Over the past 40 years, Orion Wholesale has established itself in Europe and beyond as a brand that’s synonymous with eroticism. Offering an expansive selection of pleasure products, which includes the distributor’s own exclusive lines and those from its top manufacturer partners, Orion is marking its four decades of business with a look back at its humble beginnings.
Orion began as a small mail-order company in 1981, and today the company operates globally with three sales channels: its B2C ecommerce business, retail stores and its wholesale business.
We learn from the questions we are asked so that we can constantly improve our products — for more satisfaction in sexuality, and therefore a happier life!
Maike Rotermund, Orion Wholesale managing director, shared more of the family business’ history and the values of the company that her father played a vital role in establishing.
“Orion has experienced a lot over the 40 years, in one of the most interesting industries in the world,” she said. “However, the start was not an easy one. In 1981, Beate Uhse decided to divide her company between the stepbrothers. Beate kept the shops with her youngest son Ulrich, while her stepson Dirk Rotermund and her eldest son Klaus Uhse took over the mail-order business and the publishing company.”
According to Maike Rotermund, a few years later, Dirk Rotermund and Klaus Uhse decided to move out of the building they had previously shared and change their operation’s name to Orion. While the company was establishing itself independently, Klaus Uhse died in his early 40s following a short, serious illness.
“It was precisely this start that shaped Orion and constantly forced us to find new ways, build networks and exchange knowledge,” Rotermund said. “This is how a new department was created shortly after the move: the wholesale business. A small team took care of supplying Orion's foreign branches in Austria and Switzerland — which were founded in the same year. At that time, nobody could have guessed that this small department would take on a market-leading role in Europe one day and have customers in over 50 countries worldwide.”
Sometimes timing is everything. In 1986, Dirk Rotermund got in contact with Werner Susemichel, who was already running several erotic stores, which were known as FCV-Erotik- Shops. During Susemichel's visit to Flensburg, where Orion is headquartered, he and Rotermund decided to combine their knowledge and know-how from the stores and the mail-order business. They then decided to rename the FCV-Erotik-Shops “Orion."
“Today, the Orion stores are the market leader in Germany,” Rotermund said. “There are 145 stores in Germany and approximately 20 stores in Austria, Denmark and Norway.”
In the mid 1990s, the first, very rudimentary Orion online shop was launched. The company’s first tech specialists had to figure out how to use the new technology.
“We believed in this new distribution channel even though some people said that only 50% of the orders, at most, would ever come from the internet,” Rotermund said. “Around the same time, the wholesale business invested in their own packaging, then in their own products and finally, in joint product developments with inventors.”
The product range and the company grew steadily over the years, which meant that the headquarters in Flensburg had to be expanded. An office block and a high-rack warehouse were built. Today, Orion’s warehouse stores over 15,000 different items in high quantities in its 85,000 carton storage spaces, which allows it to supply Orion’s B2C e-commerce and Orion Wholesale customers, as well as the 165 Orion stores.
“Up to 80,000 items leave our warehouse in Flensburg daily,” Rotermund said.
“Everything has revolved around love for 40 years at Orion — and love is colorful and diverse just like life,” Rotermund added. “Not only is this reflected in our products, but it’s also reflected in our team spirit as well. We have fun doing what we do because we get to devote ourselves daily to the most beautiful pastime in the world, which is the main thing for us.”
Inspired by a passion to promote sexual wellness, Rotermund said, the company is constantly thinking creatively.
“It’s not unusual for great innovations to be thought of during a normal conversation over a cup of coffee or a flash of inspiration at a hotel bar on a business trip,” she said. “We also use external ideas to become even more innovative. For example, we work together with universities and inventors and we have already brought things onto the market with their help.”
Along with innovating design, Orion is also dedicated to offering its clientele high-quality products, and the company has adopted stringent standards in order to maintain that quality.
“We know that many of our products are used in the most intimate areas of the body,” Rotermund said. “That's why we adhere to the Children's Toy Safety Directive and the strict German quality standards, especially when it comes to the production of sex toys. We also give all the necessary information and certificates for the sale of the products to the Orion Wholesale customers.
“The topic of responsibility and sustainability plays an increasingly important role for us as a regionally anchored family business,” Rotermund added. “We have been supporting numerous social projects over the years.”
According to Rotermund, Orion is also working on ecological sustainability.
“The idea of sustainability will continue to accompany us in the future and we are striving for continual improvement in order to make the working stages, products and packaging even more environmentally friendly,” she said.
Beyond delivering quality products with sustainability in mind, over the past 40 years, Orion has also dedicated itself to providing helpful customer service.
“Not only does a customer get innovative, quality-tested products at Orion, but also a colorful mixture of service and expertise, Rotermund said. “Sexuality is an important part of every person's life. It’s important for people to know themselves and their body — that is why sex education is important to us. The Orion team’s mission is to be present on various channels and pass on its knowledge. We work with doctors, scientists and sexologists, so that we can keep improving as sexperts. We learn from the questions we are asked so that we can constantly improve our products — for more satisfaction in sexuality, and therefore a happier life!”
