Nautical Ventures, 2024 Dealer of the Year, acquired by Vision Marine
Nautical Ventures Group, the 2024 Boating Industry Dealer of the Year, was recently acquired by Vision Marine Technologies, a developer of electric marine propulsion systems.
“Vision Marine Technologies has been a development company working in the field of outboard motors, and for a number of years, they have been discussing with Nautical Ventures the potential of an acquisition,” said Roger Moore, president and chief revenue officer of Nautical Ventures Group. “Their need has been, as they’ve developed this product and are ready to bring it to market, distribution.”
Nautical Ventures Group is headquartered in Florida and operates nine retail and service locations. The company offers a full portfolio of marine products, including powerboats, yachts, tenders, catamarans, and electric vessels, supported by factory-trained service and international export capabilities.
As the 2024 Dealer of the Year, Boating Industry has recognized Nautical Ventures for its best-in-class operations, well-established brand awareness, and innovative culture. As a trailblazer within the industry, the company has also advocated for the electric segment, introducing the Electric Pavilion at the Miami Boat Show a few years ago.
“I have been very interested in the electric sector,” Moore said. “I think we all know in the marine industry it’s an emerging market, and is it emerging in two, three, four, five years? We don’t know. But it now enables us to be a manufacturer in that field, as we can equip many of the boat brands we represent with the Vision Marine electric power. It really advances them quickly and gives us another channel of sales.”
Nautical Ventures Group will continue as an entity and Moore will continue as its president and chief revenue officer, reporting to the board and CEO of Vision Marine Technologies.
Merging with Vision Marine
“The idea that Vision Marine has is to utilize existing boat brands and have Nautical Ventures be the channel of distribution for those boats pre-equipped with electric propulsion,” Moore said. “So there will be a focused sales effort in our locations with specialists in the field of the electric sector.
“Many dealerships are not ready for that yet until they see some traction, some adoption of electric,” he continued. “[We are entering this segment] with what we think is a low risk profile because the key is to be able to have a sales organization or sales professionals that do understand the segment, that do understand the brand.”
Vision Marine will train volunteer Nautical Ventures staff and implement some of their specialists within the dealership’s locations.
“As I went from store to store and met with each one of the staff to tell them what was happening, we asked if any of the technical team would be interested in learning about the sector,” Moore said. “In each case, we had about two or three people who were very excited about it; number one, curiosity, and number two, adding to their resumes or abilities in being trained in electric as well as being certified with Mercury or Yamaha.”
Adopting electric power
“The real purpose in working together with Nautical Ventures is, over the period of the next few years, we will put hundreds of boats on the water with electric power, with telemetric data showing how it’s used to prove its efficacy in the marketplace,” Moore said.
He believes that marketing and education efforts are key to increasing the adoption of electric power within the marine industry. Many boaters are concerned about the range of electric power, what Moore refers to as “range-itis,” when they may not need to be.
“The way people are using boats with a 180 hp motor, they’re going to the restaurant, they’re going to the sandbar,” he explained. “The average use in boat clubs and in most of the telemetric data we’ve been able to gather is somewhere between eight and 12 miles. So, these boats have more than ample battery life to do that. And then they’re easily charged.
“This is a matter of the marketing and education that needs to be done to really bring it to market and watch this sector grow,” he added. “And we can do it slowly because the success of Nautical Ventures and the sale of ICE engines on the other boats carries the distribution, carries the support of the sales organization and marketing and so on. That’s why this makes a unique opportunity for Vision and a unique opportunity for Nautical Ventures.”
Insights from the Dealer of the Year
As Nautical Ventures Group begins integrating with Vision Marine Technologies, Moore has his eyes on growth areas that will also positively impact the industry. He hopes to offer a program or partner with a school to provide a training course for boaters. The goal is to instill confidence in boaters and ensure they’re properly educated.
He views the marine industry as a relational sales business, not transactional. Building relationships by assisting and catering to customers leads to referrals and upgraded purchases, along with a shared life-long passion among customers and the business.
He noted the poor performance of boat shows and low sales margins this year. The cycle of reducing pricing on aged inventory has hurt profitability, and he says Nautical Ventures has been experiencing this for the last 18 months. “The customers know they’re in the driver’s seat and they’re cutting hard deals,” he said.
“I had misforecast when I thought the market would turn. I think it’s turning much more slowly. I thought the second half of 2025 would begin to see some recovery, but our experience here, and from my communication with other people, other dealers and people in the industry, it looks like we’re going to continue to have a pretty rough 2025.”
Nautical Ventures is combating this cycle with consistent outreach to customers. They offer frequent getaways to encourage customers to use their boat, and schedule rendezvous to appealing destinations.
Along with the down market, the dealership has a growing need for staff members in the service and sales departments. “The whole industry always has trouble in the service department, trying to find better people,” Moore said. “It seems like young people are just not interested in the technical fields as much now. So service is something that we really want to focus on.”
The dealership has staffed up to 200 employees, and is currently made up of a team of 145. “And we’ve got to start building again,” he said. “So now, with the NASDAQ-listed company and the support of Vision, I think we’ll be able to attract better talent, more talent, and people who are passionate about joining Nautical Ventures’ progress and development.”
Moore is proud that the dealership holds the 2024 Dealer of the Year title, a result of hard work and dedication. “We’re all proud because our teams work like a family here, and we’ve all been working hard to accomplish this,” he said. “We’ve chosen some good brands and that’s helped propel us to that level, but it’s setting a goal and the dedication of the team, and it’s a reward. We took 11 or 12 people to the awards dinner as our way of saying thank you to the whole team. Because it’s not me who put us there. It’s everyone who put us in that circle.”
