The Power of Protection

Safe sex sells. 

Whether it be for birth control or to prevent disease, condom use is on the rise. According to industry estimates, condom sales are expected to reach $1.5 billion by 2020. Much of the growth can be attributed to continued education of young people.  

“Sexual education is important, and younger people should be educated appropriately,” says Yu Tadano, sales manager at Okamoto U.S.A., based in Sandusky, Ohio. “The World Health Organization announced that using condoms is an effective way to prevent the ZIKA virus. This can be a trigger to the younger generation, and we can expect younger generation to use more condoms.” 

Condom companies are helping to further increase demand by creating products that are more appealing to consumers; Okamoto U.S.A produces 004, one of the thinnest-fitting condoms on the market, say company officials.  

“Express Thin products are increasing in demand and creating a new segment of the market,” Tadano says. “According to market research data, thin condoms are ranked at the top of sales chart because they provide more sensitivity. The reason is very simple why the market desires thin condoms.” 

Adam Glickman, a managing member of Graphic Armor, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based contract producer specializing in custom printed condoms and founder of the Condomania shop that served New York’s Bleecker Street from 1991 to 2007, says the condom category has seen tremendous innovation since the days when they were just “straight-walled, tube-looking devices.” 

“A few years ago, the industry started to innovate with looser-fitting condoms that flared out and were more comfortable to wear,” he says. “The reason these have been successful is because not only are these condoms reported to be more comfortable by a lot of men, but there are also reports that they allow men to experience a lot more pleasure because a tighter-fitting condoms tends to deaden out nerve endings.” 

Glickman adds that retailers offering six to eight condom sizes, instead of the standard two or three, could also be on the horizon. These additional items can provide retailers the opportunity to offer consumers products that promise enhanced comfort and safety. Custom-fit condoms have also recently gained traction in several European countries and demand has increased in the U.S., say industry observers. 

Capturing consumers on personal level is another way manufacturers are hoping to increase condom sales. Graphic Armor offers its Celebrate condom, intended to do just that, by featuring a printed rainbow design from top to bottom. The condoms are set to hit retail shelves in 2017. 

The company also created a condom that solves a common problem—upside-down-application. Graphic Armor’s O-ring condom, also expected to be available in 2017, is equipped with a luminescent green ring that indicates the direction in which to apply the product, which, according to Glickman, is incorrectly applied 30 percent of the time. When the ring is facing toward the body, the condom is ready to be applied. 

“It is a magnificently elegant and simple solution to probably one of the greatest condom errors that people experience worldwide,” he says. “The error doesn’t stem from user failure, it stems from an inherent design failure in the way condoms are made.”

Retailers can benefit by paying attention to innovations and by educating themselves so that they, in turn, can better educate their customers. Glickman says that for many retailers, the condom and sexual wellness section is something that is often thrown together and forgotten about, but paying closer attention to the market could help retailers make better use of this area. 

“The more you know about it the better job you can do educating your customers and selling it,” Glickman says. “Especially as innovations come down the pike, those innovations need to be passed along to consumers in the retail environment.”

Male condoms used to be the only option on the market, but recently, female condoms have gained popularity. Women have been experimenting with female condoms, creating a demand for these products and bringing more attention to female contraceptives in general. Jim Wisner, president of Libertyville, Ill.-based Wisner Marketing Group, says OTC contraceptives, such as Plan B One-Step, have also made a larger contribution to sexual wellness revenue as they have become more easily available to the public in recent years. 

In-store location can play a huge role in how often the family planning section is utilized by consumers. Wisner says items like condoms often do better near female-oriented sections such as feminine hygiene products. 

“Placing sexual wellness items by a female-oriented section tends to work better than having them off in never-never land,” Wisner says. “There were some thoughts that these items should also be located more in-aisle, as opposed to toward the end of the aisles because some people want to be more discreet when making the purchase.”

Wisner says that while the consumer may be more comfortable with these products being located in the center of the aisle, retailers should consider if they would be better off located at the end of the aisle—in plain sight. 

“You have two conflicting views,” he says. “From a consumer’s standpoint the items are better in-aisle but from a retailer’s standpoint, because it is a higher-risk theft item, they are better end-of-aisle where there’s visual contact with the section from different points in the store.” 

Glickman says the most important thing for retailers to do when it comes to sexual wellness products is eliminate apprehension toward the section. 

“Retailers need to take a big step forward and let go of fear and anxiety around condoms,” he says. “I think most drug stores and supermarkets put them up on the wall and just want to forget about them until they’re sold and hope that they’re not stolen. My advice would be, get to know the product.”