Hot Flowers, an established Brazilian manufacturer has opened a distribution center in Orlando, Fla., operated by HSAINT, a group of entrepreneurs. In late May, HSAINT’s VP of sales and marketing Alexandre Enumo introduced the Hot Flowers brand to more than 30 buyers that attended the XBIZ Retreat in Miami. In Brazil, Hot Flowers is a brand that has been on the market for 14 years. The company manufactures its product in a 70,000 square-foot facility operated by 200 employees. With more than 700 items in its product line, Hot Flowers is looking to make a name for itself in the U.S.
In this exclusive Q&A, Enumo offers more background about the company and details what makes it unique.
The brand Hot Flowers is nationally known for its wide range of products, superior quality and differentiated service. Our mission is to make the consumers happy, and help them have an active and enjoyable sex life.
XBIZ: When was Hot Flowers first established?
Alexandre Enumo: Hot Flowers was established in 2003 in the city of Indaiatuba, just 60 miles away from São Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city. In the beginning, it was just a cosmetic factory that made products to be sold in adult hotel rooms near the factory.
Over time, the company was growing, expanding its physical space, and increasing the number of employees, as well as the product portfolio. Today our manufacturing space is 70,000 square feet, and we have more than 200 employees. Our product line includes more than 700 different products, produced almost entirely in Hot Flowers manufacturing plant.
XBIZ: Who are the company founders, and are they still involved with the company?
Enumo: Hot Flowers is a family-owned company; the founders were Edvaldo Bertipaglia and his family. In the beginning, the Bertipaglia family did everything in the factory, from production to delivery. At that time, the main customers were adult hotel rooms near the factory.
Over time, the number of customers has increased and new employees have been hired, however some of the company’s early employees continue to work in the factory today.
Edvaldo Bertipaglia remains in business with his son Lucas and his wife Eliana Bertipaglia, but now with more than 200 employees, a big difference from the beginning.
XBIZ: Discuss Hot Flowers’ expansive range of products. How does it benefit retailers?
Enumo: Currently, Hot Flowers has more than 700 products in its portfolio, almost entirely produced within our factory. The lines are: cosmetics, sexy wear, bondage and fetish, dildos and strap-ons, vibrators and anal toys.
The fact is having a wide product line is very good for retailers because they can find almost anything they want from just one single supplier. It is as if Hot Flowers was a large distributor with a huge variety of products, but with the advantage of being itself the manufacturer.
The logistics for the shopkeeper is very favorable too, following the same concept of a distributor, diversity of products, prompt delivery and quality assurance.
XBIZ: What makes Hot Flowers different from other manufacturers?
Enumo: This is an excellent question and at the same time, interesting to analyze, after 14 years in the market — our strategy has proven correct and the results to back it up.
The concept from the beginning of the company has always been to offer to the customer quality products with affordable cost. The constant search for innovation in the market has become one of the Hot Flowers’ greatest focus.
Hot Flowers launches new products all of the time, leaving our loyal followers always in wait for what Hot Flowers will present next in the market.
Today, the company sells more than 1 million products per month, and is growing year after year.
Another important detail that makes all the difference is that Hot Flowers produces almost all of our products in-house, from the molds for injected products such as dildos and vibrators to the molds for plastic packaging.
XBIZ: Discuss the company’s growth through the years . How has the brand evolved and expanded?
Enumo: The company started small, serving only adult hotel rooms and the Hot Flowers brand first became known only by patrons of those places. Over time, those consumers began to look for our products in sex shops, which meant that retailers began to seek Hot Flowers products from their distributors, which sought them from the factory. It was a domino effect that has made the company become known over the years and has helped it become what is today — the Latin American leader in the production of pleasure products.
The brand Hot Flowers is nationally known for its wide range of products, superior quality and differentiated service. Our mission is to make the consumers happy, and help them have an active and enjoyable sex life. Some products have especially helped to establish the brand — among them are the Hot Balls and Imperiass and its variations (Hot, Ice, Hot & Ice, Shock and Deep Easy). These products have been developed and refined over time by Hot Flowers.
The great advantage of these products is that we deal with couples’ fantasies, giving them the opportunity to make the most enjoyable and pleasant intimate moments.
XBIZ: What inspired the company’s U.S. launch?
Enumo: This is another very interesting question to answer because we have always had the desire to expand our business abroad.
Currently, Hot Flowers already has business with some countries in Europe and South America, but the U.S. was perhaps the most important decision that we have made in relation to the expansion of the brand.
The desire to start operations in the American market was getting stronger year after year with the requests of Brazilian tourists who travel to the U.S. each year. More than 2 million Brazilian tourists travel to the U.S. to the cities of Orlando, Miami, New York and Las Vegas.
We decided in late 2015 to partner with some local entrepreneurs to invest in this project and thus formed our American arm, HSAINT Hot Flowers USA, located in Orlando, where there is a greater flow of Brazilian tourists in the U.S.
The entrepreneurs involved with HSAINT Hot Flowers USA are Maru Barros, Jose Genari Alvaro Bonachella and myself.
Orlando was chosen not only because it is the favorite destination of Brazilian tourist, but also because of logistics — there are daily direct flights from Campinas Viracopos Airport to Orlando. The Viracopos Campinas airport is only 15 minutes from the Hot Flowers factory in Brazil, which ensures rapid transit of the products for HSAINT’s warehouse in Orlando.
XBIZ: What response has the brand received in the U.S. market?
Enumo: It is too early to take a definite position about our acceptance in the U.S. market; the company just started operations in the country by participating in the latest edition of the XBIZ Retreat in Miami. During the event, we conducted 35 private meetings with key buyers from throughout the country and in general terms, the acceptance was very positive.
About the products, we decided to launch a small line, only 18 products at this time, to establish the brand and provide distributors and retailers the opportunity to get to know our products and us.
Of course, Hot Balls Hot, Ice, Hot & Ice and Shock and also Imperiass Hot, Ice, Hot & Ice and Easy Deep are among the products of this first collection dedicated to the American market, all are already in our warehouse in Orlando ready to be delivered to distributors or stores.
XBIZ: What are your future goals/expectations for Hot Flowers?
Enumo: We are starting in the U.S. just as we did when we first started in Brazil — small.
The American market, one of the largest — if not the largest — pleasure products consumers in the world, is thirsty for new products and in this sense, Hot Flowers has an excellent opportunity for retailers and distributors that want to offer an entirely new lineup of products and to serve the Brazilian tourists, which add up to more than 2 million every year.
We want to grow organically in the market and partnerships are very important — such as the partnership we’ve established with XBIZ that is already a success.
HSAINT Hot Flowers USA offers a direct sales channel through HSAINTDistributor.com for small shopkeepers or brick-and-mortar adult stores, which can buy products directly from the HSAINT while distributors deals are not established, which we expect to happen in a short time.
We are sure that once the products reach the stores and consumers know their features, they will become loyal to the brand like they are in Brazil.
For the future, we will follow the same strategy as in Brazil, with constant launches of new products including cosmetics for seniors, sexy-wear, bondage, fetish and more.
