How has Lee Marine adapted to the ‘new normal’?
As my father used to say to me, “Don’t worry too much; the world has a funny way of working itself out”. Thankfully, I have always remembered this and try my best not to become overly concerned with world events that are out of my control. The global COVID-19 pandemic is surely one of these events and, I’m happy to report, that at Lee Marine we are staying very active and busy. Actually, this global ‘reset’ has found our company in a significantly stronger position as we see HNWI’s turn increasingly to the luxury goods sector while they cannot travel.
What has changed for Lee Marine during the last few months?
Like many companies, we had to make some tough decisions in the early stages based on how we saw the market changing due to the impact of COVID-19. We have learned over the years that biggest is not always best, and the restructuring of the company back to more of a boutique yacht dealership has been a very natural move for us. We were never a company with a vision for market dominance just for the sake of it. Quite the contrary; we always preached quality over quantity and, somewhat unexpectedly, the pandemic has helped us re-balance the company and refocus again on our core strengths.
What are the most significant changes you’ve seen in your time selling yachts in Asia?
For sure there continues to be a shift from the traditional ‘meet and greet’ approach to a much broader use of technology and online marketing as a way of engaging with customers. The travel restrictions worldwide have certainly accelerated this shift. The products themselves have changed immensely too of course. The internet has changed everything across all areas of the business. We literally used to sell boats on the golf course or over dinners but that’s all changed now. If you’re not tech-savvy now, like a lot of industries, you will find yourself left behind very quickly.
How is the Asian market now in your opinion?
The Asian market can be described as ‘rich on buyers and low on inventory’. Basically that translates to a lot of Asian buyers leaving their yachts in the more traditional yachting areas like the Med and Caribbean. The wealth pool here is extraordinary, and largely untapped in our segment. We are finding that our close association with Northrop & Johnson has gone a long way to allow us to offer boats all over the world, both for sale and charter, with the charter aspect helping to get Asian based customers get familiar with life on board a medium to large size yacht.
Having been in Asia for over 20 years ourselves, we remain very confident in the Asian market, and the growth across the board is undeniable. There are a lot more owners looking to base their yachts in Asia these days, and there is a steady growth in superyacht support and services around the Asia-Pacific region. This could be Asia’s time to shine….!
