Sexual wellness brand Promescent will enter GNC’s 6,000-plus doors this month.
The chain will carry the brand’s marquee product, Delay Spray, along with sexual supplements VitaFLUX and VitaFLUX for Women, both $49.95, Warming Female Arousal Gel, $19.95, and Before & After Cleansing Wet Wipes, $14.95. Promescent’s arrival at GNC comes on the heels of Delay Spray rolling out to 1,100 Walmart doors in July. The huge mass retailer is beefing up its sexual wellness assortment.
Beyond GNC and Walmart, Delay Spray is available in Target stores nationwide as well as several doctors’ offices, and Promescent’s full suite of products is available on its website and Amazon. Delay Spray, a lidocaine spray that’s the only over-the-counter premature ejaculation treatment option in North America with efficacy that’s been clinically proven, is consistently a top-selling sexual wellness product on Amazon.
For Jeff Abraham, CEO of Absorption Pharmaceuticals, maker of Promescent, the ambitious GNC launch is a way to prove the brand is more than just its superstar stockkeeping unit. “We want to expand other products into Target and Walmart. They only have the Delay Spray right now,” he says. “With our product line in GNC, we can go back to Walmart and Target and show them what we’ve done at GNC with our products there.” Currently, GNC’s sexual wellness section consists mostly of supplements, and includes sexual performance pills, menopause aids and lactation boosters. The health retailer also carries lube from Swiss Navy.
Despite its recent retail growth, Abraham is clear he doesn’t want Promescent to be everywhere. He sees ubiquity as a major misstep that’s plagued some legacy players in the sexual wellness space. “We’ve really changed the paradigm,” he says. “Everyone in this business, whether it’s K-Y, whether it’s Swiss Navy, no one has an online presence. All they do is put it in every retailer, and they push people to that. I never want to go into every single retail location in North America. That’s not our gig. I really think, to a certain degree, if you’re absolutely everywhere, then you start creating pricing competition. We don’t want that. I want to protect the retailers.” Abraham adds that 40% of Promescent’s business comes from its brand website.
Absorption Pharmaceuticals made headlines in 2017 when Abraham sued consumer packaged goods giant Reckitt Benckiser for $150 million for alleged fraud and theft of trade secrets. RB approached Abraham in 2015 about a potential acquisition of Promescent based on the success and effectiveness of Delay Spray. “They approached us and said, ‘We want to buy you guys. We want to put you in between Durex condoms and K-Y, a great fit,”” shares Abraham. “They do due diligence for 13 months, signed an NDA, have every document we ever produced, everything. Then, they vanished, tried to knock us off and try crushing us.”
Promescent’s bestselling product is Delay Spray, a desensitizing treatment spray designed to help prevent premature ejaculation without effecting the partner.
Soon after going radio silent on Abraham, RB came out with its own Delay Spray direct competitor, K-Y Duration, in September 2016. Abraham alleges the conglomerate conspired with key people at Amazon and Target to stymie Delay Spray’s sales at both retailers. He also says that, when RB introduced K-Y Duration, it did so with a $50 million ad campaign. “Which is $49,999,000 more than we have, you know? And we still compete head-to-head with them,” says Abraham. “In some cases, our numbers are actually better, but they are hyper-focused on crushing us. It’s insane.”
After many pandemic-related delays, Abraham has a court date for his case against RB in October. He thinks, however, that it may get delayed again until early 2022 due to the Delta variant’s surge. Abraham has already turned down an offer from RB to settle out of court that he called “insulting.” He says, “I literally have told people I will take my last breath fighting this. It is so corrupt. I got them. It’s just a matter of getting them in the courtroom.”
Source link : https://www.beautyindependent.com/delay-spray-promescent-launches-gnc-walmart-readies-court-date-reckitt-benckiser
