A sign of the normalisation of sexual wellness and pleasure products within the retail sector, Australian brand Frenchie is partnering with David Jones as part of a Valentine’s Day pop up in Sydney’s CBD. According to founder and CEO Shayne Mele, the collaboration between David Jones and Frenchie – which wholesales and operates an online store – represented a “watershed moment” for mainstream, traditional retail. He told Inside Retail that the relationship between the two parties beg
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Already a professional? Log ines began when David Jones approached Frenchie in 2021. He said there are intentions for it to develop further, and lead to a more permanent roll-out in the future.
While other department stores, such as Myer, have sold sexual wellness and pleasure products, Mele explained that it’s the first time that David Jones will sell vibrators, lube and condoms in its store. He also noted that it’s one of the first major retailers in Australia to do so.
“I think it [represents] acceptance from the wider community of sexual wellness, and sexual wellbeing as a core element of people’s wellbeing,” Mele told Inside Retail.
“The wide coverage given to support[ing] sexual health – as well as a number of key, sex positive influencers and sexologists – who are truly pushing and driving that change.”
The target audience for Frenchie’s product range is wide, according to Mele, with in-house data suggesting that it incorporates people aged 18 to over 65. He said that the brand’s inclusion as part of a Valentine’s Day pop up also symbolises a change in the way that the event is marked and celebrated.
He said that customers are purchasing pleasure products for themselves to demonstrate self love – or for friends – as they are vying for non-intimate relationships.
“Rather than being a traditional celebration of couples and relationships – particularly cis, hetero type relationships – [Valentine’s Day is] now just a celebration of love, and that can be in all forms. Whether that be self-love, or same sex relationships,” he said.
“It’s interesting timing as well, that Valentine’s Day falls directly before Mardi Gras and, this year, World Pride. I think it is a really good segue to celebrate love in all forms.”
Valuing sexual wellness
With many years working in health, wellness and personal care – including for Swisse Wellness – Mele identified sexual wellness as a category that was, at that stage, dominated by multinationals, and only catered to one gender and sexuality.
He also found that these products contained ingredients that shouldn’t feature in personal and skincare products, let alone products that would be used in intimate areas.
Browsing the supermarket aisles, he saw that the category was represented by basic sexual health and contraceptive items, and decided that he wanted to create a shopping destination for sexual health and wellness – that was inclusive of hygiene, pleasure products, contraception, supplements and so on – that spoke to all genders and sexualities.
In late 2017, Mele started working on branding and messaging, and after considerable time spent on product formulation and development, Frenchie launched as an online D2C store in December, 2020.
Frenchie has rapidly grown since its inception. The brand realised 362 per cent year on year growth in 2022, and its offline wholesale retail accounted for 15 per cent of sales.
“Internationally, [Frenchie] has organically grown. We haven’t focused or invested in overseas markets. But, the US is probably accounting for 40 per cent of online, D2C sales at the moment,” he said
Despite mounting cost of living pressures, he believes that sexual health and wellness products are likely to be resistant to a fall in consumer demand.
“People are valuing wellness more and more, particularly sexual wellness. They understand that it’s a core health pillar, and people are happy to invest in themselves to ensure [a sense of] happiness. One of our mantras is, ‘always inclusive, never exclusive,” he said.
“We’ve always priced our products at a competitive, mainstream price point. It would be exclusive in nature for us to offer premium products at a premium price tag. I think we’re well shaped to absorb any change moving forward.”
Not just contraception
Regarding the brand’s plans moving forward, Mele said it recently launched two new products, with another in the pipeline to launch this month, and two more in the next quarter. It recently closed a pre-seed cap-raise funding round of about $1 million, which will be used to increase its marketing activity.
The business is also partnering with bar and nightclub Poof Doof for World Pride – supporting the venue with various activities – and has hired a medical director to bolster its position as a leader in sexual wellness and education. Frenchie is also looking to formally establish itself in the US with FDA registrations and products.
Mele said that it would love to find a permanent home in a major retail environment, such as grocery stores and pharmacies.
“I think it’s a huge opportunity for these types of retailers to truly look at the category and open it up. It’s not just contraception, people want to shop for pleasure and other products in sexual wellness,” he said.
“It’s a big opportunity for major Australian retail to follow what Tesco, Boots, Walmart and others have done in the UK and USA, with the introduction of sex toys in a shopping grocery aisle. Our data suggests that the biggest opportunity is in pleasure products.”
