Singapore sex toy sales buzzing thanks to ‘healthy’ branding
Out with the sleaze, in with the clever ‘health and beauty’ marketing. Sex toy businesses in the Lion City have found a way to appeal to the long neglected female market
When Singapore sex toy shop U4Ria opened 18 years ago, co-founder Lincoln Chua had just one competitor – House of Condom, a short walk away in Lucky Plaza.
Today, Chua manages three such shops and, on his own estimates, is competing with more than 20 others.
Perhaps that growth in competition shouldn’t be surprising. The Asia-Pacific region is the fastest-growing market for sex toys, accounting for 46 per cent of all sales globally, according to a 2017 report by market research company Technavio.
Yet the growing acceptance of stores openly selling sex toys in the city state, in the face of long-lingering social mores, is nevertheless remarkable. At least part of that growing acceptance is down to a switch in how the products have been marketed. Gone are the days of sleazy branding. Clever businesses have cottoned on to a far more effective way of reaching female consumers – marketing their goods as a health and beauty product.
“The industry is changing,” said Erin Chen, a sex and relationship counsellor. “It was quite male-dominated, but now there are a lot more female designs.”
