Boatshed
Bespoke Software
Case Study
Bespoke software build for the modern boating industry
Client:
Boatshed
Cloud Construct service:
Cloud migration to AWS.
Bespoke business management software & API development.
Website development.
Ongoing support and maintenance.
Google Workspace management.
How Boatshed sells boats twice as fast as the industry average – with Cloud Construct’s support
Boatshed is one of the world’s largest yacht brokerage groups. It operates 70 offices across 18 countries. It was the first company to develop yacht brokerage on the web back in 1999. Now the Boatshed brokerage network of websites rank amongst the most visited yachting sites in the world.
Boatshed prides itself on giving potential buyers the most complete and accurate picture of the boat that they want to buy. Boatshed brokers personally visit every boat that they list, taking unlimited photographs and videos which are available online to registered users anywhere in the world.
Boatshed is one of Cloud Construct’s (formerly PBS Creative) longest standing clients, working with the company founder since 1999.
Highlights
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Challenges
- Boatshed websites must be available 24/7: Buyers, sellers and brokers are located across the world and in different time zones
- High quality images and videos are necessary for transparency and showing the true condition of the boats. However, they can take up a lot of server space and bandwidth
- Boats are expensive and considerable sums of money are at stake. Boatshed needed to demonstrate systems and processes are trustworthy and secure
- There are thousands of boat manufacturers, but buyers may not be aware of the options that are available or right for them
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Solutions
- Cloud Construct provides a 24 hour support and ongoing maintenance package so that downtime is kept to an absolute minimum
- Adoption of Amazon Web Services in multiple regions provides high availability and globally fast website hosting
- AWS S3 cloud storage offers limitless capacity and cost efficiency, whilst AWS CloudFront ensures fast image loading wherever you are in the world
- A bespoke and comprehensive business management system was built and developed by Cloud Construct. It supports hundreds of boat brokers and their sales teams in managing the customer journey through the marketing funnel from initial lead generation to closing the sale
- Machine learning enables high quality and relevant recommendations to be seen by potential buyers
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Results
- Boatshed’s adoption of our technology has led them to be front runners in the marine industry
- Boatshed sells 70% of the boats it lists
- The average time to sell a boat is 125 days. The industry average is 300 days
- Efficient systems save Boatshed brokers hours of admin time
“Selling and buying a boat is a logistical nightmare.
A boat could be in Portsmouth, while the seller is in the Algarve and the buyer could potentially be anywhere in the world.
We need our broker websites to be accessible all over the world and available across multiple time zones. If the website is too slow to load or crashes, and a potential buyer leaves the site, we could lose thousands in potential revenue.”
Neil Chapman, Chief Executive, Boatshed
Each Boatshed broker has its own website and brand e.g. london.boatshed.com, which is self-managed. They add information, images and videos and market their listings, often through social media and third party sites. Their portal needs to be easy and straightforward to use. Processes and procedures also need to be standardised across the business. This contributes to efficient practices and provides a smooth and trustworthy experience.
“Absolute transparency in the condition and quality of the boat is essential. That’s why photography and videos are so important. Potential buyers could be travelling hundreds, if not thousands of miles to view a boat. They don’t want a wasted journey to see a boat that doesn’t match the listing description.”
Neil Chapman, Chief Executive, Boatshed
Photos and videos therefore need to be of the highest quality available and suitable for a range of formats and screen sizes (e.g. mobile, laptops and tablets). However, these large files take up a lot of server space and this can be costly.
“Considerable amounts of money are at stake in the deals. Our listings start at £500 for a dinghy and can reach millions with super yachts. Our brokers manage payment between buyers and sellers so security is of the highest importance.”
Neil Chapman, Chief Executive, Boatshed
And it’s not just the payment between buyers and sellers. Brokers receive commissions based on introductions and sales. These need to be monitored and tracked as the boat buying process is long – the industry average is 300 days.
“There are thousands of boat manufacturers. There are well-known names, but also smaller manufacturers who offer a similar boat but at a fraction of the price. Potential buyers may have a clear idea of what they want, but they aren’t necessarily aware of all the options, names and manufacturers available to them.”
Neil Chapman, Chief Executive, Boatshed
Recommendations are therefore very important to Boatshed in securing sales.
And finally, another challenge is the reputation of the industry.
“Like used car salesmen, there’s a stereotype of boat brokers as old blokes writing information on the back of cigarette packets. We don’t want to be viewed in the same way. That’s not how we operate.”
Neil Chapman, Chief Executive, Boatshed
Solutions
Cloud Construct has worked in partnership with Boatshed to tackle the challenges and develop a robust technology strategy across the business.
