However the place Guo, who’s 35, typically falls brief in creativeness, he greater than makes up for in vigilance. “Customers count on and deserve merchandise that meet stringent security requirements, and any deviation can injury a model’s popularity irrevocably,” he posted in an XBIZ editorial in September. “Companion with trusted white-label producers somewhat than gamble on the unknowns.”
Once I ask Guo concerning the editorial, he stresses that the success of intercourse tech is decided as a lot by the innovation concerned within the merchandise as the standard. “We need to be extra of a bridge from human to human,” Guo says, “not simply from toy to human.”
Even with promising market projections—one other estimate goes as far as to foretell gross sales may surpass $121 billion by 2030—business analysts aren’t satisfied that the way forward for intercourse tech is in toys.
It’s a “very oversaturated market that’s now prevented by many,” says Olena Petrosyuk, a accomplice on the consulting agency Waveup. This yr, she provides, traders “are wanting away from ‘commoditized’ tendencies”—intercourse toys, but additionally intercourse content material and social platforms. “Many didn’t show the economics and scale. The class remains to be pretty stigmatized,” she says. “OnlyFans being an enormous exception.”
So what do customers need? Petrosyuk says wellness, AI, and immersive realities are sizzling proper now. “Virtually each new intercourse tech startup is pondering by way of AI use instances,” she says. “If it’s AI toys—corporations are wanting into how they will anticipate and reply to the consumer’s wants. If it’s robotics—we see corporations wanting into intercourse bots. If it’s content material—it’s hyperpersonalized intercourse personas.”
Guo tells me he isn’t phased by speak of AI intercourse robots—“a low-volume enterprise,” in his estimation—as a result of many individuals can not afford the excessive price ticket. Continued success, he believes, is will come by increasing on the corporate’s themed collections. OEJ works instantly with US and Canadian distributors; it’s not a direct-to-consumer enterprise, although he says clients do sometimes order through the net retailer.
Though ecommerce is the business normal in retail and electronics, taking extra of an old-school strategy works for Guo. Subsequent yr, OEJ plans to launch a Zodiac assortment, crafting 12 distinctive toys for every astrological signal. It’s an enchantment to the Co–Star fanatics of Gen Z. “Each era is completely different,” he says.
The corporate’s principally nonexistent social media presence solely appears so as to add to their Wonka-like thriller. “We’re simply unhealthy at it,” Jerry Chen, an operations assistant, says. “We’re actually centered on manufacturing.”
For now, that enterprise mannequin appears to be successful. Our Erotic Journey lately gained the “Finest Pleasure Product Producer—Small” prize on the 2023–2024 AVN Awards in Las Vegas, a litmus take a look at for amateur manufacturers within the grownup content material world. OEJ additionally acquired the O Award for Excellent New Product for “Horny Pot,” Guo’s marijuana-leaf-shaped vibrator, a buyer favourite.
Clearly eager to capitalize on its surprising success, Guo says, “It’s time we gave it a sister or brother.”
