Ecommerce giant Amazon, which recently announced its entry into the produce and grocery business with the acquisition of Whole Foods, appears to be branching out into another industry: real estate.
On July 11th, Amazon’s website temporarily featured a “Hire a Realtor” link, reported Market Watch. Amazon’s planned service would allow consumers to hire a real estate agent through its web site. The link, which was located in the Home and Business Services section, was later taken down on the same day. Amazon’s website also showed a “Coming Soon” message with an option to receive an email when the service becomes fully active.
Amazon would join Facebook and Google as a potential source of business for real estate agents. Agents would pay referral fees to Amazon in exchange for the new business.
News of Amazon’s possible entry into real estate sent shares of Zillow down 4% on that day. Zillow and Redfin, also both based in Seattle, are among Amazon’s main competitors if it enters into the real estate referral business.