The main aim of the strategy is to maximise the potential of a sale by ensuring the website is available globally (for buyers, sellers and brokers), boats are displayed true to form and processes are systematised and consistent. Buyers are also offered a range of recommendations.
The website may look like a simple viewing portal, but it’s powered by complex backend systems and APIs to streamline systems and processes.
See how this was done below.
Amazon Web Service (AWS) Cloud Provides Cost-Efficiencies and High Performance
Boatshed needs the capacity to store thousands of high quality images and videos: More than 3TB of videos and 130GB of images. This is a data-hungry, and potentially expensive, task for a traditional on-premises server. It only has limited capacity and could quickly be filled. When a server is full, it stops working and the website goes down. This is not an option for Boatshed.
Cloud Construct has architected a cloud-based storage facility through AWS that supports better website performance, and offers limitless capacity and cost effective pricing. The original, high resolution images are stored in Amazon S3 buckets and Boatshed only pays for the storage used.
Boatshed visitors and brokers view the images on a range of devices. An on-premises server would need to resize images depending on the device and then store them, another processor intensive and data-hungry activity.
Cloud Construct has written code for AWS Lambda to check the S3 bucket for the images required and only resizes them if necessary. And again with AWS, Boatshed only pays when AWS Lambda is used.
Typically, the further away a user is from a server geographically, the slower the access speed.
Cloud Construct overcame this by employing Amazon CloudFront, a global content delivery network (CDN) service. It caches images and videos more locally to Boatshed.com users, improving latency and access speed for downloading the content.
Comprehensive Systems Management Through Boatshed Dashboard
The Boatshed system is unique in the marine industry. It’s market leading technology.
By understanding Boatshed’s workflows and priorities, Cloud Construct has developed a bespoke and comprehensive business management system. It supports hundreds of boat brokers and their sales teams in managing the customer journey through the marketing funnel from initial lead generation to closing the sale.
All aspects of the business operate through the system such as stock management, customer profiling, lead management, sales, auctions, commission calculation, communications, external data sharing, email campaigns and accounts functions.
Customised APIs allow Xero accountancy software and Hubspot customer relationship management (CRM) software to be integrated into the dashboard. This saves hours of time both at Boatshed HQ and at the satellite offices.
“The system ensures our brokers follow regulated business procedures and practices which is essential for such a globally dispersed team. It also provides customers with a smooth and trustworthy experience.”
Neil Chapman, Chief Executive, Boatshed
Boatshed Pay Developed for Secure Payment
Cloud Construct developed bespoke software “Boatshed Pay” in response to the need for secure payment processing.
“The payment portal requires buyers and sellers to enter their bank account details and to access Boatshed’s bank account details online, following secure unique links. This reduces the chance of a broker mistakenly keying in the wrong bank account details and shifts the liability to provide the correct details to the customer.”
Neil Chapman, Chief Executive, Boatshed
There is also a detailed audit log that records when and by whom details were provided to help reduce the chances of fraudulent activity taking place or going unnoticed.
Machine Learning Enables Better Quality Recommendations for Potential Buyers
Cloud Construct has implemented machine learning models to look at Boatshed user behaviour and identify patterns in their searches.
Rich data and customer intelligence are gathered from all over the world in multiple languages and currencies. The more searches and data, the more the machine learns. This leads to more relevant and specific recommendations for Boatshed’s customer base and the chance of securing a sale is greater for the broker.
Ongoing Support and Maintenance Ensures High Website Availability
Cloud Construct provides a 24 hour support and ongoing maintenance package to ensure continuous monitoring and smooth running of systems.
This covers performance, server management, system maintenance and disaster recovery strategies, including backups to ensure constant worldwide availability.
Results
Front runners in the marine industry
“The system saves our brokers hours of admin time per listing – online signing has saved them up to 5 hours!
Processes are becoming increasingly efficient and accessible to a level that our brokers don’t need an office. They can run their business from a tablet or mobile phone.”
Neil Chapman, Chief Executive, Boatshed
Boatshed boats only need an average of 1.5 physical viewings thanks to the quality and number of images and videos available on the website. The industry average is 5.
“70% of boats listed on Boatshed are sold, and in record speed. The industry standard time to sell a boat is 300 days. Our average is just 125. My ambition now is to reduce this further to 90 days.”
Neil Chapman, Chief Executive, Boatshed
The AWS cloud architecture means that it’s easily scalable and ready to handle Boatshed’s future growth.
“It’s always a pleasure to work with Cloud Construct.
I bring a vision and how I think it’s going to work. Pete and the team will say “but have you thought about doing it this way…?. It’s a collaborative process.
They bring enthusiasm and dedication to working out how technology can deal with complex problems. It’s a very important relationship to us.”
Neil Chapman, Chief Executive, Boatshed
