Sunday, January 13, 2013

Toys come to India


Sex toys in India! Story of a bold and budding industry




'This trend as inevitable. All this you observe now have been merely waiting to burst out of the closet and come into the open. The main trigger is time and that time has come.'
'This trend as inevitable. All this you observe now have been merely waiting to burst out of the closet and come into the open. The main trigger is time and that time has come.'

A former Microsoft executive discovers a new passion and launches an online shop that sells adult products for Indians.

A Delhi-based photographer, Manasa Madishetty, 28, remembers paying a visit to Palika Bazaar, the crowded underground market in the heart of the national capital, along with a reporter a few years ago to survey sex toys for a magazine story. "Disgusting," she describes the response of the shopkeepers.

"It was a highly embarrassing experience even for me," says Sunil, a techie who didn't wish to disclose this surname — he had gone to the same market a few months ago to check out an "arousal cream" his wife had demanded to celebrate their wedding anniversary. "The whole atmosphere was hostile. I got the cream, but wasn't sure of the quality and ended up not using it at all," he adds.

Some others ET Magazine spoke to said "it is always a depressing hunt". A Mumbai-based 25-year-old entrepreneur says he organised a BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism) party at home — inspired by EL James's bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey — with products bought while on a tour of London. "Forget dildos and vibrators, even buying a few sensual creams can get embarrassing," he says, requesting anonymity. BDSM is an umbrella term for a consenting adult relationship that involves domination and submission.

A 42-year-old Mumbai-based techie says she's ready to go through the embarrassment of being chuckled at by peddlers, like those "crazy" ones she met some time ago in Mumbai's Manish Market, if only she is sure of the quality of the product. She wants to buy lipsticks that tingle and body oils. "Almost everyone I know has either bought it overseas or wants to use it," she says, asking not to be named.

Opportunity Strikes

Samir Saraiya, who quit as lead, business development, Microsoft Singapore, last year to pursue personal interests, saw a business opportunity in the statement that "everyone wants to use it" — most of his friends also said the same thing. A brief enquiry in the local markets of Mumbai and a survey of the Indian adult products market convinced him to take the plunge: to launch an online shop to sell products that don't invite punishment for obscenity.

He got in touch with global brands such as American lingerie brand Shirley of Hollywood and other companies that sell sex products like Pjur (Germany), Wet (US), Shunga (Canada), Elegant Moments (US), Male Basics (US), Premium Bodywear (Germany) and so on to negotiate an exclusive agreement to sell their products in India through his website, thatspersonal.com (reported in ET on January 12). By then, Saraiya, who is also the CEO of Digital E-Life which runs the site, had in place a team of co-founders and investors — all senior corporate executives impressed with the idea (see A Bold Initiative).

Saraiya's research pegs the adult products industry in the country to be in the range of Rs 1,200-1,500 crore. He expects the industry to grow to Rs 2,450 crore in 2016 and Rs 8,700 crore in 2020, spurred by a rise in the number of people who want to spice up their sex lives. As reported by ET, other co-founders and investors in the new venture are Neville Taraporewalla, senior director, emerging markets, Microsoft India; Jaspreet Bindra, formerly regional director, retail, entertainment and devices, Microsoft India; Vikram Varma, head of internet solutions firm Digital Driftwood; Abhay Bhalerao of Amrut Software Ltd; and internet lawyer Lekhesh Dholakia.

Last-Mile Connect

Taraporewalla, who was earlier director & country general manager at Yahoo! India and Saraiya's one-time mentor, says he is impressed by the team — it includes people with domain expertise in online marketing and an internet lawyer who could factor in the legal hurdles (see Legal Issues) while choosing products for sale.

After sealing pacts with well-known international brands to exclusively sell their brands in the local market for three years, Saraiya wants to offer a USP that online shops of sex toys overseas— like imbesharam, which has been endorsed by Canadian porn star Sunny Leone who has made a foray into Bollywood — might not be able to match.



'This trend as inevitable. All this you observe now have been merely waiting to burst out of the closet and come into the open. The main trigger is time and that time has come.'

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