Adult supplies are struggling in the night

One of the jokes before this article: "I saw a funny joke." "Let's hear it." "But it's very yellow." "The Yellow place you jump!" Okay, skip, skip, skip, Skip, skip, finish. ”

This means that if there is a vague part of the article, it is skipped in the audit.

From the birth day, the adult products industry in China is a secretive industry. In the whispers after the abuse, the industry really did word of mouth. Adult economy and erotic economy is becoming the burgeoning upstart, is regarded as the "about cannon artifact" of the Mo; lonely late at night shook the micro-letter; Some of the video chat sites playing the edge of the ball, as well as the legendary 1024, which is changing people's traditional cognition. and adult supplies are quietly changing people's lives.

In contrast to other industries, people are more likely to know a little about adult supplies from the dimly lit, half-covered shop of adult stores in small alleys, mostly with the function of an unknown barber shop, mini bar and Bath Center. On the shelves of these stores, there are often ancillary products such as eight inflatable dolls with a hand-shop breath, seemingly completely out of touch with Chinese penis, and more delay oil, Viagra (mostly fake).

Compared with other fields, adult supplies under the line shop can be called profiteering, the cost of only a few pieces of money to jump eggs selling prices are often in the hundred. In Shudegang, founder of the Spring Hall, this is because the adult goods store into the shop rate is very low, in order to obtain profits, in each guest must earn enough profit. In some media, adult products are more known as China's invisible profiteering industry champion, even higher than the traditional understanding of the glasses industry and pharmaceutical industry. A natural question, how big the market is.

There have been people on Weibo said publicly: "Now China's market for erotic goods sales of 5 billion yuan, but the market demand is more than 15 billion yuan, there is a 10 billion yuan demand can not be met." "And a consultancy report is more optimistic: 2011, the domestic sales of sex goods industry has 120 billion yuan, of which the sex apparatus accounted for 15%; from 2006 to 2011, the industry compound growth rate is 20%, to 2016, will reach 30%.

Such a large profit space and growth momentum, the electricity business will naturally not let go. Before and after 2000, in the field of adult products, a group of main sex products of the business, such as Colorful Valley, Spring Hall, Orange, peach Blossom Dock, Love Valley, love up and so on successively appear. In the Huangtianyi, founder of the price ratio, adult supplies do not appear to be unscientific: "I think the definition of sexual goods is a tool, hundreds of thousands of ago the original man and now the biggest difference is the use of tools, but in male masturbation, tens of thousands of years have not changed, this unscientific." DIY can also be replaced with tools, which is just needed. ”

The biggest problem of online shopping is not to see the real product can not be tested can not judge the quality of good or bad. But in the adult goods online shopping This and offline basically consistent, because you go to the offline entity store should also not be on the spot trial. But the brutal reality is that the majority of the current adult products sales still come from the offline, online shop is facing a single marketing model, large platform, such as squeezing multiple difficulties.

These products, used in the night, are struggling in the dark.

The attempt of the spring Hall

Shudegang's Spring Hall is located in Beijing East Five ring, this seems to be in line with those vertical electrical business style, low-key, effective. Before coming to the spring Hall, there was a circle of PR telling me a story about another adult appliance dealer. The enterprise is located in a well-known Beijing community, the same building has a very old Niang, the aunt every time walking the dog out to their brand spit, even the dog in their doorway will hurriedly pull away. And when the founder of the company out of the door, the security uncle will always talk to him two words: "Young man, what is not good age?"

The spring Hall and their description are different, in the neighborhood door of a restaurant, independent of the three floor of the door hung "Spring Hall" three words, it is time to work, a lot of passers-by from the sign to walk through, they may not know in this small building is the largest independent adult supplies vertical electric business platform. "Our original East three ring double well office, and then take into account the cost of warehousing, they moved here." At present, there are about 50 people in the spring Hall, half of men and women.

Unlike imagined, in this three-storey building, there is no such a common "big butt" in the adult shop, and on the table in the Shudegang office, the colourful sample of vibrating rods appears to be of artistic style. In the corner of his office, scattered several boxes, according to Shudegang, packaging is the consumer of adult products, the most concern, "in the spring Hall of the delivery list will only write the customer's surname, also will not write the Spring Hall, outside the bag broke inside there are boxes, boxes inside there are bags, and must ensure that the signing of the person is himself." Shudegang bad Smile said, had considered no shielding delivery, can consider causing sensational effect, and even users have raised similar needs, but ultimately take into account the relevant policies, or did not adopt.

