triumf.nn.ru — the website of the Nizhny Novgorod real-estate agency "Triumf-Riyelty," which by 2003 was styling itself the holding company "Triumf Group of Companies"[1][2]. The firm's head office was located in Nizhny Novgorod at Volodarsky Street, with branches on Entuziastov Street, Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street, and Surikov Street[1]. The archival survey contains four snapshots of the homepage, spanning 2001 to 2006[1][4].

A telephone directory on the homepage (2001)

The earliest surviving snapshot was taken on 8 July 2001. The site was called "RE Agency 'TRIUMF-RIYELTY', N.Novgorod" and opened with a ten-item menu: "Home," "About the Company," "News," "Databases," "Services," "Consultations," "Vacancies," "For Advertisers," "Links," "Feedback"[1].

The homepage in this snapshot is essentially a directory of addresses and phone numbers. Listed at the head office at 49 Volodarsky Street are the primary housing and shared-construction department (78-44-00), the secondary housing departments (78-45-00, 78-45-01), the residential rental department (78-45-02), and the commercial property department along with the appraisal and analytics department, reachable on shared lines 78-44-88 and 78-44-99[1]. Three branch offices specializing in secondary housing are listed separately: 10 Entuziastov Street, Building 1 — "behind the Zarechny market" (42-22-75, 42-22-50, 42-22-39); 12 Bolshaya Pokrovskaya (30-19-50, 33-48-88); and 14a Surikov Street, Office 3 (34-68-02, 39-65-40) — the homepage promised in-house legal consultations at two of them[1].

From agency to group of companies (2003–2006)

By the snapshot of 3 August 2003, the site had changed its heading to "Triumf Group of Companies, Nizhny Novgorod." The top of the page featured three offerings — new-build flat sales, commercial property sales, and commercial property rentals — and the menu comprised the sections "Home," "Our Addresses," "Databases," "Information for Realtors," "Free Consultations," "Property Press," "Jobs," "Write to Us"[2]. The firm described itself on the homepage as an agency that "has been operating successfully in the real-estate market for 10 years and is among the top five agencies in Nizhny Novgorod"[2].

According to the site's description at the time, the holding in 2003 comprised: the real-estate agency "Triumf" (business property and construction investment), the property centre "Vashe Pravo" ("Your Right") (buying, selling, and renting residential property), the company "Otsenochny Standart" ("Appraisal Standard") (valuation of movable and immovable assets, including sea and river vessels, intellectual property, and securities), and the business-technology centre "Olimp" (recruitment, consulting, and training)[2]. The group described itself as a member of the Nizhny Novgorod Realtors' Guild and the Russian Realtors' Guild[2]. The "Our News" section at that time contained three entries: on 29 April 2003, "Vashe Pravo" received a certificate of service quality conformity with the National Standard; on 22 May 2003, "Olimp" was accredited by the Russian Realtors' Guild as a training institution for certification purposes; on 31 May 2003, the group of companies "held a children's day"[2].

The snapshot of 27 January 2005 shows an already established site structure: "Home," "Our Addresses," "Databases," "Analytics," "Consultations," "Directory," "Publications"[3]. The agency's stated years of experience on the homepage had grown to eleven, and the description now included official details: conformity certificate No. РОСС ru ГК ос 52.003 dated 29 April 2003, and a professional liability insurance policy with JSC Rosno, No. Г14-15719103-В15[3]. By this time the group comprised three companies: "Triumf," "Vashe Pravo" (which had added mortgage and housing-loan services), and "Otsenochny Standart"[3].

In the last surviving snapshot, dated 14 November 2006, the stated years of experience had reached twelve, and the group's composition had been restructured: LLC "Triumf-Nedvizhimost" ("Triumf Property") (business property, legal services, and consulting), the realtor company "Triumf" (transactions in both new-build and completed housing, mortgage and housing-loan services), "Otsenochny Standart," and a legal service[4]. The company's own 2006 news items combined business and educational topics: on 11 May, "Otsenochny Standart" received accreditation following a tender by CJSC CB "Rus-Bank," citing a letter from the manager of the bank's Nizhny Novgorod branch, a Mr. Shagalov; on 24 April, a group of 4th- and 5th-year students from Nizhny Novgorod universities completed a training course in "Fundamentals of Real-Estate Practice" — a programme the site described as being offered "only once a year, in spring," on preferential terms; on 21 April, a three-week work placement began for third-year students of the Nizhny Novgorod College of Economics, Statistics, and Law; and in April, "Otsenochny Standart" was assigned the rating index Б11 in the sixth federal integrated ranking of appraisal firms in the Russian Federation for 2005[4]. The contact address in the footer was not on the firm's own domain: triumf@sandy.ru; the copyright read "(c) 2001-2006"[4].

