Boots thinks again on sex toys
High street retailer may drop plans
Boots may reconsider plans to stock a range of sex toys in its 1,400 high street stores.
Based on mixed customer response to the widely publicised proposals to stock a range supplied by Durex brand owner SSL International, Boots board will now make the final decision.
The uncertainty has prompted SSL to step up negotiations with other retailers who are potential stockists of the Durex Play range.
Garry Watts, SSL chief executive, told the Financial Times said the company would launch its range of sex toys “through the mainstream high street channel” in the first half of next year.
SSL said earlier this month that its consumer research showed good prospects for the expansion of the Durex brand into products such as ‘personal massagers’. Watts said: “A lot of consumer insight work has been done on this. They were designed to do the job, not to shock or embarrass people.”
A spokesman for Boots told news agency Reuters: “We never said we were definitely going to do it. We haven’t said we are not going to do it. We always said we were in the early stages of discussions and that hasn’t changed.”
