Bangladesh's travel goods and gear market is mostly broken. There is a small formal market but the vast majority of the market operates informally where customers hunting for trekking boots or camping equipment face days of wandering between informal shops. No inventory systems. No quality standards. Handwritten bills. Products appear randomly in WhatsApp groups, and disappear without warning.
Yet underneath this dysfunction lay a massive emerging opportunity. While current market for travel gears may not be that big, it is changing. Bangladesh's emerging middle class has been increasingly getting interested in travel. Social media fueled wanderlust. Disposable incomes rose. The travel market has been growing steadily, but the gear ecosystem remains stuck in the past.
Three travel aficionados saw both problems clearly during a frustrating gear-hunting experience in late 2023. Their solution became Time Traveler, now Bangladesh's one of the few professionally operated outdoor and travel goods and gears retailers.
Started with a tiny outlet and a part-time operator, the company became profitable within three months. Over the last one year, it has seen consistent growth, expanding its offering and building a community of loyal customers. In this article, we take a deep dive into the origin and making of Time Traveler.
Time Traveler started in an unusual way—the business idea first crystallized at 4,130 meters above sea level. Fazle Rabbee and Ratul Rahman sat at Annapurna Base Camp in 2023, exhausted from their trek. Their seven-person team had just completed a grueling trek, but the real frustration had started weeks earlier in Dhaka.
Finding proper trekking gear had taken four days of running between shops. Poor service, inflated prices, limited stock. The market was broken.
The two men were former colleagues who had become like brothers through shared struggles. At their previous company, Rabbee had managed a small team, learning inventory management, customer service systems, and scaling challenges under Ratul's operational leadership until the business collapsed in 2021-2022.
When their company collapsed, most employees scattered. Rabbee, Ratul, and Ratul's wife Somaiya Mowrin maintained their bond through their shared love for travels—taking tours together from time to time and their YouTube channel "Dhakar Jajabor " while working separate jobs—Ratul building his CRM and digital transformation agency Hubxpert and Rabbee exploring opportunities.
At base camp, after much thought about their gear problems, their business and operational instincts kicked in. They saw a systemic inefficiency in the travel goods market in Dhaka where others saw inconvenience. They could see a growing demand for travel goods and gears but no brand that can provide reliable products and services. Whatever available are mostly informally run or individuals importing products or sourcing from garment stock lots.
The market timing was perfect—travel culture booming, gear ecosystem broken, their team ready with the right skills.
"We thought about the problems we were facing," Rabbee says. "Should we solve these problems?"
After returning from the camp, they got to work. Rabbee started working part-time on the project, putting together a retail operation, while Ratul and Mowrin provided capital and operational and strategic guidance.
Seven months later, Time Traveler opened its small outlet in Banasree, Dhaka. Rabbee continued working part-time in the business with more guys while Ratiul and Mowrin gave time on the weekends and when needed. The company found a ready market right out of the gate, reaching profitability within three months.
As Time Traveler started operation, the founders’ e-commerce background provided competitive advantages invisible to traditional retailers. While competitors ran businesses from notebooks, the Time Traveler team launched with integrated systems, proper POS, and organized inventory management.
The Time Traveler team meant business from day one. While the company started small, its launch strategy defied industry norms. The company invested 5-6 lakh taka in interior design for its 250 square feet showroom— unprecedented in the sector for a player of its size. Competitors thought they were crazy.
The investment wasn't about aesthetics. It signaled professional operations to customers accustomed to informal market stalls. Organized product displays, integrated POS systems using Odoo software, printed receipts instead of handwritten bills. It hired educated staff trained to work both online and offline channels.
"When we did things well, and the audience responded positively, two or three of our competitors also started focusing on this system," Rabbee notes.
Customer response validated the approach—people visited just to see the shop. Word spread through Bangladesh's tight-knit travel community.
Within three months: the company became profitable. The professional approach attracted customers willing to pay for quality and service.
Part of its growth comes from its clever marketing that leverages community relationships over advertising budgets. The company targets Bangladesh's travel community directly through three channels: community partnerships, influencer collaborations, and strategic pricing.
Time Traveler identifies admins of 20 major travel groups with hundreds of thousands of members. Instead of paying for ads, it sends gift products to group leaders who share experiences organically.
Similarly, partnerships with major travel bloggers like Shishir Deb and Shahriar official, Backpacker Shahadat provide authentic product endorsements to engage audiences.
Finally, strategic pricing such as products priced 50-100 taka below competitors create psychological advantages and fuel word-of-mouth marketing.
The organic approach works because travel communities value authentic recommendations from trusted sources over traditional advertising.
Time Traveler operates as a professionally managed travel gear retailer, serving customers through both physical retail and social commerce channels—mostly Facebook.
Its product mix spans three categories: imported gear (trekking poles, camping equipment, premium hammocks), export overrun clothing (Decathlon pants, branded athletic wear from local manufacturing), and custom-branded items (ponchos, bag covers, sleeping bags under Time Traveler branding) that it imports.
The retail showroom in Banasree provides organized displays, educated staff, and proper POS systems. Unlike similar smaller players in the space, Time Traveler runs a professional operation with proper customer service and standard facilities in its retail outlet that has helped it gain a quick following among travel enthusiasts in Dhaka. The company has plans to open more outlets in the coming days.
Its Facebook page with 32000 followers drives online sales through product posts, customer testimonials, and community engagement.
Unlike competitors who treat travel gear as side businesses, Time Traveler focuses exclusively on the travel market, understanding customer needs, seasonal patterns, and product quality requirements.
But what truly sets Time Traveler apart is its extreme quality and service obsession—an obsession that traces to personal experience of its founders. During their Annapurna trek, they found large holes in thermal wear they bought from a local seller. Rabbee messaged the seller from base camp. No response.
