RECORD NUMBER OF BROKERS ATTEND YACHTWORLD UNIVERSITY IN FT. LAUDERDALE
Seminar offers insight into marketing via an increasingly mobile and social Internet
Seattle, WA – (February 4, 2013)– YachtWorld, the world’s largest Internet yacht brokerage portal and part of Boats Group, announced today that the first YachtWorld University event of 2013, held last week in Ft. Lauderdale, drew a record number of professional yacht brokers for a day of training in online marketing and the use of YachtWorld brokerage services. Co-sponsored by the Florida Yacht Brokers Association, the seminar attracted YachtWorld member brokers from as far away as Connecticut and Chicago for educational sessions presented by company staff and other industry experts.
“We are extremely pleased with such a high turnout at this year’s event,” said Ian Atkins, senior vice president and general manager, YachtWorld. “Not only is it encouraging that brokers are interested in how to better use our product suite, but also it’s a testament to the commitment our broker members make to develop professionally.”
During the all-day event, brokers were given an exclusive look into the YachtWorld product road map for 2013, as well as YachtWorld’s global market data. Key takeaways included how soon mobile internet usage would surpass PC usage (in two years), how much faster boats sell with videos on their listings (17 percent), and recommendations on how to use the increasing number of marketing channels available. Brokers also had networking opportunities and the chance to engage with a broker’s panel via live polling technology activated by text messaging, voting on topics ranging from legal and statutory to brokerage best practices.
As a bonus, attending brokers received the 2012 YachtWorld Market Index, an annual summary of sales activity in the U.S. and European brokerage markets as reported by the majority of YachtWorld’s 2,496 brokerage members. The Index also showed that Florida brokers continued to dominate the luxury end of the market; on behalf of their clients, they completed 18 percent of the brokerage transactions in the United States, and those transactions were worth 43 percent of the $3.26 billion in total price paid.
About YachtWorld
YachtWorld is the single most powerful and effective global marketing solution for the boating industry. With over 125,000 brokerage boats offered worldwide by more than 2,400 yacht brokerage houses and 10,000 individual yacht brokers in 143 countries, YachtWorld.com receives nearly 2.5 million global visits by boating enthusiasts each month. YachtWorld provides a complete suite of online marketing services for its yacht broker members through BoatWizard and SoldBoats, their proprietary back-end tools. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, YachtWorld has European headquarters in the United Kingdom, with sales and customer service representation in France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Turkey and Estonia. YachtWorld is a division of Dominion Enterprises, based in Norfolk, Virginia, USA.
About Boats Group
Boats Group (Boats Group) is the Internet partner of choice for the recreational marine industry and operates the three market-leading web portals – www.boats.com, www.yachtworld.com and www.boattrader.com. Boats Group is a division of Dominion Enterprises, a leading marketing services and publishing company that provides businesses with a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing solutions including Internet advertising, lead generation, CRM, website design and hosting and data management services. Boats Group has offices in North America (Norfolk, Virginia; Seattle, Washington; and Vancouver, British Columbia) as well as in Europe (United Kingdom and Italy). The company employs 150 people, has customers in 106 countries, and advertises boats for sale in 166 countries. In 2012, more than 51 million unique visitors spent time researching products on Boats Group web and mobile sites, apps and social media outlets. Boats Group’s global reach includes 23 localized web portals which are translated into 13 languages.