The middle-aged man, who graduated from the Department of Physics at Nankai University, was an engineer and opened a restaurant, and the spring Hall was his third start-up project: 2002, which cost 3000 yuan, which eventually turned into his lifelong career. At the end of 2005, Shand just began to think about how to make the Spring Hall into a national adult supplies channel brand, thinking of the result is to do back to the line to join. 2005, the first entity store opened in Spring Hall, gradually expand the line, 2007, the Spring Hall began to recruit franchisee. But in 2012, the Spring Hall of the spring line, stationed in the day Cat Mall. According to Shudegang, this is because most of the franchisee is small family-style entrepreneurs, able to invest in limited funds, for them, the spring Hall is only the initial start-up of the stability of the supplier, in the operation of a period of time, will continue to have different channels to find the door to lower prices to supply, Bypassing the spring Hall low price purchase has become a natural choice. This is not a good thing for the brand of the spring Church.

So the Shand, who often sends jokes on Weibo to educate users, has just begun to reclaim the franchise, began to do straight camp, the current spring Hall online more than 1200 adult supplies, including adult toys include 300 female vibrator, 200 balance male masturbation, but also sales of 300 different types of sexy underwear, And more than 40 sets of different functional condoms. According to its introduction, the Spring Hall 2013 sales expected to reach the size of 100 million yuan, (in some other peer's mouth, think this figure should be around 30 million).

This figure is so small compared to the size of the entire market for the Jiuxian, the vertical electric dealers and the adult products.

The recruits on the moving end

More than half of online pornography (62%) is viewed through the mobile end, according to the 2013 annual report released by Pornhub, the world's largest pornographic website. Although desktop computers are still the most popular pornographic content viewing platform (51%) globally, they are higher than the 40% of mobile-end traffic. The current domestic smartphone penetration rate is even higher than in the United States, and in price ratio founder Huangtianyi, given the complexity of industry and category, mobile end of the privacy and portability than the PC side may be more satisfied with user needs. Especially in the three or four-line city, the demand for adult supplies is particularly strong. And these networks are covered in areas that are not yet well thought-out. Users are more accustomed to the use of mobile phone orders, but also for the adult supplies mobile power manufacturers to create an objective possibility.

From the current development point of view, the current adult products vertical Shang Taobao for the representative of the big Electric Platform competition is difficult to win, whether the flow of access or product richness are at a disadvantage, and in the good and bad Taobao platform, the brand can not be established. Moving end of the curve overtaking may become the only choice for adult supplies. But compared to the low access threshold on the PC side (3000 blocks are completely impossible to make a website on the mobile side), it is very important to enter into the mobile business of adult products, including product development, audit time and team experience. But now the internet giants are unwilling to do this industry, in Huangtianyi view, with the advantages of the first advantage of cost-effective will have a great opportunity to become a leader. According to its self-proclaimed, on the line more than a year later, its water has been comparable with the spring Hall. Data show that the number of users has exceeded 1 million since its August 2012 shelves. The 85-post entrepreneur even said that if the offline store does not change, the mobile end and PC side are expected to cut more than 70% of the entire industry cake, and the mobile end will occupy at least half.

Because of the privacy and specificity of sex goods, many users buy goods online than to go under the line of spice shop more comfortable, from this point of view, cost-effective team is to find the user's demand point. After the integration of more than 2000 items from Taobao merchants, the cost-performance team also joined the proprietary business in the application, the current shelves of goods in the category of 200-300, and is still increasing-the latter by the team directly coordinate the logistics delivery, and support customers to pay the goods.

But Huangtianyi also said that the current delivery of goods in the country's three or four-line city has not been able to meet, he felt that residents of these cities and other urban residents have the same physical and mental needs-to solve the logistics problem, which should also be able to release a part of the demand. In his description, there is a driver from Inner Mongolia many times to say that they want their products, but due to the price ratio did not open Inner Mongolia's delivery service, the driver even said that the money can be remitted first, anything can be sent to the point.

Compared with the traditional PC, the mobile end is faced with strict supervision, but it is not attached to the platform, it can reduce the risk of shuffling. But the mobile end is not plain sailing, in Huangtianyi view, there are now about seventy or eighty in China and the adult supplies of the relevant app, but most of the user experience is not good, and in the mobile end of the competition is not only the price of the PC, the product, client experience is also very important.