"We decided we would never do this. We would never sell such products in the market."
The company’s quality process is methodical. When stock lots arrive, competitors buy everything for better pricing, knowing some pieces have defects. Time Traveler manually selects only perfect items, paying more per unit.
After reaching the showroom, team members conduct two more quality checks. Defective items return to vendors. Result: zero complaints about customers receiving damaged goods.
Customer service extends beyond quality control. Rabbi's philosophy crystallized during an incident while buying sandals in Nepal. A customer posted publicly that Time Traveler shoes broke after one day. He reached out to the customer personally, assigned a team member who reached out to the and replaced the product.
The travel gear market in Bangladesh is not organized. There is not an established supply chain. Moreover, most local players in the space, apart from the large brands, are small and operate rather informally. This means supplies are not always consistent. The product's availability is volatile. Quality is inconsistent. Part of Time Traveler's competitive advantage lies in navigating this complex supply chain through three distinct channels.
Export Overruns: The goldmine. International brands manufacturing locally sometimes create excess inventory with minor defects. Decathlon convertible pants that would sell out in five days appear randomly in stock lots. "When such a product is released in Chittagong, sellers send me messages asking, 'Brother, this product is available, will you take it?'" Rabbi explains.
Finding these products requires speed and relationships. When 500 pieces are released among 10 suppliers, Time Traveler might secure 50. Rabbi spent nights scrolling Facebook, joining EPZ and CPZ communities, and building supplier networks.
Direct Imports: High-value items like trekking equipment require significant working capital. Minimum orders of 100 units at 4,000 taka each tie up 4 lakh taka for five months. Time Traveler balances direct importing with sourcing from local importers for smaller quantities.
Custom Manufacturing: For unavailable items like ponchos and bag covers, they work with local manufacturers on small runs with Time Traveler branding. This creates unique products competitors cannot match.
Time Traveler has seen consistent growth since its launch. The company now processes 700-1000 orders monthly with a 2,000 taka average basket size. It served over 10,000 customers, including 2,000 regular repeat buyers who drive sustainable profitability.
The team has tripled since launch. Rabbi now works full-time instead of part-time, supported by full-time and part-time staff plus Ratul's active involvement.
Operations have been automated through integrated systems including replacing manual Facebook replies and Google Sheets tracking.
The original showroom bursts with inventory—product variety increased 5-6 times since launch. This creates both opportunity and constraint as limited space restricts further growth.
However, growth exposes Time Traveler's fundamental challenge: supply chain volatility. Products that build reputation disappear without warning. Customers seek specific items they heard about, finding them sold out with no restock timeline.
"These kinds of challenges happen regularly," Rabbi admits. "When the customer came for a product, I couldn't provide it because it was out of stock."
Current solutions include customer waitlists and social media updates about new arrivals. Long-term solutions require increased working capital to buy larger stock quantities when quality products become available.
Physical constraints also limit growth. The showroom's 250 square feet cannot accommodate expanding inventory or increased customer traffic. Expansion requires additional locations but demands significant capital investment.
Challenges aside, Time Traveler has managed to build a set of competitive advantages across multiple dimensions, including operational excellence, quality control, community relationships, supply chain access, and high customer retention.
Professional systems in an informal market create superior customer experiences and enable efficient scaling. Systematic product selection and testing build customer trust and reduce returns. Deep travel community connections provide organic marketing and customer acquisition. Extensive supplier networks and product knowledge create inventory advantages competitors cannot easily replicate. And finally, a strong repeat customer base generates sustainable profitability without marketing costs.
These advantages prove difficult for new entrants or similar players to replicate quickly, providing defensive positioning as the market grows.
Time Traveler emerged during Bangladesh's travel culture inflection point. Rising disposable incomes, improved infrastructure, and social media inspiration created unprecedented interest in travel among the emerging middle class. Young professionals with disposable income prioritize experiences over possessions. Social media creates travel inspiration and community formation.
Travel evolved from luxury for the wealthy to lifestyle choice for the emerging middle class. This transition creates sustainable demand for travel-related products and services, supporting Time Traveler's expansion plans.
Consumer behavior shifted fundamentally. Traditional Eid shopping evolved from Panjabis to travel gear among travel communities. "Previously, people didn't spend on travel," Rabbi observes. "Now travel means you have to do some shopping."
More significantly, quality consciousness replaced price sensitivity. "Consumers used to look for reasonably priced products, but now consumers are looking for quality products. They are willing to spend for quality."
Rabbi estimates the Bangladesh travel gear market at many crore taka annually, likely conservative given rapid growth trajectories. International comparisons suggest much larger potential as travel culture matures.
The timing advantage proves crucial. Time Traveler built operational foundations during the market's informal phase and positioned to capture growth as the industry professionalizes.
Rabbi envisions Time Traveler becoming "Bangladesh's Decathlon" through systematic expansion: five to six Dhaka showrooms plus locations in Cox's Bazar and Chittagong where traveler demand peaks.
The strategy extends beyond retail into comprehensive travel services. Plans include organizing treks to Everest Base Camp and Manaslu Circuit, travel agency partnerships, and other lifestyle services.
"We plan to open 10 Time Traveler showrooms in Bangladesh in the coming days," Rabbi explains. "Time Traveler won't just be retail. The sub-segments will become other things."
This diversification addresses supply chain volatility while building on the company’s community relationships and operational advantages.
As Bangladesh's travel culture matures, Time Traveler has a realistic opportunity to build a meaningful business in the country's travel lifestyle market. As travel enjoys its cultural moment in Bangladesh, we will closely watching what Time Traveler does next.
