Money

Throbbing sex toy industry still faces 'vulgar' attitudes

By Wang Chao (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-05-05 08:14

Pedestrians walk past Li Fang's shop selling sex products. [Wang Jing / China Daily]

When Li Fang and her business partners first named their online sex shop "X", they were well aware that business was not going to come easily.

To take an indirect approach, they also gave their shop the Chinese name Juse, which is the suggestive color of orange. The year was 1997, when adult products were still unfamiliar to most Chinese, even in the more socially developed city of Beijing.

At that time, home Internet access was rare in the capital and most people could only get online at an Internet cafe. Thousands of small adult stores hid in the shadowed back streets of Beijing, usually operating during night hours with a simple lightbox advertisement that said "sex products."

The market was surprisingly large, but mostly unregulated and not well utilized.

"We had a strong feeling our business had potential, since living standards were improving and the public seemed to be demanding more pleasure," CEO Li said.

Driven by their fantasy, the group employed another 10 people and established a website called X.com.cn, using a startup capital of 100,000 yuan.

They rented a single-story house in a suburban area in Haidian district and some server space.

"Our budget was tight," Li recalled. "So we rented motorbikes to deliver goods in person and save some money."

Since the word "sex" was still too striking for many Chinese customers, the group named their company as "X Technology Company". Despite the name, it was hard to keep a smile on the faces of new employees.

"We lost many new recruits because of the nature of our company, an issue we still face today," Li said. "Their families would argue with them and ask them why, out of all the possible industries, they chose the sex industry."

Under such intense pressure, a large percentage of employees usually leave within one week of gaining employment at X.

And even the founders of X continue to face embarrassing situations in formal introductions at social gatherings. One senior manager carries two types of business card with him: one with an attractive woman printed on it for open-minded individuals; another with plain text for the conservative element.

Thirteen years later, Li's small group has grown to a staff of more than 150, with an expanded product range of 1,000 goods, up from the original 300. Their books are also glowing, with an annual sales increase of more than 30 percent.

However, despite the jump in profit and staff, one issue remains - advertising.

"We cannot do promotions on TV, newspapers or with most other media forms, since we are related to the taboo subject of sex," Li said.

"Although it is not officially listed in media regulations, there exists an underlying rule that stops us from advertising."

The CEO also noted that government rules have also tightened in the last two years.

"First we had the Olympic Games, then the 'Two Sessions' and most recently, the World Expo. The government has tried hard to eliminate online 'vulgar culture'," Li said.

"I don't think we belong to this concept of 'vulgar culture', but they obviously believe it."

Under the pressure of being labeled as "vulgar," Li and her group keep a low profile. With almost 500 X chain stores around the country - making it the top shop for the industry - Li still only describes her business as doing "okay".

But the truth is, business is booming. Li noted that they no longer only sell to single, lonely men. Young couples are buying together, with top goods being vibrators and breast enlargement tools.

However, as social conventions change to suit, some age-old worries remain.

"Customers still feel embarrassed to walk into our store during the daytime, so we stay open until midnight to catch the later business," Li said.

"We also don't print a logo on our bags, so we can protect our customers' privacy as much as possible."

Li said the group has a policy to protect customers.

For goods bought directly from a shop, all products are first wrapped in an opaque box without branding, then placed into a dark bag.

If bought online, seven layers of packaging are used to ensure nosy neighbors and pesky postmen cannot learn its secrets.