(
The story has been corrected to change the description of the transaction in the third paragraph to indicate that it is a licensed transaction and not a distribution transaction. )
In 2005, when Justin Ross first presented his business plan to kith cargiano, cargiano thought he was joking.
Inspired by a Brazilian girlfriend, Ross, a former portfolio manager at Millennium Partners in New York, wants to start running the sex toy distribution business.
Ross eventually persuaded him to leap with Caggiano, a serial entrepreneur he met through a common friend, who invested $120,000 in personal savings and Rose's parents' loans. Today the 20-
Staff Torrance (Calif. )
Companies that import most of their products from China are profitable.
Ross expects revenue of $15 million this year, mainly through adult novelty retailers and online sales.
Scream O's desire now is to sell through mainstream channels while maintaining its vivid brand.
At the end of 2009, Walgreens signed a licensing agreement to sell a brand of screamingo at 7,000 pharmacies.
Their products are also sold through Amazon, with bright and clear packaging. com, Drugstore.
Com and RiteAid.
And stores in 27 countries.
"We stand on the side.
"We want to sell ourselves as a company that sells fun, and don't become so dignified that customers ignore the product," Ross said . ".
It is difficult to achieve this balance.
Troy has been selling condoms for more than 20 years, and a year ago it first introduced vibrators in its product line.
It's a low
The key approach is that the girlfriend in the TV ad deliberately laughs at his "personal massager" and the packaging design disappears on the grocery conveyor belt.
By contrast, names such as Ross, 38, and cargiano, 44, can hardly be blamed for subtlety.
"When people see our brand, the barriers disappear and we melt their lines," said Caggiano . " He has developed the company's online advertising and offline promotions, mainly centered on sponsoring international sports events in the spring
Break the hot spot and secure the sexual Forum on the university campus.
"We want to find a way to help people feel comfortable with themselves and their sexuality," he said . ".
Despite cultural bias, there are also states that prohibit the sale of sex toys under obscene laws, but the two insist that the mainstream of the United States will buy sex toys.
Hamilton Beach won the patent for the first electric vibrator in 1902, and about 10 years ago it launched an electric iron and vacuum cleaner.
In 2009, a survey was conducted by Indiana University and the Kinsey Institute of gender and gender studies, & Reproduction showed that more than half of women were reported to have used vibrators only or with their partners, nearly half of men aged 18 to 60.
As business research companies do not track the market, accurate revenue figures across the adult industry are elusive.
Joanne cacapero, communications director at the freedom of speech alliance of the adult industrial trading group, said that until five years ago, the industry had estimated its global revenue of $14 billion.
But she said overall revenue has fallen by about 30% since 2008 and DVD sales have fallen by 50%.
Several external studies a decade ago showedS.
Adult income is between $1 billion and $4 billion.
Dave Levin, 43. year-
The Los Angeles old man founded a $13 million sex toy wholesaler.
It is estimated that the US internet company in 1995S.
The sex toy business is between $0. 75 billion and $1 billion a year. His 25-
The employee company provides products and makes direct sales through SexToy. com.
He said that adult film companies are now entering new areas in a "big way", in part because of the loss of revenue from pirated and online free pornographic films.
The first product for Ross and Caggiano is a one-time vibration ring for $5.
Two men began to take part in the adult industry trade show and found distribution channels for adult novelty retailers in their third attempt, when they obtained a copyon-
On 2005, a meeting was held with 27 dealers at the Pasadena novelty fair.
By the end of the show, their order was worth $70,000, but only $10,000 worth of products in the hotel garage.
"We had to spend $18,000 by air from China to complete the first orders," Ross recalls . ".
But once the product enters the retail market, "it's starting to sell.
We paid off all our debts in nine months.
"The latest series of screaming O, The Studio Series, may attract big-
The two hope to be box retailers.
The collection is packed in a clever disguise, hiding the spice toy in a lipstick, eye shadow and a powder container for the face.
Collection includes high
Quality materials and stylish designs prove higher price points and higher margins than early items in Scream O, says Ross.
Competitors often approach the screaming O
Six companies are estimated to be the same.
Pitching giano said the launch of mergers and acquisitions and investors asked if they could participate.
Partners now want to remain independent and believe that "our brands have the potential to create space for themselves in pop culture," said Caggiano.