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 home coaching 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.

Related trends

• Coaching brands

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 home coaching 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 home coaching 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 home coaching 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 home coaching brand, our fashion coaching brand and other coaching 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.

Related trends

• Coaching brands

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, home coaching 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 home coaching brands also spread over several displays. In the future our home coaching 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 home coaching 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 mobility coaching brand, TomTom in this case, will then make sure we get to our destination without a hassle.

Handyman site Werkspot asks customers, handymen, and home improvement stores to help them grow, by making them Werkspot Agents. Handymen can earn 25 euro by signing up another company or handyman, a store can place a special Werkspot display, and customers get the chance to earn a free subscription to a home improvement magazine. Besides, at the homepage a suggestion box is put in a prominent place. Brands involve consumers. The line between employees and consumers gets thinner. In the future, people together form the brand. This is an example of developments in that direction.

The fast growing Danish furniture chain BoConcept has consumers design their own furniture, and place it in the virtual version of their own home (through Dana Connor at DMN, Dutch). Here home coaching brands find their origin. Now the consumer still has to provide all the measurements, later home coaching brands will have those available for us, anywhere we are. Now we still have to draw our existing furniture ourselves, later these will also be available already. And the same for the lighting plan. Now we still do this through TV screens, later through every possible display, even in the shop. Now consumers have to design their furniture themselves, later they will be able to ask a designer from Canada, Taiwan, or India. This is a small step in that direction.

Dutch housing site Jaap.nl claims to show a bigger number of houses than Funda, the established brand in this area. Personal-brands-to-be now mainly focus on being complete. First in the Netherlands, then in surrounding countries and finally in all countries in the world. Relying on this completeness, the consumer can be served best, and value be added. This way Jaap can develop into a home coaching brand.This is a small step in that direction.