As COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing practices loosen up around the world, condom company Durex sales shoot up.
After releasing their trading update for the first quarter of this year, condom conglomerate, Durex has found a “strong growth in sexual wellbeing” products in the aftermath of COVID-19. 2021 is clearly looking bright for the company as the update writes “2021 has started well with like-for-like net revenue growth of +4.1% in line with our expectations.”
Reckitt Benckiser, the company that owns Durex, stated that condoms, lubricants and sex toys have all experienced a “double-digit” increase in sales compared to sales in early lockdown.
The early months of the pandemic last year proved hard for Durex and other condom supplying companies. Condom company, Trojan reportedly faced a 6 per cent decrease in sales during the height of the pandemic, due to people having “a lot less sex.” An abrupt nosedive in condom sales was inevitable as physical restrictions meant less casual sex. However, couples living together weren’t faring any better as Covid conditions proved to be a complete mood killer.
Susie Tuckwell, a Sydney therapist remarked that “flatness and loss of libido” were common for many couples in lockdown.
Best data are usually commercial. Reckitt’s sales of cold and flu meds eg Strepsils are down (ie social distancing preventing colds) and disinfectant and condom sales up. Leave the interpretation to you.
— Norman Swan (@normanswan) April 28, 2021
Fast forward to 2021, and with the world exiting lockdown, as well as a relaxing of social distancing measures, Reckitt has stated that these “relaxations of social distancing regulations resulted in improved demand for our sexual well-being products.” In fact, Durex hygiene products have now achieved a growth of 21 per cent compared to last year.
This future for the global condom market seems to only be growing bigger (hehe) if projected statistics are anything to go by. The Global Condom Market in 2019 was an estimated 4.9 billion USD, and is anticipated to reach 8.6 billion USD by 2026, making the projected Compound Annual growth rate at 8.5 per cent.
Missed opportunity. Here, I’ll fix it:
“Condom sales are on the rise.” https://t.co/koiwg5EXmB
— Trenton M. Haltom (@TMHaltom) April 30, 2021
