Not just women use sex toys
According to Joshua, an analyst from market research company Technavio based in Bangalore, purchasing and using sex toys is not limited to women only. Joshua stated, “For example, in the United States, about 50% of men have used sex toys at some point.” Although he admitted that the number is higher when it comes to women, “about 60% to 65% of women.”
Europeans are bigger buyers than Americans
Technavio’s data shows that Europe is beating the United States in purchasing power. Joshua said, “Some surveys show that in Italy, as many as 70% of men and women will use sex toys at some point.”
Global sales reach billions of dollars
As early as 2017, the global sex toy market was worth £18 billion. This is roughly ten times the size of the electric toothbrush market and more than the amount spent on microwaves worldwide. The global sex toy market generated sales of $38.68 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $47.61 billion by 2030.
Sex toys give men power and play a significant role in this growth
People’s impressions and views of sex toys have completely changed, and a large part of this change is related to men, including buying love dolls for sale online. A famous scene in a movie from a few years ago, “Lars and the Real Girl,” where the main character lives with a love doll, is considered a “significant moment” for the sex doll subcategory of the sex toy industry.
Online sales are another significant growth factor
When e-commerce sex toy retailer Lovehoney launched in 2003, its turnover was £100,000, and it has grown at around 35% per year ever since. Since the first full year of operation, their sales have grown 130-fold.
Co-founder Richard Longhurst explained why shopping online brought a revolutionary change: “It’s a natural product because of its discretion. It’s a plain brown envelope, a plain brown box, no embarrassment of going into a shop, no talking to a sales assistant, no risk of being seen by someone you know.”
Couples account for a large proportion of the sex toy market
Although many people believe that if your love life fails, sex toys are what you use. The reality is that people who use sex toys are usually married or in a relationship, and couples who use sex toys believe that their sex lives are better than those who do not.
Co-founder Neal Slateford agrees, “Most buyers are couples, and 70% of customers consider themselves to be in a long-term relationship.”
China produces 70% of sex toys
If you buy a sex toy in the UK, it is likely to have been made in East Asia. 70% of adult products worldwide are manufactured in China, but 70% of these products are primarily exported overseas. The market size in the United States exceeds hundreds of billions of yuan, and in Japan, it has become one of the mainstay industries of the national economy.
Sex toy sales are still on the rise
It is estimated that the annual growth rate of the global market is currently around 7% to 10%, but Joshua from Technavio believes that as people in developing countries overcome restrictions on sex toys, the growth rate of global sales will increase to around 10% to 15% in the coming years.
India and China are among the fastest-growing sex toy markets
“We believe that some of the fastest-growing markets are actually India and China…”Joshua said, “Most toys are produced in China, so they are very cheap.” Although there is still a long way to go in terms of cultural attitudes – India does not allow the public sale of sex toys or the opening of sex toy shops – the popularity of e-commerce and the internet in these regions “makes it very easy to purchase these toys.”
