Alex hopes to make a splash in water-based equipment venture
By Aimee Walsh
BUSINESS management graduate Alex Murphy (27) hopes to make a big splash with his E-Commerce website selling water-based activity equipment.
The Institute of Technology Tallaght business management graduate from Rathfarnham set up Adventure-Marine.com back in 2017, alongside his Dad and brother.
Alex Murphy has established an E-Commerce website selling water-based activity equipment
The website sells inflatable and foldable products that are easily transportable such as kayaks, dinghies, paddleboards and canoes, which can all be folded to fit inside a backpack.
“My dad is a distributer and he deals with wholesale. He got in paddleboards and sold them on to his friends, fast forward a couple of years and there was a lot of interest in them, the sport has grown to be huge.
“My brother did the website up and I am doing the sales side such as social media. We are getting a lot of attraction there.
“My family grew up holidaying in Ireland and spent a lot of time in places like Bundoran and Waterford doing water activities, and I suppose we have been on the water all our lives. We want people to be able to have the best and safest experience possible.” Alex told The Echo.
Although so many companies struggled to stay afloat during lockdown, Alex found that the increase in people taking Irish staycations and the initiative to ‘Buy Irish’ helped boost the websites sales.
“We have been going since 2017 but it only really took off during lockdown. There was huge demand as everyone was on staycations. There was a big campaign about shop Irish and shop local and we got on the back of that.
“There was also quite a shortage of products coming into Ireland during lockdown, so we had the products ourselves and we were happy to deliver them to the door. We had the opportunity to do same day delivery and we kind of grew on that. It’s a very personable company. We just want to sell good quality products to people.
“If somebody wants to come out and try the paddleboards or see it being inflated and being used we do assemble models on the day that they can use, which is highly popular.” Alex explained.
Alex says that he hopes the products will encourage people to explore the “Beauty of Ireland” and help people get outside to promote their physical and mental wellbeing.
“Like most sports, paddle boarding is good for the body & mind. I find tranquil water relaxing and helps reduce anxiety and depression which is very important to me, especially in these times.”
Speaking about the future hopes for the website and company, Alex said: “We are expanding by adding new products everyday now that we are growing in popularity.”7
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