Barcelona, February 12th – A new report commissioned by Red Points ‘Faking it’, the Barcelona-based company offering the leading Brand Intelligence platform for detecting and enforcing online IP infringements, shows that sex toys are popular among consumers’ gift considerations for Valentine’s day. Nearly 2 out of 3 adults surveyed (66% of shoppers) in the U.S said they would consider buying a sex toy online for the occasion.
According to the new study, 79% of respondents said they prefer buying sex toys online, with the majority of respondent (68.4%) selecting Amazon as their preferred marketplace to buy pleasure products online for Valentines’ day. Additionally, when asked if they had ever bought fake sex toys online, 2 out of 10 respondents (19%) said they believed to have done so in the past 12 months. Of those respondents, 33% percent said they were disappointed with the low quality of the fakes.
Sex toys on Valentine’s day:
On average, respondents reported a high interest in buying sex toys on Valentine’s day (66.3%), with the majority of them saying they would prefer to buy them discreetly online (79.6%) vs. in-store (20.3%). Considering the intimate nature of such products, this figure should come as no surprise.
Popular places to buy sex toys online:
According to the survey, the following online platforms were the most popular among shoppers to buy sex toys online: Amazon ranked the highest (68.4%), followed by product-specific websites (37.6%), eBay (16.6%), websites found via Reddit (14.3%) and Wish.com (12.7).
Men vs. women buying fakes sex toys:
Despite a low average of respondents reporting having bought fake sex toys in the past 12 months, males scored higher with nearly a quarter (23%) versus 16% for women.
Likelihood of buying fakes in the future:
Nearly three-quarters of respondents (72.8%) said they would be willing to knowingly buy a fake sex toy online if they were given a discount between 10% and 75%, with 50% being the amount most likely to get people to buy fakes (29.1%).
Shoppers response to fakes:
In response to accidentally buying fakes online, the majority of shoppers would ask for a refund from the seller (53.6%), closely followed by 37.4% who would complain to the brand directly.
Commenting on the survey findings, Red Points’ CEO, Laura Urquizu, said: “It’s loud and clear from our research that the pleasure industry is popular among shoppers, and one that hasn’t been spared from the online counterfeiting crisis. With the majority of people preferring to buy those products online, it’s important that brand owners implement smart solutions to address the issue head-on and get better visibility of their online presence.
“From a health and safety standpoint, fake sex toys also represents a real danger for shoppers who risk putting their health at risk when using substandard goods. So unless shoppers start adopting a cautious approach to online shopping, and brands start proactively monitoring their listings on both ecommerce sites and social media, businesses will continue to lose sales revenue to counterfeit goods.’’
Commenting on the survey findings, Tenga’s Global Marketing Manager Eddie Marklew, one of Red Points’ clients said: “Counterfeits are an unfortunate side-effect of good businesses but it’s important to note just how little customer awareness there is of the harm that could be done with counterfeit items. It’s long been known that there are counterfeits in the field of sex toys, but dishonest counterfeit manufacturers may be using harmful ingredients and materials which pose a health and safety risk to the user. We strongly suggest all consumers are aware of who they’re purchasing from and whether the item they are getting is the authentic product.’’
Survey Methodology:
The Red Points’ Valentine’s day survey was conducted online within the United States by SurveyMonkey on behalf of Red Points from January 23-31, 2018 with 500+ U.S. adults ages 18 and older.
About TENGA
TENGA is a brand of adult novelty products for men, with a focus on non-obscene product design as a tool for safer, better pleasure. Since their release in 2005, TENGA has shipped over 75 million units to over 60 countries worldwide and is highly regarded as one of the leaders in products for male pleasure in both adult and mainstream markets. TENGA is the No. 1 Brand of Male Masturbation products by units sold, selling over triple of their closest competitor.
Further details: www.tenga-global.com
About SurveyMonkey:
Founded in 1999, SurveyMonkey changed the way people gather feedback by making it easy for anyone to create their own online surveys. Today, SurveyMonkey’s mission is to power curious individuals and organizations to measure, benchmark and act on the opinions that drive success. The company’s People Powered Data platform enables conversations at scale to deliver impactful customer, employee and market insights. SurveyMonkey’s 750+ employees are dedicated to fueling the curiosity of over 16 million active users globally.
