The interview with Pierre-Antoine GASCIOLLI,

Interview with Pierre-Antoine GASCIOLLI, development manager at Aboral Piscines.

Hello Pierre-Antoine, introduce yourself!

I am Pierre Antoine Gasciolli, responsible for the development of Aboral Piscines, a family business created by my parents Alain and Véronique 30 years ago now!

You could say it's a family business, because my sister also works with us as a customer service manager!

How did you become a pool builder and why?

We owned a public works company and had a family member who had recently started installing swimming pools and there was a craze for swimming pools at the time, which made us say that we had to get into installing swimming pools because we had all the technical equipment for it.

2 years later, we realized that installing them was good, but that we also needed to sell them, which we did by opening 3 stores.

Then, keen to market high-quality products, we launched into manufacturing in turn.

Why choose the name Aboral Piscines?

For the name Aboral Piscines, we had to move away from the already existing names given to swimming pools which were at the time names of stones and Greek islands. We chose to go further offshore towards Tahiti and more precisely Aboral, because BORA BORA, (A-BORA-L). The addition of the A at the beginning of the word was also strategic, in particular to appear at the very beginning of the catalogues during trade shows and fairs, classified in alphabetical order.

What is your favorite part of your job?

Business development obviously J

Recruiting new dealers, developing the network, developing the product offering, seeing customers happy with their pool, that's what drives my motivation! I often go out into the field, as they say. This summer, following the Covid crisis, I had to actually go to customers to manage deliveries following the significant increase in our order book. I enjoyed being in direct contact with our customers, who I don't see much of in the end. Now, I'm back in the office. I'm devoting myself to developing Aboral's dealer network nationally and coordinating the launch of our ^3rd production site, which opened its doors in early October in Simandre, in Saône et Loire.

What is your favorite pool from the range you offer?

The Maatea is one of my favorite models because it has a beach and stairs large enough to relax with family or friends. It is a model that we wanted to be simple and elegant, in keeping with current codes. Rounded or "bean-shaped" pools are no longer the most sought-after today. My favorite model remains our latest innovation: the Akoya. I worked a lot on this innovation which represents a revolution on the market. The Akoya has a large beach containing a submerged shutter fully integrated into the hull, making it invisible. We have also pushed customization to the limit because, in addition to the choice of the color of the hull and the submerged shutter, the customer can customize their porcelain stoneware beach among 6 high-end finishes.

Aboral swimming pool range

A swimming pool in 4 days, a flagship concept of Aboral Piscines, but how is it possible?

Because we are machines in fact J, I'm joking. We have simply adjusted our process down to the smallest details. First of all, we travel to assess each client's land. This is also the key to the success of a 4-day installation. No surprises, no setbacks. The pool shell chosen by the client is manufactured at our factories in Bordeaux and Bourgogne. It therefore arrives "ready to install" with all the equipment and a team of professionals.

How long does it take to build a swimming pool?

On average, our production teams spend 3 days producing a swimming pool model, which consists of 5 key steps. The first step is the preparation of the mold, followed in order by: the application of the gel coat, the installation of reinforcements, the simultaneous projection and finally the demolding.

Our techniques have been tested and proven for 30 years in our factories. We are also fortunate to be able to fully manage our manufacturing and delivery process. Our specialized vehicles can deliver our Aboral pools anywhere in France as well as in our neighboring countries (Belgium/Switzerland).

Your digital strategy is quite developed, tell us a little more about it.

We quickly made the choice to focus on the digital channel to gain notoriety and prospects.
Since 2014 and the launch of our first digital campaigns, we have only increased our number of monthly prospects. It is also important to know that in the swimming pool sector, seasonality is very important and fluctuations in quote requests are significant. We have an average of 20,000 monthly users on our website. This is a great success in terms of notoriety. We are proud to regularly open new points of sale throughout France. Our visibility on the Internet is also a real criterion in the affiliation of an Aboral point of sale. Our resellers trust us! They are supplied with contacts every day.