Antaiyi: The Chinese Durex Aspires for IPO with Its Top-Selling Herbal Delay Spray

Soul and Body, Sex and Love are eternal human topics, endowed with infinite philosophical contemplation by sages of the past. However, such profound concepts have often been interpreted in a frivolous manner. In the eyes of many, “sex and love” is equated with “erotica.” Consequently, at the societal level, people tend to assign negative judgments to “sex and love,” which frequently appears alongside terms such as “prohibited” and “restricted.”

Prior to 1993, the production and sale of sex-related products were explicitly prohibited by the Ministry of Public Security, with violations regarded as serious crimes. Several years later, the state lifted the ban on sexual devices, reclassifying them as medical auxiliary health products; however, their production and sales remained under strict regulation by the Drug Administration. It was not until 2003 that many restrictions on the adult product industry were removed, paving the way for rapid sector growth.

The subsequent decade witnessed the sex toy industry’s continued period of wild, unregulated growth. Product categories diversified continuously, with family planning supplies, health products, and adult novelties emerging in abundance. The industry’s boundaries also expanded outward, giving rise to derivative offerings such as erotic-themed hotels and smart hardware.

However, the adult product industry has low entry barriers but high gross margins, resulting in a highly fragmented market and chaotic competition. It was not until 2017 that the increasingly mature e-commerce sector for adult products emerged as a disruptive force, demonstrating keen market insight.ofWith significant capital influx, the adult products industry has just entered its explosive growth phase. To date, the fastest-growing e-commerce platform in this sector has been listed on the New Third Board, and the market driven by sex and love has clearly evolved into a hundred-billion-yuan industry.

For over two decades, China’s adult novelty industry has experienced significant ups and downs. One phenomenon is particularly intriguing: although China is the world’s largest supplier of adult products, accounting for nearly 70% of the global market share, Durex’s Global Sex Survey reports that no more than 3% of the Chinese population purchases such items. In contrast, this figure exceeds 40% in European and American countries. Does this imply that people in China do not need adult novelties to enhance the quality of their intimate lives? However, both the once-bustling street-side adult shops and the currently thriving vertical e-commerce platforms and online communities—with millions of daily active users—serve to disprove this notion.

Liang Zhi is a veteran of the adult e-commerce industry. In 2010, he founded “Upsex,” a comprehensive e-commerce platform for adult products. Upsex quickly achieved annual revenues exceeding RMB 10 million, earning it prominence alongside “Chunshuitang,” which was founded by Lin Degang in 2003 and listed on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ) in November 2016.Recently, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) conducted an exclusive interview with Liang Zhi, who shared his unique approach to navigating the fiercely competitive adult novelty industry.

 Liang Zhi, Founder of An Taiyi

In 2012,In an interview with Cyzone, Liang Zhi recounted a typical delivery experience: A customer urgently ordered several thousand yuan worth of adult products on the “Ai Xiangshang” platform. However, when the delivery staff arrived, the customer repeatedly changed the meeting location. Upon finally meeting, the customer refused to inspect the goods, declined to listen to the necessary instructions from the staff, and urged them to leave as quickly as possible.

Liang Zhi stated that adult novelty products cannot prominently display their logos on packaging, and the item category on shipping labels must be listed as “gifts,” “clothing,” “electronics,” or similar. With nearly a decade of industry experience, Liang believes that the most challenging obstacle facing the adult wellness sector remains cognitive stigma. This stigma not only suppresses consumer demand but also introduces unique risks to the industry.

“Antaiyi” is a male delay spray that Liang Zhi and his team have been developing for nearly five years. Although priced significantly higher than similar products, “Antaiyi” has gained considerable popularity in the market. During the 2017 Tmall Double 11 Shopping Festival, “Antaiyi” ranked first in sales among delay products and second among adult products, with Durex taking the top spot overall.

Unlike in 2014, when Antaiyi first launched its products, the user age profile has now shifted toward a younger demographic, with the core user base transitioning from married couples and dating partners to single individuals.

Amid the backdrop of consumption upgrading, the adult wellness industry is confronted with a new landscape characterized by higher consumer expectations for product quality, more open-minded attitudes, and a larger untapped market potential. In response to these shifting market dynamics, Liang Zhi believes that only superior safety standards and robust service capabilities can serve as the key to success.

According to Liang Zhi, the formula for “An Taiyi” can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty. This prescription, which includes medicinal ingredients such as Cistanche deserticola, maca, and Sichuan pepper, was developed by an imperial physician surnamed An during that period; hence, the character “An” was retained in the product name. The character “An” also connotes safety.

Safety is the unwavering commitment that has defined Liang Zhi’s journey in the adult novelty industry. Liang believes that providing safe and reliable adult products is not only his business philosophy but also the primary demand from the market. As the pace of life accelerates and survival pressures mount, people are increasingly turning to adult novelties to enhance their sexual well-being more frequently than ever before. Nevertheless, concerns about product safety remain a significant deterrent for many potential consumers.

Taking the niche market of delay products, where Yian Taiyi operates, as an example, traditional male delay products are mostly formulated with purified water added to topical anesthetics such as lidocaine and procaine. Their mechanism of action involves reducing local nerve activity, thereby prolonging sexual arousal. Anesthetics are, in fact, high-risk pharmaceutical agents. Given the inconsistent quality of delay sprays on the market, many consumers prefer to forgo temporary pleasure rather than risk their health.

Antaiyi’s formula contains no anesthetics and is made from traditional Chinese herbs, making it a non-toxic, Chinese-style delay spray. In 2014, Liang Zhi applied for a national invention patent for Antaiyi. “Applying for a patent means disclosing the formula, but we prefer to provide consumers with a credential of trust.” Currently, Antaiyi ranks first in sales among Chinese-style delay sprays.

