BoatShop24 Limited || News & Press Centre

Help Wanted

The growth in BoatShop24 Limited's business has reached the point where additional personnel are required to help in the challenging and exciting digital sales support area.

Bright, enthusiastic individuals are requested to apply for the role of Digital Sales Support Representative. This is a part-time vacancy which offers both flexibility and good rates of pay for the right person.

Please click here to read more about the role and on how to apply.

OpenMarine.org Expands

The Open Marine Initiative is proud to announce that it has acquired new members, held elections for the posts of Chairman and the membership of the Steering and Development committees, and has laid out a substantial portion of its plans for the foreseeable future.

In a meeting held on Monday, August 6th, 2007, CSL Publishing (www.boatmart.co.uk), Rightboat Ltd. (www.rightboat.com) and Site by Simon (www.sitebysimon.co.uk) were confirmed as the latest members of the Initiative. It was also decided that the following companies would comprise the initial membership of the Steering and Development Committees: Boats and Outboards (www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk), CSL Publishing Ltd. (www.boatmart.co.uk), Forum Software Ltd. (www.forumboats.com), BoatShop24 Limited (www.boatshop24.com / www.boatshop24.co.uk), Rightboat Ltd. (www.rightboat.com), Sailing Networks (www.sailingnetworks.com), and TheYachtMarket.com Ltd. (www.theyachtmarket.com).

The first elected Chairman of the Initiative, who will hold the post for a period of 6 months, is Richard Roberts, Business Director of TheYachtMarket.com.

The meeting laid a clear pathway for the development of a new, open standard for the data exchange of boat advertisement data, publicity plans for ensuring the benefits of Open Marine are communicated to the brokers, and formalising its business and web hosting arrangements.

Amongst the exciting new ideas that the Initiative is committed to exploring includes the provision of an open, comprehensive makes and models database; the participation of boat manufacturers in this effort will be sought and encouraged.

More information about the initiative can be found at www.openmarine.org.

OpenMarine.org Launched

Today, four of the leading players in the marine classifieds and data market announced a new initiative to create a free and open standard for data exchange.

Called the Open Marine Initiative, it has launched with the following main participants: TheYachtMarket.com, Yachtfocus.com, BoatShop24 Limited Limited (proprietors of the Boatshop24.co.uk / Boatshop24.com websites) and Forum Software Ltd., the creator of the Fast-Net system for yacht brokers.

"It was the boat brokers who spurred the initiative," said Christian DeFeo, Development Manager for Marine Trader, "they want to be able to maintain their stock on one tool, and to easily broadcast it to the portals of their choice."

Simon White, IT Director of TheYachtMarket.com, added, "Making our brokers' lives easier has always been our key philosophy so we are really excited to be one of the founder members of the Open Marine Initiative which will do just that. The industry has been crying out for this for years."

George Llewellin of Forumboats.com also stated, "I have been developing software for more than 25 years, the Open Marine Initiative has been needed for some time and I unequivocally support it. Brokers have consistently asked for a simple way to upload data to various websites. Fast-net does do this but it is not simple to setup".

Hitherto, boat brokers have had to pay and /or enter into complicated arrangements for this data exchange; the Initiative will make the broadcast of advertisements across a range of portals a cost-free and easy process.

The participants in the initiative have stated that they are looking to attract other portals and software providers to join them, provided they can adhere to the Initiative's principles of free data transfers and open standards.

Future developments will include the open publication of a new XML standard for boat advertisements, "Open Marine" certification for software solutions, and the provision of a simple, free stock management tool.

More information about the initiative can be found at www.openmarine.org.

New Corporate Website Launched

Today saw the launch of a brand new corporate website for BoatShop24 Limited, www.marinetradermedia.com.

According to Christian DeFeo, Development Manager for BoatShop24 Limited, "This site is intended to address a gap in our operations: namely, we're so busy taking care of our customers that sometimes we forget to talk about ourselves."

The site's primary emphasis is to provide details about the range of Marine Trader's services for both print and online media.

The site also provides brief biographies of the customer facing staff and their contact details. "It's important that we show ourselves as individuals to our clients," DeFeo added, "that adds to the vital element of personalised service."

The site was designed and its implementation was overseen by James Dunn, Creative Designer for BoatShop24 Limited. "James has really captured the spirit of Marine Trader," DeFeo added, "the presentation is light, clean and professional. He also ensured that the project was a true success."

The Marine Trader team will be making additions to the site in the coming months as the product range expands and evolves.

For further details contact: Katie Ruff () BoatShop24 Limited, 44A North Street, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1NF