HILLSBOROUGH, N.C.—Adam & Eve on Tuesday announced its international expansion with the formal acquisition of the Excite Group PTY of Melbourne, Australia.
The Excite Group boasts 16 years in business, with a focus on Australia and New Zealand, and a number of e-commerce sites similar to Adam & Eve, including Wild Secrets, Fantasy Lingerie, Linspree, Fantasy Footwear, Costume Warehouse and FGMO.
Adam & Eve New Business Manager Bob Christian will be acting as Managing Director in this transition.
“Adam & Eve has been looking for the best way to become truly international as a company, in order to position the company for significant growth," Christian said. "Wild Secrets and the Excite Group are Australia’s leader in e-commerce lingerie and adult oriented products… They are well established, successful, growing, and enjoy a well-respected reputation for customer service much like Adam & Eve. The companies are extremely similar in many regards and working together seemed like a perfect match. Both companies and their people are very excited about the prospects and opportunities for the future.”
Phil Harvey, founder of Adam & Eve, is excited about this new venture.
“With the addition of a major erotic products company on the other side of the world, Adam & Eve has become truly international," Harvey said. "We soon expect to be selling a growing number of toys and accoutrements for better sex on all continents--except perhaps Antarctica!”
Excite founder and former president, Gerrard Giummarra, is well known and respected within the industry and will be staying on for several months to assist Adam & Eve in the transition.
“Bringing together the largest online sex toy retailers in the USA and in Australia was an opportunity that simply could not be passed up,” Giummarra said. “And it all happened on Valentine’s Day—what a romantic way to start a perfect match.”
Giummarra entered into discussion with Adam & Eve almost two years ago for Adam & Eve to acquire the Excite Group, including the flagship brand WildSecrets.com.au, the largest online sex toy retailer in Australia. According to Adam & Eve, the deal with Wild Secrets makes them combined the largest online sex toy retailer in the world.
When Giummarra started this company almost 20 years ago, his goal was to create the best online sex toy retail store in Australia by providing a friendly and visually appealing online store, a one-stop shop of sex toys at reasonable prices and exceptional customer service.
Being the founder of a number of successful online ventures, including realestate.com.au and Bikeexchange.com.au, which are two of the biggest brands in Australia in their space, Giummarra admits he started Wild Secrets with no idea about sex toys and or the adult industry. What he did know was there was a high demand for sex toys online and not many companies were doing it well. Giummarra took all his experiences in the corporate and commercial sector and brought it to the sex toy industry, and, in doing so, opened the door for customers who wanted to buy sex toys but did not want to go into an adult store. His aim was always to provide excellent customer service not only in delivering a product to the customer but also delivering a quality product at a reasonable price and getting it to customers as quickly as possible.
Over the two years of discussions with Adam & Eve over acquisition of Wild Secrets and the Excite Group, it become apparent that all parties shared the same philosophies and business acumen which spelled out that this was the right match. When asked why he agreed to this acquisition by Adam & Eve, Giummarra’s answer is simply: "It’s the right thing to do for Wild Secrets and the Excite Group."
For more information of Adam & Eve or Excite, please contact Adam & Eve Director of Public Relations Katy Zvolerin at [email protected] or 919.644.8100 x 3121.
