Market

According to data collected by the Mercadoerotico portal , the number of entrepreneurs working in the Sex Shop sector and the erotic market tripled in 2020, compared to the previous year.

It is estimated that there are 100 suppliers, including national industries, importers and distributors, in addition to 9,000 sales points and 50,000 door-to-door sellers. The survey was carried out in February 2021 and heard 135 entrepreneurs from different types of businesses in the erotic market. Most (76.13%) are women and almost half (47%) are self-employed, without employees.

What are the reasons for the growth of the erotic market?

The erotic market sold more than 1 million vibrators during the pandemic, as disclosed on the Extra portal in 2020.

Attracted by the high demand for sensual products during social isolation, new entrepreneurs in the erotic market saw the online sex shop segment as an opportunity for extra income, or even a new professional activity, as many lost their jobs due to of the pandemic.

And with the closing of physical stores, online sales were the only alternative for these new entrepreneurs to sell their products and serve their customers in the best way.

However, the market for virtual stores of erotic products is still a big taboo for entrepreneurs, who find it difficult to obtain financing from banks in order to have working capital in their operation. In some cases, they end up changing the business to Moda Íntima.

The mantang sex toy factory serves a large portion of virtual stores in this segment, including the largest sex shop distributor in Brazil and the subject caught my attention. How is a taboo industry growing so much?

We have retailers who earn from 30 thousand to more than 1 million reais in sales of erotic products. Yes, it is a very profitable market, as there is a large volume of sales and the acquisition cost of this product is relatively low.

Sex shop is still a taboo

The taboo also still persists in consumers. There is no shortage of people who start judging you when you walk into a physical sex toy store. All this indicates that an online sex shop   is definitely a way to encourage many people to order their toys and accessories without being judged.

Due to taboos, a sex shop e-commerce is not the same thing as opening any other virtual store. Many aspects differentiate these niche stores from e-commerce in general.

The main big differences in opening an online sex shop involve a little extra security for you and your customers. Face it: People may love these products, but they are often too embarrassed to buy them. That's why simple, 100% generic packaging is an industry standard.

But these social limitations also have a direct effect on your payment processing. The sex toy industry has been labeled “high risk,” in part because of how often customers are embarrassed by the idea of a sex shop appearing on their credit card statement and decide to initiate a chargeback. Many people keep their purchase of these products secret and commit fraud if they think there is a risk that someone will find out. Thus, there is a need for the merchant to have a high-risk payment processor.

You will also need to implement age verification on your online store to comply with regional laws that prevent minors from purchasing these products. Make sure your customers remain anonymous and that they always feel safe when visiting and consuming through your e-commerce.

Sex shop products usually require a little more strategy, and it's not easy to promote the products because of the restrictions and policies of online promotion platforms.

How to start an online sex shop business?

Recent developments in web technology solutions and the availability of ready-to-use e-commerce platforms have made it quite easy not only to build online stores without coding knowledge, but also to find products to sell in them.

• Search the Market

• Analyze competitors

• Select your product suppliers well

• Create a financial plan

• I look for national products and then move on to imported products

• Plan well the disclosure and how this disclosure will be made

• Look for an E-commerce consultancy to assist in the planning and development of your virtual store

• Choose the E-commerce Platform that will understand your current moment

Is it easy to open an online sex shop?

Undoubtedly! However, the biggest question is not how to start an online sex shop business, but how to sell sex toys online, as building such shops has become very easy nowadays. You can build an online sex shop at any time, but running it is not always so easy.

From the outside, it's like any normal e-commerce business. Inside, it is subject to ups and downs, fierce competition, privacy issues and also some legal complications.

Fortunately, these challenges also make this business VERY PROFITABLE. We run a variety of operations and one thing we all have in common is that we all have immediate strategies to deal with each of these challenges, rather than running away from them.