Page 56 - AVN April 2017

FEATURE
DELIVERING THE GOODS Left, Moose, president of Girlfriends Films.
Right, Hustler Hollywood’s newest L.A. boutique. Photo by Chris King
generated more than 49,000 votes. At press time
“LAST YEAR WE DID SIX STORES, WHICH WAS FAIRLY AGGRESSIVE FOR US TO GO
Adult Empire had launched its sixth annual Final
Femme porn star fan contest that coincides with
NCAA basketball’s March Madness tournament.
FROM 13 TO 22 IN A YEAR-AND-A-HALF.”
The winner will be announced online on April 5.
— PHILIP DEL RIO, VICE PRESIDENT OF RETAIL,
HUSTLER HOLLYWOOD
Education, Education, Education
Jeff Dillon, the vice president of business
development & marketing at eline.com and a
consultant for online retailer GameLink.com, tells
AVN “online retail is a thriving business.”
“More people each year look toward the internet
to do their shopping as they feel more comfortable
giving their credit card info and they realize adult
products are discreetly shipped and don’t come
with the big letters ‘PORN’ on the side of the box,”
Dillon says. “I know a lot of physical stores using
their online presence to drive foot traffic in their
stores and vice versa, using store traffic to fuel their
online sales.”
Dillon says the two biggest growth trends in
recent years are “the increase in supply and demand
of BDSM gear. Second is male sex toys.”
“As male sex toys have improved greatly over the
last five years and the stigma around men using sex
toys is lessened we will continue to see growth in
this area,” Dillon explains. “To meet these needs
FEATURE | By Dan Miller
we are increasing our selection and we are providing
education around these products, which is seriously
lacking for men and male sex toys.”
The seasoned executive pointed out Gamelink
started in online retail in 1993, pre-dating Amazon.
“So their impact was minimal to at first. Once
they started selling sex toys on Amazon.com they
had a dramatic impact on the market as they drove
down cost and could sell to their massive customer
base,” Dillon continues. “Since we can’t compete on
price, we can offer a more diverse selection of adult
products. The one good thing about Amazon is they
force everyone to step up their e-commerce game.
Customers now expect more from an online shopping
experience. They want lots of product info, reviews,
pics, expedited shipping free, everything in stock, etc.”
Hustler Hollywood’s Del Rio emphasizes his
company is aware of the changing retail landscape and
making adjustments.
“We’re definitely not immune to the traffic decline
to brick-and-mortar stores. It’s something we
definitely do feel but I think we’re in a bit of a different
bubble, though,” Del Rio says. “I just don’t think
people have as much knowledge and education about
our product as they do with jeans or tennis shoes or
whatever else they’re buying online. There is still that
education aspect that I think differentiates us between
us a department store like a JC Penney or Macy’s that
are feeling that pinch.”
Del Rio continues, “Our product is very unique.
There’s not enough awareness and education out there
and we’re able to be different being that educational
stop. You can get that online but I do think that
there’s an advantage to discussing something with a
live person as opposed to reading bullet points on a
product page online. That’s really the difference that
we still have.”
He even took it a step further.
“Most of our business happens in the evening after
dinner. We are part of the date night still. So it’s an
experience that you wouldn’t get by jumping on your
laptop,” Del Rio reasons. “In a weird way we are
almost a part of foreplay. Couples go to dinner, have a
drink or two, a glass of wine, and come into our stores
and have a bit of fun and learn. There is definitely a
differentiation.”
Del Rio indicates DVD sales in his stores are down
between 7 and 10 percent during the past couple years.
“I would imagine that will continue this year. Where
we’ve been having the most success is when we’re
kind of tweaking the promotions on the DVD business
and moving units quicker sometimes at a more value
price,” Del Rio explains. “The mistake we did make a
couple years ago was we sat on a lot of old inventory
and didn’t bring in as much new releases as we needed
to. That further accelerated the decline. It’s all about
better pricing. Some of our newer stores we are kind
of looking at that footprint to make sure we’re not
devoting too much. Where it’s at is lingerie and adult
novelties.”
An executive at Urban Outfitters for seven years as
well as a high-end denim retail manager, Del Rio says
his transition to adult has been “really unique.”
“At the end of the day I run this division as a retail
business, not an ‘adult’ retail business,” Del Rio
says. “The same things are important to me—good
customer service, strong operations, managing
the message and the brand. All those things were
important 10 years ago to me and are still important.
The biggest difference is there is so much more of an
education component to the adult business that I really
kind of grabbed onto in the last couple years.
“If you’re spending 200 dollars on a vibrator that
people are inserting into their body there is significant
weight on it to understand the product and features
and benefits. I’ve sold 300-dollar pairs of jeans before,
too. But there’s just something different about the
intimacy level of our product. We have to insure
people are trained in the details.”
Del Rio reveals the We-Vibe Sync is the top seller
in the Hustler Hollywood stores, along with the
Womanizer.
“What’s selling right now is couples toys—anything
that has dual purpose that the man can use on himself
and the woman can also use,” he says. “There’s a lot of
value on toys that couples can use together.”
“IN MY OPINION
THERE WILL
ALWAYS BE A
NEED FOR
BRICK-AND-
MORTAR. BUYING
ONLINE FROM
COMPANIES LIKE
AMAZON CAN BE
A DOUBLE-EDGED
SWORD.”
— MOOSE, PRESIDENT,
GIRLFRIENDS FILMS
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