The public perception of sex toys is changing daily. There are adverts on TV for online sex shops and you see vibrators and dildos in TV shows all the time now from Mount Pleasant to Sex in the City. Sex Shops need to move with the times and get away from the back street trench coat image and become boutiques and places that couples and women are going to feel comfortable in. The advent of ‘designer’ sex toys like Lelo and vibe therapy are clearly aimed as more than just functional items and have been designed with a little bit of thought to the aesthetics.
Professional designers and serious business people are beginning to enter the adult toys industry because of its wider acceptance and this is moving standards and innovation to new levels. In the next few years I think this will only increase. Existing operators will either move on or be killed off because the seedy past is going to be unacceptable to the modern consumer and with new brash designer boutiques about to pop up the backstreet past is going to be blown away. Traditionally sex shops were the preserve of men but conversely most sex toys are actually made for women who are in fact the biggest spenders when it comes to sex toys. This reality has held back traditional sex shops that seem to be wedded to the past and want to group sex toys with pornography. The move to mainstream for sex toys is a concerted effort from new entrants to the market to put a bit of distance between themselves and pornography. This of course makes sense as the audience they need to talk to is women and couples.
Another big driver of mainstream sex toys is the internet. Anyone has now access to thousands of websites selling sex toys like PlayBlue with even the likes of Amazon and eBay getting a piece of the action. Vibrators not only are getting better looking but are getting quieter and smaller and more powerful and have better design meaning a more well ah satisfying product.
Here’s a prediction for you I bet in the next 5 years you’ll be able to pick up a vibrator in your local Tesco.