Ann Summers

Ann Summers Ltd

Type	Private (Ltd)
Industry	Retail
Founded	London
Headquarters	Surrey, United Kingdom
Key people	David Gold Jacqueline Gold (CEO) Vanessa Gold (MD)
Products	Clothing Adult toys
Revenue	£115.7 million (10-11)
Website	http://www.annsummersbysara.co.uk

Ann Summers is a British multinational retailer company specialising in sex toys and lingerie, with over 140 high street stores in the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands and Spain.^[1] In 2000, Ann Summers acquired the Knickerbox brand,^[2] a label with an emphasis on more comfortable and feminine underwear, while the Ann Summers-labeled products tend to be more sexual in style. The chain had an annual turnover of £117.3 million in 2007-2008.

History

The company was named after Annice Summers, the female secretary of the male founder, Caborn Waterfield. Annice Summers, who was born Annice Goodwin in 1941 but took her stepfather’s surname, left the company soon after it opened following a row with Caborn. She currently resides in Umbria, Italy, two hours from Rome, as a reclusive multi-millionaire.^[3]

Retail

The first Ann Summers shop was opened in 1970 in Marble Arch, London, from which it grew to six shops.

Ann Summers was purchased in 1972 by brothers Ralph and David Gold, who turned it from a standard sex shop into an established high street brand and lingerie boutique. In 1981, David Gold installed his daughter Jacqueline Gold (who is the current Chief Executive of Ann Summers) and she introduced the Party Plan concept. The retail operations for all of Ann Summers’ shops are managed from the Head Office in Whyteleafe, Surrey, and as of December 2010 Ann Summers operates 144 retail outlets across the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands and Spain.

The shops offer lingerie, underwear, cosmetics, swimwear and sex toys. The stores sell 2 million Rampant Rabbits, a kind of vibrator exclusive to Ann Summers, per year.^[4]

International

In order to cater to Muslim women Ann Summers was granted permission to open 22 shops in the Middle East including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Its flagship store is in Dubai.^[5][6]

Party Plan

Jacqueline Gold initiated the Party Plan concept in 1981.^[4] Initially, the Ann Summers parties were as much a way of circumventing regulations restricting the display of sex toys as they were a marketing tactic, but their popularity quickly grew and Ann Summers now employs over 7,500 Party Organisers, coordinated from the Head Office in Surrey. There are around 4,000 Ann Summers Parties every week in the UK.^[7]

The Ann Summers parties are exclusively women-only,^[7] and include the presentation of sex toys and lingerie in the informal setting of someone’s home; usually the home of one of the attendees. It can also involve the perusal of a catalogue, and often there are party games.^[8]

Controversy

Due to the adult nature of the business, Ann Summers has frequently faced opposition, both legal and social. For example, in 2003, they won a legal battle to advertise for employees in job centres^[9] and an ASA complaint was rejected.^[10]

They have also encountered opposition to their advertising. The company received a letter of complaint from Buckingham Palace, due to a non-endorsed advert featuring the Queen.^[11]

In 2010, Ann Summers’ Halloween advert was banned by the Radio Advertising Clearance Centre, which decided the advert used "fairly overt sexual references in terms of sound effects."^[12]

Additionally, Ann Summers in Perth was forced to close after the local people complained about the store (mostly from parents embarrassed by questions raised by their children), which also led to other problems with the store.^{[13][dead link]} Perth was originally the only UK town where an Ann Summers store failed to take off.^{[14][dead link]} However, in May 2007 the Middleton Grange, Hartlepool store which opened in November 2005 was closed after less than two years of trading due to poor sales.^[15]

In 2003, the company's payments to party organisers were discussed by a number of media sources.^[16]

In 2004, two complaints were upheld by the ASA.^[17] The ASA decided that the first ad was degrading to women, offensive and unsuitable for use as a poster. In the second case the ASA ruled that the use of a nursery rhyme was likely to attract the attention of children and that the advertisement was unsuitable for the medium in which it appeared.

In 2006, Muslim groups complained about the release of a blow up doll named Mustafa Shag, claiming that the doll was offensive to Muslims as Mustafa was one of the names given to the Prophet Mohamed.^[18]

In 2007, the company faced legal issues with Apple Inc due to its release of an electronic add-on to music players called the iGasm. The company has not backed down despite cease and desist orders by Apple.^[19] Also, a former director, who is now a Beate Uhse AG employee^[20] is pursuing a libel claim against Jacqueline Gold.^[21] A recent advert was banned from the tube.^[22]

The company's head office was raided as part of an immigration check in 2004, and 15 staff were arrested and 10 were subsequently deported.^{[citation needed]}

Ann Summers lingerie factory in Portsmouth closed in 2005, with over 50 redundancies.^[23]

References

External links

• Ann Summers website
• Knickerbox website
• Jacqueline Gold website
• Gold Group International website
• David Gold website
• Mail Order Ann Summers