At VENUS, which ended for the 23rd time last month in Berlin, internationally operating sextoy manufacturers such as the US company Svakom are exhibiting in the business hall. Like LELO, Svakom has been relying on luxury and high-end sex toys for years, winning design awards and the hearts of a loyal clientele.
Among sextoy companies, too, there are companies that pursue an Apple strategy, i.e. the combination of first-class design, technological innovation and emotional branding. If it succeeds, this strategy pays off handsomely. With a uniquely positioned brand, recognizable design and cutting-edge technology it is not only possible to establish higher prices, but also to win satisfied customers that become regular customers and maybe even collectors and fans of the brand.
At VENUS Berlin, there are several manufacturers who pursue this exclusive strategy and operate successfully internationally. At Svakom’s booth, we were able to talk to the new Sales Manager Europe of the American manufacturer Svakom. In the interview, he gave us insights into his company, tells us about the Svakom bestsellers with sex toys for women and about the new push in the high-end sector for men’s toys.
VAN: Svakom is one of the world’s high-end brands in the sex toy industry. Can you tell us a little bit about your company?
Svakom is an American company, but we have our own production and our own design team based in China. All products are in-house developments and in-house productions with a quality failure rate of less than 0.5%.
Svakom has been around for four years and the growth is very strong. Thanks to the evaluation by Stiftung Warentest, we also have a very good reputation in Germany. We share a best rating with LELO and FunFactory. And we are very well positioned. As a private company, we don’t give any information about exact sales figures.
In combination with the production and the design team, we have between 200 and 300 employees. We have more than 30 different vibrators and now also masturbators in our portfolio. Prices are in the upper midfield. We cooperate with various distributors, Eropartner for example and with larger retailers we also work directly together.
VAN: What are the women’s toys you brought to the fair this year?
For women, of course, there’s our Nymph. The toy won a design award this year. The product is very innovative and was very well received by the market. We also have the very popular Keri.
But our bestseller is our egg, the Elva with remote control. The product has already been on the market for two years, but it’s an absolute bestseller, and of course we have that with us at VENUS this year as well, small, handy, looks like a lipstick.
VAN: What about the big growth trend regarding men’s toys?
We mostly create products for women and couples. But what’s new is our men’s toy Alex, which just came out. It’s the first product in a new line tailored for men.
The »Alex« has the advantage that it is designed to be free around the top and therefore easy to clean. It has the most powerful motor currently available on the market and is therefore very dynamic. It will be available in stores from the end of November.
The first reactions are very good. Many people realize that it is a high-end masturbator model. Our suggested retail price is 139.00 Euros, and this has been well received by the shops.
VAN: You belong to the high-quality manufacturers who, like LELO, place great emphasis on design. In addition to innovative technology, there is always something for the eye. In addition to aesthetics, what do you pay particular attention to when it comes to design?
When designing our men’s toys, we focus on the idea that they should not be immediately recognizable as masturbators. If you find it in the bedroom and have no idea, you think it’s something else and not necessarily a sextoy.
The design team works closely with the marketing team. That’s pretty big in our case. During product development, we always have prototypes tested by influencers. And of course, we have incorporated the feedback gained in this way into the development of other new models.
VAN: As an international company you also have international marketing. You visit many trade fairs and festivals. What is FuckTaboo all about?
That’s right, we do various events worldwide. And there are a lot of recent events related to our campaign #FuckTaboos. We have parties in different countries, where we offer different activities, a party so that people can talk openly about sex.
VAN: As you said, you’ve only recently joined the company. How did you get into the sextoy industry?
I’ve only been in the business for a few months, right. Actually, I mostly worked in industry so far. But I am happy to be in the B2C sector. Sex toys is a topic that is very appealing to me, I like the industry. There is a lot of vibrancy in it and I have the feeling that I am in the right place at the right time. Sextoys are becoming more and more common, you can now find sex toys at Edeka, Mediamarkt and DM. And I can well imagine that at some point Aldi and Lidl will offer toys as well.
VAN: Thank you for the interview.
Further information about Svakom can be found here.