One to One: Paolo Casani

In the latest edition of The Superyacht Group’s Digital Dialogues, Martin Redmayne speaks with Paolo Casani, CEO – Camper & Nicholsons about the next generation of brokerage, and whether there is a smarter way to look after our clients’ interests...

Casani joins our Digital Dialogue from Ancona, where he has been visiting shipyards when possible. “It’s absolutely important for us to be out in the field as much as possible,” starts Casani. “I hope to be doing this much more as soon as we are allowed to travel!” 

At the helm of one of the yachting industry’s most treasured heritage brands, Casani is keen to reshape the ways in which our industry currently interacts with its existing and future customers. 

When taking into consideration all the recent wealth data available online, from Bloomberg to Wealth-X, the topic of conversation that should be of most interest to our industry at present is how many people there are in the world who can afford to play in our market.

“Individuals with a net worth of over £100 million equate to about 60,000 people, and many more above the £30 million bracket,” revealed Redmayne. This indicates a vast potential marketplace for the industry, yet the brokerage industry, while it remains dynamic, is selling a couple of hundred yachts per year. The market penetration we’re seeing is still tiny compared to the potential client base; so what can we do about this?

“This is the one billion dollar question! Fifteen years ago, when I first joined this industry, I found that its approach towards the market was very far behind. What is most frustrating today is to see that this industry still doesn’t follow the evolution of the market,” Casani responded.

“To be very honest and open, I think that we still work as things used to be 20 or 30 years ago. But the market has changed very much, so there is a disconnection with the reality of the market, and that is probably why we can’t penetrate the vast potential market. The future of this industry will be successful only if we are able to implement a new approach to business, a new vision, new tools, and a different mentality.”

Later on in the Digital Dialogue, Casani emphasised how much the industry needs to move away from the notion of individuality, towards more of a team approach, and discussed the ways in which we can improve the relationship between shipyards and brokerage companies. 

With a similar number of sales being reported despite this year’s lack of boat shows, Redmayne and Casani also consider how much we need to rethink the user experience, and how this needs to be redefined in order to attract new clients and the 60,000 potential customers with over £100 million to invest into the superyacht industry...

To hear more about Casani’s vision for the future of brokerage and the wider industry, watch the full video here.

The One to One series is a collective campaign for change and industry improvement, and we welcome participants from all sectors. If you would like to take part, or contribute your thoughts, please contact Research Editor Clare Sidwell.

You can view the ever-growing archive of Digital Dialogues here.

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