The announcement is significant because this is the first year that a major sex toy or condom manufacturer has rolled out erotic products on a mass scale at leading U.K. retailers.
SSL, which owns the Durex brand, promised further growth as it launched a new range of sex aids for men that will be available in Tesco and Boots. Tesco is a U.K.-based international supermarket chain that is the largest British retailer, both by global sales and by domestic share. Boots is a large department store retailer in the U.K.
“Products like these are gradually getting market acceptance, as we always thought they would,” SSL CEO Gary Watts said. “It was never going to be a matter of foisting them on the public, but rather having them launched and letting them find their place.”
One of Tesco’s biggest sellers is Durex’s vibrating rings, which last 20 minutes and have a small vibrating pad to enhance the pleasure of women during sex. Tesco marketed the $3.50 rings not as sex toys but as part of its family-planning line of products.
SSL also reported that Durex’s global market share had risen 30 percent after strong growth in the U.S. and Eastern Europe because of its Pleasuremax condom, which is ribbed, and Tingle, which is coated with a lubricant that gives a tingling sensation.
SSL, which owns the Scholl footcare brands, reported profits of $29.5 million, an increase from $17.7 million in the last six months.
