Interview with Anish Goel, Managing Director, Basecamp

Company Description: Established in 2003, Basecamp sells various travel equipment and outdoor sports accessories. The Mumbai-based retailer, that runs a chain of 15 exclusive stores all over India, houses an array of international brands such as Victorinox, Maglite, Laken, Go Travel, Muela, Katadyn, Trim, Outsider and Wenger. Recently, the company has forayed into the auto homes segment by tying up with German firms Hymer and Dethleffs to import their products from Germany. In order to set up sales and other related infrastructure for the foray into the caravan segment, the company has already invested around Rs. 10 crore. Basecamp has also tied up with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) and Haryana Tourism Corporation to promote the caravan segment in India.

When did the idea of launching Caravans cross your mind?  And what are your primary objectives for launching it?

Well, the idea of launching caravans came to us 5 years back. Basecamp is a retail concept store that actually provides the travellers all the kind of equipment that they require. We are selling our products under the brands of Victorinox, Maglite, etc. When the caravans were launched in the international markets, they started off with the concept wherein the customer is a self-reliant person. It’s more like a luxury camping.It was the next step for us to look into and that’s how we got into this business. Our primary objective was to give the consumer a new option in addition to sleeping bags, backpacks and other products that we were selling. Now we have a complete house (caravan) which is just behind your car. It has a bathroom, bed, refrigerator, wash basin, cooking hob, etc. It is also air-conditioned and its maintenance involves only normal wear and tear.

You have launched caravans in collaboration with a couple of foreign firms i.e. Hymer and Dethleffs. Could you differentiate the products sold by them? What is your target customer and what kind of numbers are you looking at? Will you be also looking at supplying to the corporates?

I would say if you compare Hymer and Dethleffs, the former is an upscale version equipped with better quality equipment with the latter being a tad more economical. We would be really happy if we could sell 600 units in a year. But it will take a couple of years for us to achieve that milestone. Our target customers are young travellers who are adventurous with a do-it-yourself-attitude and would also like to explore the countryside. And yes, we are definitely looking to supply the caravans to the corporates, who will account for a major chunk of the numbers. India is a land where we have all kinds of sight-seeing locations in the country whether they are mountains, rivers, forests or beaches which is very rare in any part of the world. There are many corporates who are getting into the construction business at places where the infrastructure is not fully developed. They would require a place where they can take their home along. A company’s engineers and other support staff can live in the caravans in a very decent atmosphere and get their official work done simultaneously.

What made you choose to launch German products and not the American ones? Is it because of the tax structure or it has to more to do with consumer preferences?

While the American models run on 110 watts, the European ones utilises 220 watts. The entire electrical systems need to be changed in the American models in order to sell it in India.

You have gone on record saying that Basecamp does not want to get into rental services. Could you please cite reasons for the same?

The rental business, which is similar to running hotels, is totally different vis-à-vis selling. We are into the hardware aspects of a business. Even though we will be providing after-sales services to the car rental firms, we will never get into the software aspects of a business.

You have already established 15 stores in the country to sell your existing travel-related products. But for caravans, don’t you think you now need to establish a chain of mega marts to retail them to your clients? And what would be the waiting period of these products?

As it’s not a car but a 9-foot tall product, we would require a giant-size building. We tried to scout for such buildings but couldn’t finalise any such place. And looking at the real estate costs in key metro locations like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, etc., it’s very expensive to be in the heart of the city.  Once this concept gets familiar at a certain level, and then we may look at setting up mega marts on the outskirts of all the metro cities. When they become more aware of the products, they wouldn’t mind driving all the way to visit our outlets. Currently, the waiting period of these models would be anywhere between 45-90 days, depending on the season that the order is booked and also on the kind of customisation that our customers would be looking for.

So can these be hitched to any car and is a normal toe hook sufficient for it? And would you recommend the caravans to be towed by CNG-driven vehicles?

I wouldn’t say any car, but it can be hitched to any vehicle powered by a 1500cc petrol or diesel engine. That’s because such vehicles will have the adequate torque to pull the caravans. Since these hooks are very strong they will not get detached from the vehicle and so far we haven’t heard of any such incident. The driver has to be very careful with deep potholes and other roadblocks. As we haven’t yet tested these products with a CNG-driven vehicle, I can’t really comment about its efficiency.

At Rs. 22L+ taxes and Rs. 16L + taxes for the Hymer and the Dethleffs respectively, the caravans seem slightly unaffordable. So are you exploring the feasibility of building these products here?

Yes, we are exploring the feasibility of building these products here in order to reduce the price tag. It will take some time as we have not finalised anything as far as the facility is concerned.

Unlike the West, India does not have infrastructure like trailer parks and camping sites. Then what are you counting on?

As we have announced at a press conference recently, we have tied up with BPCL who are providing us parking spaces at their petrol pumps. We have also tied up with Haryana Tourism wherein they will be offering the ‘Midway Yatri Niwas’ wherein they would provide parking facilities at its various compounds to our customers. We have made similar presentation to other State Tourism Corporations (STCs). Most of these STCs, which have huge parking lots on their highways, can earn some rental income out of it. And as the whole concept takes a bigger shape, I am sure there will be people who would like to build caravan parks on highways.

Will you only be targeting the northern part of India in the initial phase?

Yes, that’s right. We are initially catering to the northern part of the country. We have also received some queries from the Western and Southern part of India. Going forward, we will be targeting these geographies too.

And are you looking to tie-up with OEMs? And are you open to the idea of selling motored caravans?

We have all such possibilities in mind.  It’s too early to share anything on these fronts. We want to see how the market accepts our products and how receptive they are to the idea of ‘Caravanning’ and also how adventurous our consumer is.

What is your vision when it comes to selling your Caravans?

My vision is not only to sell the caravans, but also to promote the concept of ‘Caravanning’ in the country.  A few years back, SUVs were not that popular. But now, every OEM is jumping on that bandwagon as people are now looking to take their vehicle out of the city for some sightseeing to some rough terrains. That is very similar to the caravan gaining prominence in the next few years. I would like to see an increasing number of people taking their caravans with them to faraway places.