Dame Broadens Mass-Market Reach With Walmart Launch As Prestige Retail Cools On Sexual Wellness

Dame is extending its mass-market presence beyond Target by launching at nearly 1,000 Walmart doors nationwide, with at least one door in every state.

As part of the rollout, the sexual wellness brand is giving the giant chain’s shoppers exclusive access to its lowest price vibrator to date, $19 Zig, for one month before the new item sells elsewhere. Zig will land on Dame’s website later this year. Most of the brand’s vibrators are priced over $75. Walmart will also carry Dame’s $36 vibrator Dip. 

Dame’s arrival at Walmart, where it will share the sexual wellness aisle with brands like Cake and PlusOne, brings its total retail door count in the United States to over 2,000. Along with Walmart and Target, Dame is available at Gopuff, Babeland and The Pleasure Chest in the U.S., among other retailers. The brand aspires to increase its door and product reach at Walmart in the future.

Co-founder Alexandra Fine believes Dame’s $19 Aloe Lube and $25 Play Balm could be a fit for Walmart shelves. However, kicking off the partnership with vibrators made sense to Dame because the brand is known for them and started in the vibrator space a decade ago with Eva, which it describes as the “most crowdfunded sex toy in history.” Its vibrators are constructed out of medical-grade silicone. 

Fine says, “We don’t have a super large selection at this price point yet, but we’ve always wanted to close the pleasure gap and being able to do that in the mass channel to be more accessible, to be more affordable, to still offer a medical-grade product that’s bringing innovation to the market, I feel very good about it, and I think it’s the beginning of a lot more.”

Dame heads to Walmart as prestige retailers once hot on sexual wellness have cooled on the category. Upscale sexual wellness retailers have closed, and specialty retailers and department store companies like Saks Fifth Avenue have delisted or diminished sexual wellness. Saks previously carried Dame’s devices and lubricants, and Dame director of sales Joe Vela says it had been the top-performing sexual wellness brand at the retailer. 

Even Goop, known for its trailblazing and sometimes controversial commitment to sexual wellness, is suspected to be shedding sexual wellness amid a restructuring. It recently laid off 18% of its staff and refocused on fashion, food and beauty. Consumers can still purchase sexual wellness goods from brands such as Dame, Joylux, Tabu and Smile Makers on the lifestyle retailer’s website.

In 2023, Dame changed up its distribution strategy to move away from prestige and toward mass. While it was an anchor brand for Sephora in the U.S. when the beauty specialty retailer unveiled an online sexual wellness assortment in 2022, Dame subsequently exited Sephora domestically and entered Target. Mass-market retailers like Target and Walmart are more comfortable selling sexual wellness products on shelves than beauty specialty and department store retailers. In the U.S., Sephora has yet to place sex toys in its stores. Dame is sold at Sephora overseas.

Dame made headlines earlier this year when it acquired fellow sexual wellness device brand Emojibator. Vela co-founded Emojibator prior to joining Dame. Fine says they have been able to grow Emojibator’s sales post-acquisition but didn’t disclose the exact sales contribution of the brand nor specify Dame’s sales figures. Since its launch, the brand has sold over 1 million vibrators. 

After a successful crowdfunding campaign that garnered $575,000 to finance the launch, Dame raised $13 million via seed and series A rounds in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Its institutional investors include Amboy Street Ventures, Flybridge, Listen Ventures, Echo and Forest Road Company.