A bit of market research for item of kit or supplies that tourists may want to buy?

[Boucaneer]

Hi chaps,

I'm carrying out a little market research into items of kit or supplies that a tourist might want to purchase whilst on holiday.

I hope you don't mind if I ask the question, What items would you consider purchasing whilst on holiday?

It doesn't matter if the item has already been posted, in fact please repeat it if you think yourself as a tourist would buy it.


I plan to stick the items in a belt kit and be a traveling tourist shop trading with the tourists.

Your suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Alex.

 

[Boucaneer]

I'll start the bull rolling.

Mosquito repellent. Deet and Non Deet.

Travel Plugs.

 

[Corso]

holiday where?

 

[Nice65]

Anything over 100ml?

 

[Boucaneer]

I shall be located in Kerala, South India, but opinions about items that tourist would like to buy worldwide would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Robson Valley]

Unbreakable. Uncrushable. Source labelled and locally made. Potentially useful. Did a little local marketing research.

I carved 70 spoons and 30 forks, put my RV branding iron to them then they all got the oven-baked oil finish.
If I worked fast and never got tired or took a break, they averaged 90 minutes each to finish, in batches of a dozen.

Sales were so-so, maybe sold 1/2 of them (gifted the others.)
They got to be a bore and a chore to make as fast as I could so I quit.

What would make me stop and look? From what I've seen here in BCUK, several things:
1. Really twisted unconventional bushcrafted spoon.
2. Tooled leather dice cup for gaming.
3. Tooled leather beer mug.
4. Tooled leather belt purse.
5. Other things like hand-made paper and cord.
6. Kuksa but I'd be happier to buy that in Scandi, somewhere.

 

[Boucaneer]

Anything over 100ml?

Yeah sure, I'll stick bigger things in a daysack.

 

[Boucaneer]

Cheers Robson Valley.

Unbreakable. Uncrushable. Source labelled and locally made. Potentially useful. Did a little local marketing research.

I carved 70 spoons and 30 forks, put my RV branding iron to them then they all got the oven-baked oil finish.
If I worked fast and never got tired or took a break, they averaged 90 minutes each to finish, in batches of a dozen.

Sales were so-so, maybe sold 1/2 of them (gifted the others.)
They got to be a bore and a chore to make as fast as I could so I quit.

What would make me stop and look? From what I've seen here in BCUK, several things:
1. Really twisted unconventional bushcrafted spoon.
2. Tooled leather dice cup for gaming.
3. Tooled leather beer mug.
4. Tooled leather belt purse.
5. Other things like hand-made paper and cord.
6. Kuksa but I'd be happier to buy that in Scandi, somewhere.

 

[Boucaneer]

holiday where?

I'll be located in Kerala, South India, but opinions about items that tourist would like to buy worldwide would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Corso]

I see so you plan is to buys stuff to pay for your time out there?

well If I way young and out there I'd want, cigs, beer, breath mints, condoms, antidiarrheals and an energy drink

 

[Boucaneer]

I see so you plan is to buys stuff to pay for your time out there?

well If I way young and out there I'd want, cigs, beer, breath mints, condoms, antidiarrheals and an energy drink

Yes, that's right, I've registered a business and want to earn some cash before the beach shack restaurant is built, so trading with the tourists seems to be fun and profitable.

Great ideas Thanks. �� : )

I was deciding about small bottles of Honey Bee Brandy in the belt kit.

Condoms and tins of beer would be great, and Imodium and similar type medications.

Cheers.

 

[Corso]

lol been there

good luck but to be honest you should have put the hours in here to pay for the fun. The locals won't like you turning up and hitting their profit margin

 

[JamPan]

I've been there too. The water is undrinkable even for brushing your teeth. So you need to buy bottled water. Though the thing about Kerala is there are tiny shacks in the middle of nowhere which sell everything, then when you get to any of the towns, they have EVERYTHING.

The locals are in general friendly, but I'm not sure they'll be the same if you start being a street seller.

