houses, and ALL houses for sale. Then the added value will be in adding categories, like mortgages. And after that the selection of contractors, painters, movers, or moving services. Earlier or later it will be a drama to take care of this yourself, and personal home brands then give you the break you need to relax and enjoy the fun part of moving.

Through Zilok consumers can rent out their own stuff, or rent things from other people (dc, Dutch). In the time in which information was scarce, publishers could promote companies through advertisements, billboards, and commercials. Companies that could develop a core competence like rentals. Very often however, it is perfect to borrow something from a friend, or a friend-of-a-friend, but we don’t have much knowledge of the things our friends have. This information slowly becomes available. Now by consciously posting it to a website. In the future we will have an inventory list of all our belongings, which we share with our insurance company, our personal home brand, our personal fashion brand and other personal brands, and even with our friends (and friends of friends). The reputation of the individual then becomes important, like it is in our daily lives. If you lend something to somebody, most people want to get it back (in good shape), but not everybody has the same ideas about this. People who share the same standards will connect to each other. Thus the virtual world more and more resembles the physical world.

Through Bouwmarktconcurrent (do-it-yourself store competitor) consumers can online buy traditional brand products like tools, building materials, or sanitary (dc, Dutch). Now this is still a competitor of the physical store. In the future every physical store will have a bigger assortment online than off line, we will be able to see the stock, make reservations, and order. Then we can have our order delivered, or - if we like that better - pick it up at the store. The borderline between off line and online then fades. In the end, personal home brands will connect to these stores, and they will be able to advise us directly about placing a jacuzzi on the third floor, considering the weight of it. But first all materials, the deliveries and the prices must be made available. Bouwmarktconcurrent adds to this process.

Dutch realtor ERA organizes several Open House Tours a year. On that (Satur)day, people can see houses without an appointment. Starting this year, they can search for houses on the internet, and then download the addresses of their interest in their TomTom navigation system (em, Dutch). This way the dialogue with our personal home brands also spread over several displays. In the future our personal home brand will always be with us, and will help us to find great houses, to get the living comfort we like, to design the house the way we like it. Now we still need to download things, later just saying ‘that’s a great house’ will be sufficient to get the personal home brand going. Then we will photograph the house with our mobile phone, get a video presentation on TV, and get an interactive presentation in 3D through the PC. Everything connects to each other. The personal travel brand, TomTom in this case, will then make sure we get to our destination without a hassle.