Target Is Playing In The Sexual Wellness Category In A Much Bigger Way With New Brands And Products

Further cementing its reputation as a mass retail trailblazer, Target is stocking up on sex stuff. 

The big-box chain has added several new offerings to its existing sexual health category online and in stores, including lubes, vibrators and massage oils from indie brands started by diverse founders. Among the brands joining Target’s sexual health roster are Latinx-owned clean intimate care brand Bloomi, the first female Latinx-owned brand in the retailer’s sexual wellness collection, Black-owned condom brand B Condoms, LGBTQ-owned play and pleasure specialist Cake, U.K.-based women of color owned eco-friendly hygiene company Here We Flo, AAPI-founded vaginal health company Cheeky Bonsai, and Health by Habit, a supplement brand from Zuru Edge that’s introducing a Libido supplement exclusively at the retailer as part of its debut.

The chain has also this week launched new intimate care and vaginal health products from existing partners like The Honey Pot Co, Queen V, and pH-D Feminine Health, the latter debuting its new boric acid foam wash and vaginal suppositories exclusively at the retailer. The sexual wellness push follows Target enlarging its beauty assortment with 40 brands, many independent, BIPOC-founded and clean.

Target’s increased commitment to sexual wellness shows how far the category has been mainstreamed from the days it was restricted to sex shops and dark corners of the internet. Often cautious in its approach to taboo categories, it’s breaking into sexual wellness in a bigger way after retailers the likes of Sephora, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale’s demonstrated its relevance to broad audiences, taking it a step further by bringing these emerging brands in-store as well as online.

“As Target continues to lean forward in sexual wellness, I think so many other retailers will follow their leadership position. The category is going to be so much more propelled,” says Bloomi co-founder and COO Eric Carl, a former wellness and emerging brand strategy leader at Target who also co-founded women’s wellness brand Rae prior to joining Bloomi. “People will no longer be intimidated to shop it. The long-range projections of growth are going to be driven by all new consumers shopping the category that historically hadn’t. All boats will rise with the tide and all brands, not just Bloomi, will benefit from that.”

Bloomi is launching its eight-item Essentials Collection featuring a double-sided vibrator, versatile massage oil, lube, wash and more in 1,200 of Target’s 1,926 stores in the United States. Three sex toys and lube from Cake entered over 1,000 doors this month. The brands move into a sexual health selection at Target that has long been dominated by well-known brands like Trojan, Durex, K-Y and Clio’s PlusOne. The retailer declined to comment on the expansion of its sexual health offerings.

“Our goal is to make it easier for anyone in the U.S. to access the products and info which lead to more fun sex,” says Mitch Orkis, co-founder and CMO at Cake. “The fact that we can place Cake products that consumers already love in such a progressive and inclusive retailer like Target makes me happy beyond belief.” Preceding its Target rollout, Cake landed at around 4,000 Walmart doors last year.

After starting as an online marketplace in 2018, Bloomi promptly developed an in-house product line carefully crafted with ingredients like damiana flower and leaf extract, an aphrodisiac flower idigineous to Mexico, where Rebecca Alvarez Story’s family is from, as well as CBD. Now called Bloomi Luxe, the line has a trio of products—Arousal Serum, Arousal Oil and Massage Oil—each priced at $45 for 100-ml. sizes. Alvarez Story, a sexologist and co-founder of Bloomi, regularly received feedback from customers that Bloomi’s products were too expensive. Its products at Target run from $8.99 for Intimate Skin Foaming Wash to $49.99 for Indulge Double-Sided Vibrator.

“When we were formulating the Essentials line, we had our customers in mind first and then Target in mind second,” says Alvarez Story. Carl adds, “From a Target perspective, they are excited about partnering with Bloomi given our position as the leading authority for clean intimate care along with being a BIPOC-led team, accessibly-priced and designed for all bodies.”

“This category is going to be so much more propelled.”

Target has made a pledge to spend more than $25 billion on Black-owned businesses by 2025. That pledge is evident in its ramped-up sexual health assortment. Founder Jason Panda created B Condoms’ range of pH-friendly, vegan, odorless and triple-tested condoms to address underserved communities of color. The brand has arrived at several hundred Target doors nationwide with its four bestselling condom packs. 

“This is a step in the right direction, and it shows their commitment to diversify the category,” says Panda. “For many years, the sexual wellness category was dominated by a few global players. These players offered a limited product assortment and their goals didn’t fully address the needs of all communities.” He continues, “Condoms are the only barrier method that protect against both STIs [sexually transmitted infections] like HIV and unplanned teenage pregnancy, and communities of color are disproportionately impacted in these areas. For me, it was important to have a brand that spoke to the need to match protection with social impact.”

Similar to Panda, a key piece of Alvarez Story’s mission in founding Bloomi was to create clean intimate care products for people of color who are “disproportionately impacted by toxic ingredients in this category,” she instructs. “We’re more prone to infections. We’re more sensitive and that’s a biological difference.”

The emerging sexual health brands are hoping to nab market share from dominant players. One such player, Astroglide, commands 23% share of Target’s sexual lubricant business and is responsible for two of the retailer’s top three sellers in the segment. Across the multi-outlet retail channel, the brand is a growth leader, adding $1.2 million in the past 12 weeks and advancing 18.9% in the last week alone, nearly three times the rest of the lubricant category combined. The brand is carried in every major mass retailer.

Lisa O’Carroll, president and CEO of Astroglide parent company BioFilm, isn’t cowed by the new competition. She believes a wider array of sexual wellness offerings is the right thing for consumers. “Products that are safe and fill a consumer need or want should have the opportunity to be on the shelves and seen by shoppers, they shouldn’t have to rely only on online options,” she says. “A diverse population requires diverse product choices to ensure all consumer needs are being met. Astroglide was once the small, one-SKU manufacturer. Without an opportunity to prove ourselves, we would not be changing consumer lives for the better today.”

O’Carroll sees a possible upside for Astroglide from Target paying greater attention to sexual health: It could draw new customers and awareness to the category. “Household penetration for this category is actually fairly low, so expansion of brands and product offerings benefits all of us in the category,” she says. “Since the pandemic, we are seeing consumers interest in sexual wellness products increase.” Sales projections for the category in the U.S. vary from roughly 5% to 8% for the years ahead, but they concur that the category is heading in a positive sales direction. 

“A diverse population requires diverse product choices to ensure all consumer needs are being met.”

As traditional retailers jump on the sexual wellness bandwagon or enhance their sexual wellness assortments, investors see the potential of growth for brands in the category and clearer paths to exit for properties historically stigmatized or shunned. In the weeks and months subsequent to Cake closing its seed round last year, intimate care, feminine hygiene and pleasure brands Tabu, Maude, Kegg and Kushae all raised funding rounds. Last month, private equity firm Yellow Wood Partners acquired Clio and kept founder Jamie Leventhal on board to helm a new sexual wellness-focused brand platform, Beacon Wellness Brands.

Despite the flurry of investments, Odile Roujol, founder of the firm Fab Ventures and an investor in Bloomi, asserts there remains work to be done to normalize sexual health in capital circles. “I still see a lot of reluctance by investors to invest in the category as it’s not all people’s comfort zone, including LPs,” she says. “For me, it’s part of wellness and being connected to our body, feeling well in a stressful period. It’s vital to have excellent products and clean beauty standards as Bloomi does. Corporations will take their time, but more and more are considering a broader approach to beauty and wellness, and women’s health. Sexual wellness is part of this trend. Target gives these brands visibility.”