Buzz kill: how are sex toy and lingerie shops faring this Valentine’s Day?

But what about the retailers that specialise in products that are a bit more risqué? According to data compiled exclusively for Retail Week by Similarweb, retailers that sell sex toys and erotic lingerie have seen a slowdown in web traffic since their boom during pandemic lockdowns, and rampant inflation has only made the market tougher. 

So, how is the most romantic day of the year shaping up for the specialists?

Sex toy shopping: has it reached its climax?

Exclusive data shared with Retail Week by Similarweb highlighted Lovehoney, Ann Summers, Bondara, Playful Promises and Agent Provocateur as the top five retailers selling sex toys and lingerie in the market today.

With an eye to website traffic over the past five years, the analysis shows the majority of these retailers reached their peak during the pandemic in 2020/21 when stores were forced to close and online shopping boomed. The sale of sex toys rocketed during the pandemic as ‘bubbles’ were enforced when it came to visiting people outside of your household and everyone had more time alone at home than ever before. 

The analysis also highlights that since the pandemic, there has generally been a downward trend when it comes to traffic to these websites. Playful Promises saw an increase in total visits to its website in 2022 at 1.4 million visits but this dropped in 2023 and fell back to its 2021 total of 1.1 million visits.

Ann Summers was the exception, with visits decreasing steadily between 2020 and 2022, but increasing again last year from 18 million in 2022 to a total of 18.7 million visits. Despite this steady year-on-year increase, visits are still down overall on a pre-pandemic comparison. 

Top-five retailers selling sex toys and lingerie – website visits per year, 2019-2023

Although we’re not finished with February yet, it doesn’t look like this Valentine’s Day will deliver a staggering uplift for these retailers’ traffic. Data from Similarweb tracking February 2024 shows that most are on course to deliver similar traffic levels, or just above what was recorded last year. 

Top-five retailers selling sex toys and lingerie – website visits in February, 2019-2024

Saucy side hustles

The likes of Lovehoney and Ann Summers not only have to battle fellow sex toy specialists to win over consumers in this department, but they are also facing increased competition from some unexpected rivals: Asos, Amazon and Ocado to name a few. 

The latest data from Ocado shows that in the two weeks leading up to February 14, 2024, sales of dildos have almost doubled and sales of sex toys more generally have soared 565% in the past 12 months.

With the data also showing that ready meals were one of the most common items to sit alongside sex toys in shopping baskets, it seems shoppers are popping sexual wellness products in with their weekly shop for both ease and discretion.

Savvy Marketing founder and chief executive Catherine Shuttleworth says that as the accessibility of these products has grown across non-specialist retailers, purchasing sex toys has never been easier.

“People will use the online retailers that they are more comfortable using,” she says. “So if you’ve already got a Boots account, and are collecting Boots points, or if you’ve already got an account with free next-day delivery like Asos, you’ll go there to order it. 

“As the commoditisation of these products has grown, the accessibility has grown with them, and shoppers will go to retailers they already have a relationship with and who they probably trust as well 

“This presents a challenge for a lot of specialist retailers and not just in this particular market. There are a lot of specialist retailers who are seeing the generalists taking their share.  

“It’s blindingly obvious but as an online retailer you’ve got no shelves and you can stock as much stuff as you want. Whereas a specialist has got to communicate effectively with me as to why they are better at selling their products. I don’t think that’s very easy to do if you’re a sex toy or lingerie business; it’s difficult to have that conversation directly through broader media.”

Whether it is health and beauty giants, or the even more unexpected fashion and grocery players jumping on the bandwagon, here are just some of the retailers also offering a range of sex toys and related products.

Non-specialist retailers joining the market

The price of love

Nothing puts a dampener on romance like a huge bill and it looks like sex toys, lingerie and other popular Valentine’s Day buys have not been immune to the price hikes seen across many other sectors during the cost-of-living crisis. 

Analysis of prices by Retail Week found costs across over 20 websites had crept up, in some cases by more than 40% than they were a couple of years ago. 

Price increases on sex toy and lingerie products, 2022-2024

And it’s not just specialist items, sexual wellness essentials such as condoms and Viagra have also seen hikes. 

“People want to celebrate Valentine’s Day but they’re not going to break the bank to do so,” says Shuttleworth. 

“Sex is free, so during a cost-of-living crisis that is something you would hope remains buoyant. But for most people, the Lovehoneys and the Ann Summers of this world are discretionary spending, so that’s the challenge they face.”

 ^{*Savvy Shopper Panel, January 2024. A representative sample of 1,004 UK shoppers.}