“We believe that EasyToys stands out due to the simplicity and neutral design.”

If you were at last year’s eroFame, you’ll probably still remember EDC Wholesale’s inviting stand and, more importantly, their private brand EasyToys. Since its premiere in Hanover, the brand has become quite the success, and at this year’s eroFame, the Dutch distributor added roughly 100 new products to the EasyToys range. EAN had the opportunity to talk with EDC Wholesale CEO Eric Idema.

EasyToys had its premiere at eroFame 2015. Instead of focussing on one product group, your brand has been extremely diverse from the beginning. Why did you decide to start with so many product categories right away?
Eric Idema: When I had the idea of introducing several popular items in a design of our own, I got so excited that I couldn’t stop listing items to add to the line. The list got much too long for just one collection, so our design team decided to split it up into different categories and design a colour pattern for the brand to give each collection a distinctive look.

How many products did you present when you launched the brand, and how many product categories did they cover?
We started with some rabbits, dildos, and mini vibes, but we already knew we wanted to do much more so we gradually added new items to the collections and just started expanding the lines – and we still do today.

What are the strong points of EasyToys? Which characteristics helped this brand carve out its own niche in the market?
EasyToys has a modern and neutral design and high-quality products at an appealing price. The collection offers a wide variety of products. This makes the brand interesting for a wide audience, regardless of their sexual preferences or experience level. Retailers can customise their assortment by selecting the collections that are interesting to their customers.

The range of sex toys in the market is enormous. How difficult was it to make an impact with a new, unknown product line?
We believe that EasyToys stands out due to the simplicity and neutral design of the products. The designs were carefully specified, colour coordinated, and perfectly synchronised.

Which products have become EasyToys’ top-sellers?
The Vibe and the Mini Vibe collection are performing very well, the fresh and women-friendly appearance and the interesting prices makes these collections highly appealing for beginners. The classic Rabbit vibe in particular is one of our top-sellers. The Anal and Fetish collections are also immensely popular. Customers can find unique products in these collections, which makes them extra special and appealing for resellers. The Foxtails and Bunny tails have a tremendous fan base and our pink small butt plugs also have a high performance rate. This item is exactly what EasyToys is all about: fun, cute, and perfect to start with.

“EasyToys has a modern and neutral design and high-quality products at an appealing price.”

Are all of these products new, or are there also optimised versions of existing toys among them?
Most of these items are all new-and an expansion of the current collection. With the exception of the Fetish Collection, which will now offer a wider collection of handcuffs.

What happens if a product doesn’t meet your expectations? Do you remove unsuccessful products from the EasyToys collection?
It was the plan to remove unsuccessful items from the collection, but we haven’t had an unsuccessful item yet. We choose our items carefully by looking at the trends and the market demands. As of yet, we’ve been pretty lucky with the items we added to the EasyToys collection.

How do you get the inspiration for all these new products, and which requirements do new concepts have to meet to be worthy of the EasyToys name?
We find inspiration in our everyday life. We listen to our customers and try to fill the gaps in their collections, but we also see for ourselves which items are missing in our collection. We are very fortunate to work with highly qualified partners on the purchasing end, who always offer us tremendous products. They also have great industry knowledge and know a lot about trends and opportunities. Products with good quality, beautiful colours, and an interesting price are always worthy of the EasyToys collection.

Does EasyToys offer sales-promoting materials to the trade? And do you have some advice for retailers about how to present these products for maximum effect?
We offer our online retailers high-resolution product images and videos. We can also provide banners, posters, and stickers on demand. The EasyToys packaging is perfect for presentation in a shop since the designs of every collection are perfectly synchronised with each other. Our design department can support customers by developing planograms for brick and mortar shops.

How important are your private brands for the company, compared to the third-party brands that you distribute in Europe?
Third-party brands are obviously the base of our wholesale activities, but with our private brand, we offer the customers something unique. A private brand gives us the opportunity to be flexible in terms of trends and volume. And with the combination of third-party brands and private brands, we are able to offer our customers products in different price ranges. Being able to serve our customers is what’s important to us.

“A private brand gives us the opportunity to be flexible in terms of trends and volume.”

Are private brands becoming a necessity for distributors/wholesalers who want to set themselves apart from the competition?
Yes, I believe so. A private brand represents the identity of the company. It’s the perfect way to add a unique flavour to the mix of tastes you offer as a distributor/wholesalers.

What’s next for EasyToys? Are there maybe plans to add more product categories to the brand? For instance, would an EasyLingerie line be conceivable?
There aren’t any plans for more categories, however, we have plans for the existing categories. We are, for instance, currently focussing on the Couples and Men Only collections. We will continue to add items to the different collections in order to offer a full assortment of toys with an appealing price point. We don’t have any plans for lingerie yet, but if we were to do a lingerie collection, it wouldn’t be an EasyToys line. We would rather develop a new lingerie brand with its own identity. This is what we currently do for our private toy brands as well. We have introduced Sway Vibes this summer, with high-end wand vibes in luxurious packaging.