At the same time, estate agents and motor dealers who make use of the platform to advertise their properties and vehicles will be tapping into an existing 600 000-strong monthly audience of potential buyers.
These are the major effects of a recent deal between PA Media, the country's biggest independent property publisher, and media giant Avusa, which owns titles such as the Sunday Times and the Sowetan as well as Nu Metro and Exclusive Books.
The two companies have created a new multi-media (print and online) property marketing solution named PropertyJunction.co.za which, together with AutoJunction.co.za, has now been placed with the long-established CareerJunction.co.za to form a single social business marketplace, Junction.co.za.
Executive manager Dave Asher notes that CareerJunction is SA's biggest and most popular employment website, with 1,8m career seekers listed and more than 600 000 users a month, and says it will be used as a springboard to launch the AutoJunction and PropertyJunction brands, and to give their clients immediate exposure to a very large audience.
"Usually it takes time for a new website or portal to attract a significant number of users but in this case we will be piggybacking off CareerJunction, and will reach 'critical mass' very quickly as a result."
In addition, he says PropertyJunction and AutoJunction will not just be sites where consumers can find cars and homes, but will introduce a pay-per-lead business model and position themselves as performance-based generators of high-quality sales leads to the real estate and vehicle sales industries.
"This is a bold step," says Asher, "but we believe the market is ready for a change and are confident that our approach in terms of transacting with our clients purely on performance is a step in the right direction.
"Unlike other websites in these categories, ours offer unique functions such as an affordability search linked to users' personal profiles in which they can store their own vehicle and property information. Our core focus is on creating a great user experience which will translate into providing quality leads for our clients and we are well on the way to achieving the desired results."
For more information contact Dave Asher on 021 818 8600 or email dave@junction.co.za
