Sex Toy Sales Skyrocket Thanks to Coronavirus Lockdown
While restaurants, bars, and other businesses are struggling to stay afloat amidst the Coronavirus shutdown, there is one industry that has benefited, and it’s not all that surprising: SEX TOYS! Because peeps aren’t able to meet up for anonymous sex these days (but some still are), folks are finding ways to keep themselves busy when they can’t get busy.
Sales for at least five major sex toy brands have seen significant increases throughout 2020, seemingly in step with instructions to stay inside and avoid other people. A rep for WOW Tech Group, which owns the sex toy brands WeVibe and Womanizer, told VICE that both brands had already exceeded their monthly sales projections by more than 40 percent as of March 25. They also noted that sales for Womanizer, which mostly makes toys designed for masturbation, were especially high.
“It reminds me a little bit of grocery store hoarding, like buying things you might need in the future but maybe only bought rarely in the past,” Sinclair said. “When someone’s coming and buying five accessories, or three or four different sizes of butt plugs, it does seem like people are investing for the long haul.”
As long as everyone who’s panic buying sex toys is washing them properly—with unscented soap and water, before and after each use—using a bevy of vibes and butt plugs to stay entertained throughout lockdown is a fine and good idea. Sinclair also mentioned that one item, in particular, has been the “sleeper number one selling product” for all of March: A pocket UV sterilizer pouch, designed for sex toys, that’s been available through b-Vibe since August 2019. “We had somebody buy four of them,” Sinclair said. “My belief is that people are repurposing them for keys, phones, goggles… They’re sterilizing household objects.”
We can’t recommend upping your arsenal of toys anymore – cause hey, it’s not like it won’t be fun to use them once the lockdown is over, right?