Every reporter: Zhang Honglei Every editor: Liang Xiao
Picture source: Photograph.com
With the arrival of Valentine's Day, sex toys have once again attracted people's attention. From "talking about sex change" to "paying for sex", the domestic sex toys market has been moving forward with a "low-key". The "2018Q1 China Sex Toys Special Research Report" released by iiMedia Consulting predicts that by 2020, China's sex toy e-commerce market will exceed 60 billion yuan, and the entire Chinese sex toy market will exceed 130 billion yuan.
At the same time, many companies in the first echelon of the industry have successively listed on the New Third Board. Most outsiders believe that this field is highly profitable, but in fact, not many sex toy manufacturers listed on the New Third Board have achieved profitability in recent years.
In addition, with the continuous changes in consumption, the reporter of "Daily Business News" noticed that the female group has also become the vane leading the sex toys. According to data from iiMedia Research, 37.3% of women believe that using sex toys can help improve their quality of life, and the market size of female sex toys will also grow with the change in attitudes of women to sex toys.
The rise of female users changes the consumption pattern.
China's sex toys market product categories are divided into family planning products (condoms, contraceptives, pregnancy tests, etc.), sex toys (delay spray, delay loop, lubricant, massage oil, sex uniforms) , Airplane cup, vibrator, etc.), derivative products (smart hardware, love hotel).
Speaking of sex toys with a high growth rate in the past two years, the person in charge of NetEase Chunfeng told the "Daily Business News" reporter that the sex toys with a relatively high growth rate in the past two years are still dominated by male appliances, such as airplane cups. This firstly stems from the fact that male users are more likely to accept sex toys. Secondly, the entry of Internet brands also injects trendy and fashionable cultural attributes into sex toys, increasing the acceptance and sense of identity of men born in the 1990s.
However, on the other side of the coin, some interesting changes have emerged-the "turning point" of female consumption has come, and its share in the sex toys market has continued to rise. For example, the data on sales of sex toys from 2018 to January 2019 provided to reporters by other fun shows that the sales proportions are in the order of condom category (26%), female toys (21%), and male toys (15%). %), delayed lubrication (14%), erotic clothing (13%), others (11%). In addition, the highest-selling product in 2018 was a female vibrator.
In addition, Analysys data shows that taking the entire network as a sample, female users have a higher proportion of medium spending power and above. Middle and high consumers accounted for 26.44% and 40.04% of the total network users and female groups respectively; the high consumers accounted for 4.10% and 8.75% of the total network users and female groups respectively.
Regarding the above situation, Zhang Yi, CEO of iiMedia Consulting Group, told the reporter of "Daily Economic News" that with the upgrading of consumption and the rise of TA economy, white-collar women in first-tier cities also have their own independent judgments and personal preferences regarding the relationship and needs of the sexes. Therefore, the preferences and attitudes of female consumer groups are also a new direction for sex toy businesses. A person in charge of Netease Chunfeng said that the proportion of female sex toy users in Western developed countries is much higher than that of China. The Chinese female market will still be a market with huge potential. Netease Chunfeng also defines girlishness as female sex appeal. In terms of supplies, we hope to enhance the interactive experience between sex toys and users. The relevant person in charge of Hequ told reporters that female aesthetics can promote the improvement of the design level of the sex industry.
Online consumption + Internet marketing become the mainstream market
Another significant change is that with the rise of e-commerce, the offline sales of sex toys have been affected. Orange adult franchise stores have begun to shrink, and some manufacturers have also begun to streamline the number of offline experience stores. Analysys, based on its interviews with sex product manufacturers, judges that the current online and offline sales ratio of sex products is between 7:3 and 8:2. The operators of sex products have focused on e-commerce.
iiMedia Consulting believes that China's erotic e-commerce market is still in a stage of rapid development. In 2018, there will be 200 million online sex toy users, and more than 400 million in 2020.
In addition, users can also spend a fortune for fun. According to the data provided by him to the reporter of "Daily Economic News", in 2018Throughout the year, the most expensive product sold on Taqu App was a physical doll with a price of nearly 10,000 yuan.
online channel sales have also brought more young users into this market. According to Analysys data, the proportion of post-90s of sex toy users has increased rapidly (60% for other sex, 70% for little monsters, and 31% for Netease Chunfeng). What's interesting about
is that, unlike traditional impressions, data from JD.com shows that more unmarried people choose family planning products, while married people account for more sex toys. For example, since 2014, married people have become the main force in buying masturbation devices, and their highest sales accounted for even as high as 70%.
Due to reasons of concept and consumption power, the use of sex toys is relatively high in first-tier cities. In terms of specific provinces and cities, data from JD.com shows that the sales volume of adult products in Guangdong is nearly twice that of second-place Beijing. The top six regions are mainly Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Beijing. In addition, Shandong and Sichuan are also big provinces in sales of adult products. Based on this, JD.com concluded that Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou is the first choice for the family planning products market, while the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions are better places for sex toys. In addition to the transformation of channels from offline to online,
is also a new force for major brands to inject Internet thinking into sex toys. The relevant person in charge of Netease Chunfeng told the "Daily Business News" reporter that compared with well-known international brands, the domestic sex toy market is still in its early stages, and industry giants have not yet emerged. With the upgrading of consumption and the entry of Internet brands, it is particularly important to understand users through Internet thinking and increase user loyalty. The relevant person in charge of
told the "Daily Economic News" reporter that looking at the sex toys market, "small chaos" still exists, and as consumption continues to upgrade, it should break away from the original manufacturer's production and user consumption processes. For example, Taqu is establishing a professional taste evaluation platform to guide users in scoring and evaluation systems for various taste categories, so that manufacturers can intuitively and accurately understand what users feel and improve product experience.
Most sex toy companies are still losing money. It is worth noting that the single economy has also become one of the driving factors driving the development of sex toys.
According to the research report of China International Finance Securities, there are currently 220 million singles in China. Correspondingly, there are many products launched for singles in the sex toys market. The sexual needs of such a large-scale adult single population needs to be guided and digested reasonably, and the sex industry thus has considerable social significance.
However, it is not easy for sex toy companies to make money, and many NEEQ companies are losing money. After reviewing the profitability of 4 sex toy companies in the past three years, the reporter found that Lover Health and Chunshuitang have suffered losses for three consecutive years. Taohuawu made a profit of 600,000 yuan in 2015 and his 2017 net profit was 10.01 million yuan. The four sex toy companies all have a relatively high proportion of sales expenses and management expenses in their operating income. According to the "Annual Comprehensive Analysis of the Digital Upgrade of the Sexual Interest Market 2018" released by
Analysys, the number of shops selling sex toys on Taobao decreased from 4,036 to 2015, a decrease of 50.07%, which also reflects the intensity of competition from one side. .
In this context, how to further reduce the cost of channel circulation has become the primary concern of sex toy manufacturers. For example, Chunshuitang began to reduce its staff structure, expand its sex hotel business offline, follow up on product peripherals, and amplify the profitability of high-margin products.
Zhang Yi said that he has also visited some mainstream wholesale markets and manufacturers to investigate. On the one hand, some consumers confuse sex toys with family planning products, and they are limited by their cognitive level and it is difficult to promote and develop in some subdivided products on a large scale; On the one hand, compared with European and American countries, the development of the domestic sex market is not yet mature, and there are still phenomena such as "small workshops, copycat brands, and low-cost competition". Product quality varies from good to bad, and the quality assurance of sex toys still needs to be improved.
Daily Economic News
