Following last month’s news that Lovehoney had merged with WOW Tech Group, EQOM Group has announced it has acquired two European retail businesses: the Norwegian Kondomeriet and the Dutch Christine Le Duc.
EQOM was created in 2020 when EDC Retail and its subsidiaries, including EDC Wholesale, EasyToys, and Beate Uhse, merged with wholesaler Eropartner Distribution. In a statement announcing the new initiative, EQOM Group said: “The acquisition of these two major retail brands creates a partnership between Europe’s biggest erotic companies with both a powerful online sales channel and physical stores.”
The statement added that Kondomeriet is the largest supplier of sex toys in Norway, while Christine le Duc is the oldest erotic company in the Netherlands. The new acquisitions have resulted EQOM Group now having more than 300 employees and its €100m 2020 turnover increase to €160m in 2021 – and it has ambitious plans to grow this to €500m over the next four years: “Not only do we want to keep our position as European market leader in 2025, but we also want to become a global player with a total turnover of half a billion euros,” said Eric Idema, group chairman and CEO of EDC Retail. “The new consortium will enable us to continue to respond to the worldwide increasing interest in sexual wellness products such as sex toys.”
“Europe is big enough for all of us,” continued Idema. “Instead of competing, I’d rather work together and exchange knowledge so that we can reinforce each other and take sexual wellness to a higher level. Together we can break the still prevailing taboos once and for all so that soon everyone between the North Cape and Key West will have one of our sex toys in their bedside table.”
All individual brands will continue to operate under their own management. Kondomeriet, for example, will retain its nine physical stores in Norway in addition to its online store. CEO Merethe Sarris, with Kondomeriet for the past 30 years, will also remain in her position now that the company is part of the EQOM Group: “We will continue our operations in Norway as before, with the desire to inspire the Norwegian people to a better and more playful sex life with good and pleasurable toys,” she said. “Together with EQOM, we will develop new products and services within our industry that will benefit our customers. Being able to work so closely with a player that is already so important in the industry, allows Kondomeriet and the EQOM Group to grow together.”
Similarly, all five Christine le Duc stores will continue to trade, and the Dutch company will keep combining its online presence with physical experiences in its stores and at events. CEO Audrey van Ham has 15 years of industry experience and expects that the merger with the EQOM Group will help her company to further flourish and expand: “The proven entrepreneurship and financial strength of the EQOM Group will enable us to keep growing,” she said. “The female perspective is also of added value. The sexual wellness market is growing rapidly, and so is the share of female customers. Therefore, the sexual wellness industry must start to think along with and from the perspective of the woman. In addition, as the oldest erotic brand in the Netherlands, we take a lot of knowledge with us, especially in the field of lingerie.”