I had a right time trying to post some stuff once. I asked in loads of shops for an empty cardboard box to post some things home. They were friendly, and instantly turned when I asked for the box as if I'd insulted them all. Eventually one woman sold me a box but in a way like it was a great insult. I then found a stationary shop and bought tape and a pen to seal it. Took it to the post office and they refused to post it because it wasn't packaged up. I was informed it must be packaged properly and was directed to what looked like a homeless man sat in the bottom of a phone box. He spent half an hour packaging up my package by hand stitching it all together in calico. Then he gave me three forms to fill in, and I had to go find a photocopy shop to copy them and my passport, then come back to him. Finally I was allowed to take my package to the post office. But there was still an issue of me not having a return address in India if my address at my own house in England was wrong and it needed to be sent back. Eventually the post office reluctantly used the post office for the return address. This kind of thing ended up being normal.

You'll also need to pay off the local tally man most likely. You'll occasionally see those guys asking for money from the beach/street hawkers.

Neem capsules don't seem readily available. But you'll need to do your own research on the benefits.

Maybe something that kills bed bugs would be good if something exists?

Hand wash gel is always needed.

I actually turned up to India with an almost empty day pack with two t-shirts and four pairs of boxer shorts and just bought everything I needed cheaply as I moved around.

You can buy cheap Swiss Army knives there too.

 

[JamPan]

How about those small mozzie bite taser keyrings? They'd probably be an easy sell.

Also key ring led torches as it's really dark at night.

 

[Boucaneer]

lol been there

good luck but to be honest you should have put the hours in here to pay for the fun. The locals won't like you turning up and hitting their profit margin

Thankfully my business partner is a local well known Varkala guy, his family come from Varkala cliff for the last couple of hundred years, so hopefully that will help. That was the importance of getting a business visa as the locals getting jealous tend to grass tourists working on a tourist visa, which can cause problems.

Cheers.

 

[Boucaneer]

How about those small mozzie bite taser keyrings? They'd probably be an easy sell.

Also key ring led torches as it's really dark at night.

Great idea about the key ring torches. I was wondering what type of torches to sell.

I have never seen those taser mossies key rings, I shall have a look for them.

Cheers and thanks. : )

 

[Boucaneer]

I've been there too. The water is undrinkable even for brushing your teeth. So you need to buy bottled water. Though the thing about Kerala is there are tiny shacks in the middle of nowhere which sell everything, then when you get to any of the towns, they have EVERYTHING.

You'll also need to pay off the local tally man most likely. You'll occasionally see those guys asking for money from the beach/street hawkers.

Neem capsules don't seem readily available. But you'll need to do your own research on the benefits.

Maybe something that kills bed bugs would be good if something exists?

Hand wash gel is always needed.

I actually turned up to India with an almost empty day pack with two t-shirts and four pairs of boxer shorts and just bought everything I needed cheaply as I moved around.

You can buy cheap Swiss Army knives there too.

Some great ideas there Jampan, Thanks.

I think I will leave the bottles water to the local shops, as that might save me some weight to carry. I will try to sell things that local traders/shops do not sell. As for the tally man, well I hope I won't have to as I pay the local copper a fiver a month. lol

The Neem oil is great, from the tree of healing, it can help in mosquito repellents according to a government experiment.

Hand wash gel, great idea, and a for the Swiss army penknives, that sounds great if I can find them wholesale.

Cheers and thanks a lot. : )

 

[Robson Valley]

JamPan is right: those shops sell everything. India or Canada, all the same.
My brother and I went to one to buy some lamb for a stew. No big deal.
As we waited, we scanned a wall of internal replacement parts for computers.

 

[JamPan]

Varkala ended up being one of my favourite places. Sitting on the cliff having 'special' porridge for breakfast and watching the kites swooping around eating the dragonflies. I remember on my first night there I saw four shooting stars within half an hour. Magical!

 

[JamPan]

Paste this into eBay search for the pocket mozzie taser: 181911233263
Paste this for a tiny torch: 321946169111