Conquering the Housing Market with Storyblok’s CMS

• Headquarters: Leuven, Belgium
• Technology Stack: Storyblok, React.js, Next.js, AWS, Apify, Keycloak/RedHat SSO

Immoscoop is a Belgian real estate platform with the added value of estate agents. The platform went live in 2016 with the goal of becoming the leading website for the Belgian housing market. To realize their ambition, the company needed a strong online foundation. This was achieved with the help of iO, a Storyblok Partner. Today, Immoscoop’s new website has 300+ active real estate companies and agents. It has 35K+ new listings and 250K+ website visitors per month.

The challenge of bridging desire and reality

The Immoscoop real estate platform went live in late 2016 through a collaboration of rival real estate agents. The agents were very frustrated with the way traditional real estate websites worked. So, they decided to start their own platform, Immoscoop. A platform that will allow them to do things in a different way. Shortly after the launch, Immoscoop realized that doing things differently proved to be harder than they initially thought:

• Their setup was a monolithic custom-built PHP solution that lacked flexibility.
• The monolithic setup did not provide content managers independence from developers.

So, to stay true to their desires for the industry, Immoscoop started looking for a partner. They needed to develop a new, high-end website that supports flexible content management. Hence, their collaboration with iO.

Besides building a new website, iO also helped Immoscoop find a way to let their copywriters write and manage the site content without allocating a lot of resources to custom development. To deliver on all their objectives, Immoscoop and iO decided to use a phased approach. So, they delivered a website with all the important and necessary features to start a solid foundation to scale in the future. MACH architecture and best-of-breed technologies were used to build Immoscoop’s platform. The site went live in July 2022.

Managing Immoscoop’s content with Storyblok

To have a quick, easy, and independent content management process, Immoscoop needed a simple and flexible Content Management System (CMS). Having worked with Storyblok before, iO knew that the CMS would be the best match for Immoscoop’s needs. The implementation and handover were a breeze.

Storyblok offers many advantages for Immoscoop:

• Agility: Storyblok’s flexibility means the CMS can be integrated into any tech stack or framework. Moreover, the solution has a built-in system for plug-ins - making it easier for Immoscoop to add new features.
• Flexibility: With Storyblok’s CMS, Immoscoop can easily add new content, such as blog posts and FAQs, to its platform.
• Visual Editor: This allows Immoscoop to check and test modifications and new pages in real time before publishing them.
• APIs: iO were able to swiftly set up a smart search function focused on real estate agents with the help of Storyblok’s extensive set of APIs.
• Fast development time: As a SaaS (Software As a Service) solution, Storyblok’s CMS can be set up quickly compared to traditional CMSs that need developing from scratch.

Storyblok is used to manage Immoscoop’s real estate partner listings, blog, FAQ page, and their about us and policy pages. The team can now write, publish, and manage content quickly and easily. Their biggest win is their ability to execute content changes without depending on developers. This is especially handy for their real estate partner listings. They work with real estate agencies and need to have a way to showcase the collaboration. This helps them maintain the amazing partnerships they have built with them.

As a real estate platform with big aspirations for the industry, Immoscoop will continue to grow and expand. Thanks to the MACH architecture and Storyblok, they will have no problem scaling and fulfilling their dreams.