Since Su Weiguo opened China’s first adult product store, “Adam and Eve,” on Zhaodengyu Road in Beijing in 1993, the business model of the sexual wellness industry has undergone multiple transformations, shifting from offline to online and from fragmented to consolidated. Today, the B2C e-commerce model centered on “vertical e-commerce + internet communities” has become predominant.

B2C e-commerce for adult products, characterized by professionalism, standardization, and privacy, is indeed the optimal business model for the industry under current circumstances. Compared with the earlier B2B model, it places greater emphasis on service; compared with the even earlier C2C model, it prioritizes product quality.

Liang Zhi is well-versed in the business of adult novelty products. “Antaiyi is the only brand in China that provides 24/7 consumer customer service for its delay sprays.” In terms of Antaiyi’s organizational structure, Liang Zhi has separated consumer services from distributor services. In addition to offering 24/7 telephone consultations, the department responsible for consumer services also educates customers on delay techniques through promotional campaigns and training programs.

In the fast-evolving market for delay sprays, where product types change rapidly and many companies launch five or six new products annually, Liang Zhi and his team have spent five years refining a single product. Channel management has always been Liang’s top priority. With an academic background in marketing and communications, Liang was once an outstanding mainstream marketing strategist. The widely seen China Construction Bank slogan “Those who build well, go far” (“Shan Jian Zhe Xing”) was crafted by him in the early years. “I define myself as a marketing strategist with specialized expertise in the health industry,” Liang summarized, reflecting on his nearly two decades of professional experience.

Marketing DNA dictates that Liang Zhi always judges future directions based on the market. The initial decision to launch Antaiyi was driven by an analysis of market preferences behind the “Ai Xiangshang” platform, which had been in operation for four years, revealing significant market potential for male delay sprays. The current choice to persist with not building self-owned sales channels, but instead focusing solely on channel management, is based on the judgment that male delay products are unlikely to stand out in the market due to performance characteristics.

In 2015, Antaiyi, having been publicly listed for less than a year, launched its store on Tmall’s mobile platform, becoming the first adult product brand to enter the Tmall marketplace. In the same year, Antaiyi partnered with the pharmacy chain Neptune Star (Haiwang Xingchen) to sell its products across the latter’s extensive network of offline stores.

In 2017, Antaiyi officially entered Tongrentang Pharmacy; in November of the same year, Antaiyi became the sales champion for delay products during the "Tmall Double 11" Shopping Festival.

The market for delay-enhancing products is fraught with chaos, making such sales performance no easy feat. Liang Zhixiang summarized for VCBeat the three major fatal risks he encountered while operating Antaiyi.

In its online business, Antaiyi primarily drives sales through advertising on third-party platforms, with sales volumes from platforms such as Tmall and JD.com constituting the majority of its performance. “It can be said that the stance of third-party platforms determines whether our products can achieve long-term development,” said Liang Zhi, noting that sales would inevitably decline if these platforms tightened their regulations on adult products.

The domestic adult product market is still in its early stages of development, with disorderly and unfair competition occurring from time to time. Some merchants primarily engage in illegal profit-making through “phishing” tactics, commonly known as “professional counterfeit fighters.” “Professional counterfeit fighters are pervasive,” Liang Zhi lamented. “Especially during certain critical periods, their activities surge, inflicting severe damage on the industry.”

The adult product category is diverse. Apart from family planning supplies, which are regulated by the National Health Commission, and specific drugs, which are overseen by the National Medical Products Administration, there is no dedicated industry regulatory authority, nor have industry standards been established. This state of affairs, where “everyone can regulate, yet no one is obligated to,” naturally hinders the healthy development of the industry.

Amid the risks, Liang Zhi has his own survival strategy: strengthening internal capabilities and enhancing operational efficiency.

On the one hand,Stabilizing the Supply Chain. Due to regulatory restrictions and other factors, adult products have very limited channels for promotional placement. The intense competition has driven up advertising costs. Liang Zhi took a different approach, believing that consistently providing the market with ample, stable, and high-quality supplies is, in fact, the most effective form of promotion. “In the nearly five years since Antaiyi entered the market, there has never been a supply disruption.” Liang was clearly satisfied with this achievement. Consistently meeting demand through reliable supply indeed tests a team’s operational capabilities.

On the other hand,Price Stability. The delay-product supply sector features numerous market participants, with a competitive landscape akin to that of perfectly competitive markets such as agricultural commodities, where prices fluctuate in response to supply and demand dynamics. Such price volatility inevitably undermines consumer experience. By optimizing inventory management, Antaiyi has consistently maintained stable market pricing.

For Liang Zhi, the success of product marketing was rather uneventful. What he truly aspired to do was to build a sexual wellness brand akin to Durex. “We position ourselves against Durex. Our first step is to have Antaiyi appear alongside Durex—wherever Durex is sold, we will be sold as well.”

Looking ahead, Liang Zhi plans to expand into more offline channels. Unlike many adult product vendors that had long since listed on the New Third Board, Antaiyi achieved profitability in its first year of going public. Therefore, when discussing relationships with investors, Liang Zhi appeared remarkably composed, stating, “The most important thing is still to strengthen our core competencies.”

From Antaiyi to Durex, which has weathered 89 years of market trials, there is undoubtedly still a long way to go. However, VCBeat believes in and looks forward to seeing Antaiyi, through continuous strengthening of its core competencies, evolve into a prominent brand in the future.