The way to survive

Foreign adult stores started in 1962, Beate Uhse, the German entrepreneur, opened the world's first adult goods store Beate Uhse AG, a listed adult-goods store that has stores in 60 countries and regions around the world. And the UK's 150 stores of adult-product chains have been earning more than 150 million pounds before the financial crisis.

At present, the Chinese mainland's adult goods stores are often still in the pop state. According to Shudegang, the current raw materials are divided into three levels of food grade (can be imported), pharmaceutical grade and chemical grade, because there is no uniform management standards (most of the category of adult products are toys), the majority of domestic production plant for adult products to select only the pharmaceutical grade (not the entrance), and even he had contact with a manufacturer, Massage Stick Sales Price is only 8 yuan, its use of raw materials imaginable.

This has to allow adult-goods dealers to consider their own brands, as well as other profit models.

In addition to the traditional purchase mode, the Spring Hall also relies on consumer assessment methods to select products. "We will provide some customers with free products, let them to test, write the real experience report to us." "Shudegang says, and this kind of measurement will be done before and after the product is on line. And the spring Hall will also be from the consumer to collect the demand feedback into the creative, through with design companies to design products, in order to expect to launch more consumers welcome products. In its view, the current adult products industry's biggest problem is the lack of brand-name business, he has been to a lot of so-called big-name factories, originally thought they would do some human trials, did not expect most of the work behind closed doors, few intentions designed. He takes the size of the massage bar as an example, now most of the domestic will be directly copied abroad design, but the size of foreign countries is generally about 4 centimeters, while the domestic is 3.5 centimeters, this small gap will be in the use of uncomfortable. Huangtianyi also said that a lot of brand competition is not really what consumers need, he jumped eggs for example, some products vibration frequency is 20, and other manufacturers in order to promote the 40, but also to do more, but according to the study as long as more than 50 of the body will feel discomfort.

The future spring Church has about 10% of its own brand products, in Shudegang view, only to become Watson, adult supplies to continue to survive the electrical business.

In addition, the change of positioning is also the future survival of adult supplies. Shudegang the Spring Hall in the Pan-appeal field, not just a retailer of adult supplies. "Most people's understanding of the taste is relatively narrow, and when it comes to erotic goods, think of inflatable dolls." But our understanding of the erotic items is relatively broad, for example, I think that red wine is a better sex products. In the future, we may also make sex hotel, furniture display, gender training and other projects. ”

Cost-effective is also a small number of domestic mobile service community Services app, in the circle also has users to call it the next "about Cannon artifact", but Huangtianyi feel very wronged: "Cost-effective community management is very strict, whether it is posting or replies are used before the mechanism of the first trial." But this area is very important, in foreign attitudes towards sex more open, the family can communicate between, and domestic responsibility for this aspect is pornographic website, normal sex knowledge, sexual skills, sexual psychology but can not be satisfied. ”

The huge data brought by millions of users in the community has also led to cost-effective consideration of how to develop their own brands, in the community just opened, there are users to reflect the use of supplies is not very comfortable, Huangtianyi said: "This product should be made what appearance, Jingdong do not know, the cat does not know, Taobao do not know even manufacturers do not know, But we know. ”

The most worrying thing for adult-electric dealers is marketing. In the circle, there is a slightly sad story: a small well-known brand, Taobao in one months was under the shelves 12 times, the brand is currently operating in a stagnant state completely. In order to arouse customer purchase desire, some adult supplies electric dealer's practitioner has a big fuss on own website. From the wording of the product to the picture, in Shudegang's view: "The full screen of attractive av girl pictures, I would like to turn it into a yellow site." ”

At present, most sellers in the circle can only through the traditional search engine marketing or Webmaster Alliance way to play a variety of edge marketing. For the gradual rise of social marketing means, it is obvious lack of sustained and stable flow. On the other hand, the cost of social marketing also have to take into account, Shudegang is a master, filming micro-films, gimmicks attract attention is not difficult.

But for other adult-goods dealers, the hidden costs will determine whether they can survive.

Finally share a little story:

At some airport, the security guard took out the Huangtianyi in the bag, "What is this?"

"Adult toys. The security guard showed a wretched expression.

But now toys are becoming the new favorite to travel with, because their design is becoming more and more human, it may be lipstick, necklaces, flashlights, and even manufacturers have developed a can become transformers of the plane Cup, they may be around us, you can see, touch, but it is able to enjoy their own secret happiness.

The embarrassment of Huangtianyi may no longer exist.