Sex toys becoming more popular than smartphones

London - Sex toys are quickly becoming one of the world’s most favourite gadgets, as sales are soaring to match those of smartphones.

Experts believe the willingness of stars such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Jane Fonda to divulge their bedroom secrets are behind a recent surge in the sales of “pleasure goods.”

While the UK sex toy business is now worth 250 million pounds-a-year, global sales of erotic accessories are to set to rise to 400 million.

While some of Hollywood’s most famous leading ladies have opened up about their sex lives in the new TV series, The Conversation With Amanda de Cadenet, the UK  is following suit in a Channel 4 documentary ‘More Sex Please, We’re British’.

The hour-long fly on-the-wall set to air on Tuesday, focuses on Britain’s biggest online sex toy retailer, lovehoney.co.uk.

Originally founded in 2002 by Neal Slateford and Richard Longhurst, Lovehoney the company, which offers an array of goods from adult toys and sexy lingerie, to erotic literature and games, has seen its sales increase each year to a current total of 16 million pounds.

Co-owner Slateford, a former record producer for Kylie Minogue, stated that celebrities opening up about their sex lives had been a key sales driver.

“A famous celebrity will give a big interview about their sex life or their love of sex toys and we will see a flurry of sales afterwards,” the Daily Mail quoted him as saying.

“It all started with Sex In The City - which was incredibly liberating for women, especially after Charlotte became a virtual recluse after buying a rabbit vibrator at New York’s famous Pleasure Chest sex story.

“Suddenly ordinary women weren’t afraid to talk about their sex lives and their use of sex toys,” he added.

Lovehoney estimate that nearly half the nation owns a sex toy, while global sales of vibrators and other sex toys soared to 5.5 billion pounds-a-year and are to set to rise to 40 billion pounds by 2020, matching those of smartphones.