Allsop Case Study

Business Challenges

With a 59% auction market share, Allsop are a leading commercial and residential property auctioneer. Raising £800 million at auction last year, they were ready to optimise their six-week auction cycle. With any project that we undertake we get to know our client and how their business operates. As well as understanding their goals, it is vital that we recognise any challenges, so that we can incorporate these when meticulously planning each phase of the project. Here are just a few aspects that were important for our team to consider.

Representation of both commercial and residential auctions teams

The system must scale to accommodate extreme peaks and troughs in usage

All aspects of lot information from images to legal documentation must be available and carefully managed

A catalogue launch function to simultaneously post lots to the Website, App and 3rd Party Property Feeds

The auction catalogue mobile app to work 100% offline, as the auctions are held in various locations and internet access could be limited

Catalogue Production

Prior to Pace IT Systems taking on Allsop’s digital transformation, the catalogues they used were created manually, via an extensive staff powered operation. This was not only time consuming but also required a manual check process, adding to an already costly methodology. Marketing costs were huge as every page of the catalogue required an external marketing agency.

• The client would contact Allsop with their proposed property, sometimes including a description and images.
  

  One of the Allsop team would manually check the details and provide content to a marketing agency.
  
• The marketing agency created a draft catalogue page and sent it back to Allsop to check. If it was correct, they would forward it onto the client.
  

  The client provided feedback and any proposed changes were sent back to Allsop for editing. This was a lengthy process as traditional scribble prints were used, meaning that changes were made using pen and paper and scanned between parties. Any updates required could take a full day, as there was an exchange between Allsop, their client and the 3rd party marketing company, before a Lot was signed off.
  
• The finished Lot was proof read and sent to the marketing agency to include in the catalogue.
  

  A paper catalogue was also created with time being spent to ensure the layout was correct.
  
• There was then a manual sign off period and distribution of the catalogues.
  

  On launch the catalogue pages were manually converted into a website page for the website launch.
  
• From confirmation of the catalogue to launch it often took 3 days, and property feeds would follow up to 5 days later.
  

With the new online catalogue production, a print quality PDF template has been created that the Lot data can be automatically merged with. The system will produce a version for the website and catalogue, meaning that there is no longer a requirement for a third-party marketing team for each catalogue.

With the digital transformation, an eye-watering six figure sum has been saved by minimising the need for creating and printing a physical catalogue, with the opportunity to eliminate the hard-copy in the future. Our team have built the entire system with one code base, meaning four legacy systems have been merged into one, providing yet another cost saving opportunity.