Now in its 26th year, IVD still remains king of the hill when it comes to distributing adult products. Helmed by its original owner, Frank Kay, the Hightstown, N.J., company was honored with an AVN Award for Best Adult Distributor—the first time the award has been given out.
For Kay, whose relationship with AVN practically began when he founded his company (both Kay and AVN founder Paul Fishbein hail from Philadelphia), the honor is something he holds in high regard.
“For me, winning this award, to be the first, was very important,” Kay told AVN. “Being around now 26 years, we’ve done so much for the industry, so much for our vendors and our customers, that we’ve put in our dues. We truly do a great job for our vendors and our customers, and throughout 2009 and 2010 and going into the future, we’re trying to do more to create strategic alliances with our vendors, which would catapult our sales and help our vendors continue to grow in a tough video market.
“In the novelty market, we’re growing that segment as well. But it’s really nice AVN decided to create this award. We think it’s a worthy award and hopefully we can continue to be the best and win this award over and over again.”
Running such a large-scale operation with satellite offices and distribution centers in Florida and California, IVD has numerous distribution and production arms that need to work in sync with each other and fulfill the company’s mission of timely and efficient service.
According to Kay, a little dash of East Coast work ethnic creates a winning formula.
“We started this company from the ground up,” he said. “We had great staffing, great employees and a tremendous work ethic that’s served us well. We work day and night; we’re 24/7 people, and we do our best to service our vendors and customer with class and efficiency. We don’t ever want to rest on our laurels so we’re always staying on top of the latest trends and looking for ways to grow our business.”
Perhaps little known in the adult community, Kay also has decided to give back to the community in a big way. The distribution titan formed the Koretsky Family Foundation in 2008 and donated funds primarily to charitable organizations primarily associated with cancer research.
Among the organizations that have benefitted from Kay’s largesse include the Eileen Stein Jacoby Fund at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia and the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine.
IVD has remained strong at a time when sales of physical media have sharply dropped, but Kay is quick to caution those gloom-and-doom prognosticators who are quick to declare the death of DVD.
“I think they’re crazy!” he said. “We’re finding that DVD sales are pretty strong. [However,] I don’t see them going up and we’re doing everything we can to not have them drop. People are still buying DVDs and I think that when retailers shrink their DVD sections down, they’re making a big mistake; there’s still profit to be made in that sector. The stores shouldn’t be willing to give that profit up so readily.”
The answer, Kay believes, is to “maybe not stocking so much, but reordering more often.” He goes on to say that it’s about the right product mix—having the toys, DVDs, lingerie and accessories complement each other is one key to stabilizing sales and positioning a store for future growth.
From humble beginnings, Kay has built IVD into a powerhouse using core principles that’s served him and his company well. With the Best Adult Distributor as a category in the AVN Awards, you can expect to hear Kay’s and IVD’s name more often. Kay wouldn’t have it any other way.
This article originally ran in the March 2011 print edition of AVN.
For more about the company, read AVN's article about IVD on the anniversary of its 25th year in business.
