Adventure is not reserved just for the dare-devils anymore. With the boom in the Indian tourism industry, people are stepping out of their comfort zones to seek off-beat travel escapades. The millennials especially are opting for an experience that includes the adventurous outdoor sports over the regular, planned travel itinerary. And to tap on the burgeoning demand for adventure sports, Sumit Katyal, came up with Spirit of Outdoors, a travel start-up that is helping in quenching the thirst for adventures in the travel enthusiasts across India.
A one-stop-shop for all kinds of outdoor adventure sport gears and equipment’s, Spirit of Outdoors, is trying to provide the Indian travel junkies with the best of all that they need to kick-start their adrenaline trip.
In an exclusive interview, the founder of the start—up firm, Sumit Katyal talks to Kumar Abhinav, Sub Editor, Sportz Business Insights, and shared his insights for adventure sports in India and what made him to establish this company.
Q How do you see Indian outdoor adventure sports industry shaping up?
In last few years the population of dual income nuclear families had increased to multiple folds so the affordability’s too. People having the old hidden passions, had starting exploring the possibilities of fulfilling their dreams, so the outdoor adventure is the easiest way to start with to test and try the endurance and capabilities of an individual. This industry is growing at a very rapid pace. The international brands who were never interested for Indian market is now coming forward to get there space in the industry. I believe the “Make in India” promotion will also be very helpful in coming times to start the manufacturing of various brands and the opportunities to Indian entrepreneurs.
Q How many Brands, do you work with?
We are the importers and distributors of 17 different OEM’s from whole world and more than 50 OEM’s as channel partners.
Q Being a motorsports enthusiast a car rallyist and a wanderer, tell me about your personal experience and what made you to enter into the outdoor sports business?
Being into the business of importing technologies we already had an exposure of how international business works so after getting into the motorsports I get to experience lack of equipment’s, spares and accessories, so started importing it for friends and there I realized that it can be a proposition for me to add passion and business together and I started M/s Spirit of outdoors (p) Ltd.
Q Which are the most important accessories or products, you consider are most important for any adventure sports lover?
This question is very difficult to answer as the equipment’s required for one activity is not the same for other, but I will try to answer in brief.
- Few good pairs of shoes
- Action cameras as the outdoors adventure sports gets so beautiful memories of the lifetime that one never wants to miss that
- A rugged phone or the phone with rugged case with portable mobile charger as the communication tool is a very necessary tool in this era and no one ever wants to loose contact with their loved ones
- A water bottle with the filtration mechanism so that the person will not drink contaminated water and waste his entire trip by falling sick
- Rugged watch with the activity tracker to give you the information of fatigue intervals.
Q Why have you opted for online sales channel over retail format?
Although we have the physical store too but as the boom in e commerce industry and logistic companies had started giving various better options of deliveries we also opted for the same.
Q What’s there in your store, for those who have just started camping and trekking?
- A good tent depending on the number of people sharing it
- Portable water purification
- Portable lights
- Portable fans e. Rugged watch
- Shoes
Q As a veteran in this industry why you think adventure sports should be taken up by our youth and how this will help them to shape up there life as a whole?
For me the youth is not the right age but the kid is right age, as we need to get the sports into our cultures and daily routines which is possible from our childhoods only. The sports activities teaches an individual to do multi-tasking, team works, and the best one is the health overall. The sports make the strong immunity and good metabolism to absorbs our dietary issues.
Disclaimer:
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a health advice. We would ask you to consult a qualified professional or medical expert to gain additional knowledge before you choose to consume any product or perform any exercise.