Databases, calculators, and a market feed

Over time the site grew beyond a mere corporate calling card. The "Site News" feed in the 2005 snapshot lists what had appeared on the site during 2004: materials on mortgages (24 March); materials from the 1st Regional Volga Federal District Conference "Problems and Prospects of Real-Estate Market Development. Investments" (29 March); a flat-rental database (7 April); mortgage calculators (14 April); new display formats for the new-builds database (19 April); a commercial property market review for May (3 June); the study "Nizhny Novgorod: The State and Development of the Office Property Market" (18 October); a quick-appraisal calculator for flat values on the secondary market (22 November)[3]. On 10 March 2006, three market reviews were published at once — the new-build housing and commercial property markets for January, and the secondary housing market for February[4].

A separate column, "Nizhny Novgorod Property Market News," turned the homepage into a brief sector digest for the city and region. In the snapshot of 27 January 2005 it carried five items, dated from 23 December 2004 to 17 January 2005: two large shopping centres announced by the production group "Zemlyane" and Stolitsa Nizhny (development group) (17 January); the 407 million roubles that the Region planned to allocate in 2005 to the second phase of the Nizhny Novgorod bypass road (24 December); and the Park-Khaus retail and entertainment complex of approximately 65,000 sq. m that the Samara-based group "Vremya" planned to build in Nizhny Novgorod (23 December)[3]. The page also featured a special offer — 1,100 sq. m of office space, an entire floor of an administrative building in Nizhegorodsky District[3].

In January 2006, the feed reported on the public discussion of development along the Rowing Canal, citing Mayor Vadim Bulavinov, on the 20 million dollars that Nizhny Novgorod's "Systemma" planned to invest in reconstructing the Vodnik stadium, and on a protest by defrauded co-investors in a residential building in the second microdistrict of Verkhniye Pechyory at Minin Square[4].

Place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet

In the nn.ru directory — the catalogue of Nizhny Novgorod websites, where each participant carried a Counter.nn.ru rating — the site was listed under the category "Companies (Enterprises): Real Estate." In the snapshot of 23 June 2002, "Real-Estate Agency 'Triumf-Riyelty'" appeared with a rating of 341 and ranked third in a category of 22 sites, of which only eleven had ratings assigned; the sites above it were the portal "Metr.Ru" with a rating of 1,203 and the Inter-Agency Regional Realtor Information Server with a rating of 385[5]. In the directory's general "Best of the Best" section, where sites were ranked by click-throughs over the previous 30 days, the snapshot of 27 August 2002 placed "Triumf-Riyelty" at 47th with 232 click-throughs and a rating of 221[6]. The methodology behind this ranking is discussed in the Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating.

In 2004, "Triumf Group of Companies" took part in the Day of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet vote in the category "Best Corporate Website." In the final tally of the closed vote, the site received 3 e-mail votes and no SMS votes — 45th out of 97 entries in the category, a score matched by exactly ten other sites; by comparison, the top entry, "Aprel Service," received 159 e-mail votes and 28 SMS votes[7]. In other words, the site held a top-three position in the sector subcategory of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet directory, yet attracted almost no support in the public vote.

How it closed

The last archival snapshot of the working site is dated 14 November 2006; this is also the final year in the copyright notice — "(c) 2001-2006"[4]. According to the note in the Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating, the domain subsequently went to "parking" — a placeholder page was served in place of the site; as of the time of checking, the domain triumf.nn.ru is recorded as non-existent, and the group of companies' website is no longer available at that address.

Links

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Homepage, 2001 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Homepage, 2003 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Homepage, 2005 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — Homepage, 2006 (archive)
  5. web.archive.org — nn.ru directory, category "Companies (Enterprises): Real Estate," 2002 (archive)
  6. web.archive.org — nn.ru directory, "Best of the Best" section, 2002 (archive)
  7. web.archive.org — Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day vote results, 2004 (archive)