Page 47 - AVN April 2017

FEATURE
Retailers share their
secrets on redesigning,
restocking, rethinking
When a customer wanders into a store or starts poring over a website, one of the first things they say or think about is
“What’s new?” Constantly creating products to satisfy that unquenchable desire for something to prod and poke, tease and
WHEN A CUSTOMER
stroke, poses challenges to both the manufacturer and the retailer. For the brick-and-mortar stores, this means going far
beyond just what sits on the shelves: it also translates into making a store look sleek, modern, and appealing to a wide variety
of customers returning to see “what’s new.”
Innovation is a word that can be tossed around on
every platform of this industry. For the manufacturer,
constantly reinventing the sex-toy wheel means staying
creative and clever to embrace the newest technology
while still being aware of the customer who may be
buying a toy for the first time. It may be applying a
popular technology to their product (app controls,
anyone?), utilizing a new, rechargeable battery type,
or designing something that one can leave out in plain
sight without being obvious as a device for pleasure.
For the retailer, maintaining a steady flow of the
newest and most innovative products means bringing
in inventory that may or may not be a bestseller, no
matter what the wholesale or retail price point. Some
new and innovative products sell well, but many times
they wind up collecting dust on the store shelves. But
the gamble can also be lucrative when the product
gets rapid social media attention, which then quickly
translates into sales followed by shortages for both the
retailer and the distributor.
‘I ADDED DESIGNER TOUCHES THROUGHOUT THE
STORE, INCLUDING HARDWOOD FLOORS, STACKED STONES, INSTALLED GENTLY SLOPING HANDICAPPED RAMPS TO THE MANY LEVELS OF
OUR STORE.’
—DAVE GOLDMAN,
SKITZO KITTY
Manufacturers often provide the first step in innovation, creating the
new designs that can get traction far beyond the sex toy retail industry.
Take Crave’s Vesper, for example. The Vesper is a tenpenny-nail-shaped
silver or gold vibrator that is crafted to hang delicately in the center of
a woman’s décolletage and can be discreetly worn to work, out for the
night, or even as a tease to foreplay. With a hidden microcharging port
in the nail head, this necklace/vibrator discreetly combines form and
function on one beautiful and seemingly delicate crafted piece of art.
The well-established We-Vibe became a sensation simply because
it was a groundbreaking design when it was first released almost ten
years ago. Able to be worn internally and externally by a woman while
her partner was penetrating her, the We-Vibe has withstood many new
updates, from a remote-controlled version to, most recently, an app-
controlled device, the Sync. Although there have been many copycats
throughout the years, the We-Vibe still remains a best seller. And oh, did
I mention it also vibrates and pulses? Of course it does!
Innovations throughout the years have included Lovehoney’s Sqweel,
Jopen’s Intensity, Topco’s Twerking Butt, Pulse’s Hot Octopuss, various
types of tongues, applying rechargeable technology to sex toys, and
two recent ones: the UVee ultraviolet-light adult toy cleaner and the
Womanizer.
The latter, a gentle, clitoral vacuum pump, created a booming market
for a type of stimulation that used to only exist during the best person-
to-person oral sex. Among the products that followed is the Satisfyer,
FEATURE | By Kim Airs
4.17 | AVN.com | 47