HONG KONG, China—Lovense, a worldwide leader in sex tech products, and Besharam, India’s top adult store chain, have come to an agreement to bring the entire range of Lovense Toys—The Lush, Lush 2, Nora, Max, Hush, Ambi, Edge, Domi and Osci—to India, showcased on IMbesharam.com.
According to the Economic Times of India, the India sex toy market was an unexplored and unexploited was worth a full $360 million in 2015, and is expected to double by 2020. India has over 400 million Internet users and approximately 65% of the population is under 35 years of age. In the last few years, talking about sex and using a sex toy has become more and more acceptable, and began being shown in mainstream movies like Lust Stories and Veerey DI Wedding, which led to a 300% increase in sales for vibrators, most notably by women customers on the IMbesharam website.
The laws in India have been vague and not clearly defined, but according to experts, the sale and distribution of toys is not restricted as long as they don not resemble male or female genitalia or obscene-looking. Imports to India require complying with several local rules and regulations, which is why only brands and companies that are well ingrained and have the information, resources and the legal support are able to thrive in the Indian market as a adult retailer or distributor.
Besharam which was founded in 2011 and went live in India in 2013 has been a pioneer and has been instrumental in opening up the adult products category in India. With partnerships and alliances with several major brands like Fleshlight, Rocks Off, Bijoux Indiscrets, Screaming O, Hustler, Tenga, Rene Rofe, Baci, and many more, it has established itself as the market leader for adult and sexual wellness products in India.
Lovense's third most popular market is India, with several bloggers and social media influencers who have talked about the popularity of its products. The rising Indian middle class with enhanced spending power and brand affinity is a good match for the high quality and advanced tech-laden Lovense products. Their choices in fashion, lifestyle and travel make it a very desirable market for the Lovense brand and its attractive range of sex tech toys for men, women and couples who like to indulge in long distance romance and foreplay.
Joris Guisado, the COO at Lovense, said, "I believe it is just a matter of time before sex toys get normalized in India, though. With the second largest population on the planet and a GDP growth rate of over 7%, India will become an extremely profitable market as soon as the laws and general mindset really opens up to sex toys."
He added, "Everything we do, we do for our customers and we’ve been getting a lot of request in the past from Indian customers that we couldn’t serve. More than the company growth, it is really important to be able to provide pleasure to people anywhere in the world and we are really happy to now be able to offer our products to the Indian people through our partnership with IMBesharam. I have known Besharam since I joined Lovense in 2016. The first time I met Raj personally was in January, 2019 in Los Angeles and it was really easy to reach an agreement and start working together. Even if the market and conditions to create an adult-related business in India are really tough, the team behind Besharam have worked extremely hard to position themselves as the current and I believe future leader of pleasure products retailer. It’s an honor to have them offering Lovense line to the India audience."
Raj Armani, COO at IMbesharam said, "In 2016, we started getting plenty of inquiries about Lovense wireless vibrators, so when I met the Lovense team at Erofame in Berlin, it was love at first sight. Their attention to details, their focus on customer satisfaction and their willingness to go all in to produce the best wireless bluetooth vibrator was an instant hit with our team and our vision. We immediately started to showcase the range of smartphone app-controlled Lush Vibrator and the Nora which was the original Bluetooth Rabbit Vibrator. They both were instant hits.
"For the next few years, we worked with the Lovense team to arrive at a positioning and pricing that will cater to the Indian climate," he added. "Just recently, we were able to find the formula and the strategy, so over an industry veterans dinner meeting, we struck the chord and decided to join hands and launch Lovense in India. We have started with showcasing the Top 4 sellers and plan to add more as we ramp up inventory in India. Very soon we will be able to engage influencers and marketing partners to reach out to the young and enterprising Indians and present to them a world class product, in a world class webstore at Indian prices. I am looking at a win-win for all of us."
The best-sellering vibrators on IMbesharam.com are Satisfyer, Womanizer, Fifty Shades of Grey, B-Swish, Fun Factory, Rocks Off, Screaming O and Lelo brands. Adding Lovense to this elite mix will offer customers in India a chance to grab international brands at extremely affordable prices. The entire range of Lovense is now in stock in India and delivered to most tier 2 and tier 3 cities in 4-6 days, and in metros, 2-3 days. They start currently at Rs199.99 and are available to purchase via COD and prepaid options. Those interested may log on to IMbesharam.com to explore the collection.
