The 2012 Survey

The WSS 2012 Survey Questionnaire is now being used.  It's still a little provisional because we have amended it a great deal and we are just market testing it.

In the current version it is very much designed for handwritten answers (hence there is no online version yet).  We prefer this because it allows women to express a lot of very personal opinions without being confined to a yes/no binary response.  Over the last two years it has proved a very successful format. Also, if we are bigging ourselves up, it's somewhat unique.  What we have tried to do is to see a 'whole woman' view and for this we need to understand both sexual behaviours and retail behaviours and expectations.  This ain't easy.

You can see the questions here

WSSglobalsurveyjan2012.pdf

You would be very welcome to email answers to any of the questions to wss@hewson.co.uk

One specific question that is not in the survey is about sex toys - although there are many others on that subject.

Not a lot is known about sex toys which might seem a curious statement because there is a sort of 'duh' answer.  Consider this though.  There are over 100 million women who own one and maybe 50-70 million who are regular users.  That's a lot because ownership is mainly found in N Europe, North America and a few other places.  We think that the eventual market is 400 million units per year. If sex toys were part of another consumer market it would be seen as a 'must do' category to be in for many big companies around the world.  Yet, absolutely NO significant luxury brand is involved in a market where, for many reasons direct and indirect, they should be.

So, how do women see sex toys?  For about 30% they are really important functionally in terms of orgasm. For other women they are part of a repetoire.  But in our surveys, well over 70% of women said they found the IDEA of buying a sex toy exciting in itself.  That's fascinating because most toys on sale are not necessarily aspirational and very often the same women deplored the actual shopping experience. In other words, the odds are a bit stacked against women finding the idea exciting but they do.

So some questions arise.

When women think about acquiring a sex toy are they:

1. Emotionally in the same mindset as they might be when contemplating a new lover (ie. the toy is a lover)

2. Sublimally, anticipating orgasm

There is a third possibility which is that a Toy is exciting as a possession. A woman might find the idea of owning a Lelo exciting - in itself, as an objet d'art.  What would happen if say Gucci, Armani or Louis Vuitton made toys?  Does this change the game all the way through the price ranges?  In car terms, everyone wants to own a Ferrari, most people have Fiats.