If you think Zillow is primarily a real estate search site, and that home buyers and sellers are Zillow’s customers, you are wrong.
Zillow is a lead generation site. Home buyers and sellers who use Zillow are the “leads.” They are not the customer, they are the product that is being sold to real estate agents.
But don’t take my word for it. Here’s Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff describing Zillow’s purpose and philosophy in his own words…