Lovehoney allowed researcher Jon Millward [pictured] unprecedented access to its sales data over a five-month period and, after analysing one million sales, the resulting report sheds a fascinating light on the love lives of the sex toy buying public. Described as the world’s biggest ever study of sex toy sales, which we cannot disagree with, one of the oddest insights revealed by the report is that 9% of male purchasers of lifelike sex dolls bought condoms at the same time. More pertinently, Millward’s findings debunk the myth that most sex toys are bought by young, single women – in fact, sales were split evenly between the sexes, and 75% of female purchasers were in a relationship and an even higher 79% of male purchasers were attached.
Millward’s 53-page report also analysed 45,000 product reviews and 60,000 customer profiles. All the data was anonymised and no identifying data was provided to Millward, who is perhaps best known for a similar study he performed on the porn industry last year which looked into the careers of 10,000 porn stars. That report, called Deep Inside, revealed that the most popular name for a porn actress was Nikki – and she was most likely to be a 5ft 5in, 8st 5lbs, Caucasian woman with brown hair and a 34B bra size.
Neal Slateford, Lovehoney co-owner, said: “Jon’s report is a treasure trove of interesting facts on the sex toy industry. He has a brilliant eye for detail and comes up with the funniest statistics on sex you’ll ever read. We loved Deep Inside which is why we were so keen to work with Jon so that he could paint an equally fascinating portrait of Lovehoney sales. Nothing like this has ever been done before. It’s the biggest report on sex toy sales ever produced.”
Slateford added: “It is great to shatter the myth that toys are most frequently bought by single people. In fact, most sales are to couples looking to enhance their sexual happiness and share the toys together. That sends out a great message about our industry.”
The full report – Down The Rabbit Hole: What One Million Sex Toy Sales Reveal About Our Erotic Tastes, Kinks and Desires – can be seen at Lovehoney.co.uk and at www.JonMillward.com/blog/rabbit and we’ll also be digging into it in the October issue of ETO.
