Ann Summers

Ann Summers Ltd

Type	Private (Ltd)
Founded	London
Headquarters	Whyteleafe, Surrey, CR3 0BZ
Key people	David Gold Jacqueline Gold (CEO)
Industry	Retail
Products	Clothing Adult toys
Revenue	£117.3 million (07-08) £110.9 million (06-07) £117.4 million (05-06) £143.3 million (04-05) £129.9 million (03-04) £110 million (02-03) £85 million (01-02)
Website	http://www.annsummers.com

Ann Summers is a British High street retailer selling lingerie and sex toys.

History

The company was named after the female secretary (Annice Summers) of the male founder (Caborn Waterfield).^[1] The company has targeted female consumers with the arrival of Jacqueline Gold. Passion8, Stringfellows, Playboy, Beate Uhse AG, Nookii, Utopia Supplies, LoveHoney, Temptations Direct, Sh! Women's Erotic Emporium and more traditional retailers (Superdrug, Boots^[2]) / internet sellers (Amazon.com^[3]) are some of Ann Summers competitors.

Having worked at Royal Doulton, Jacqueline Gold decided she did not want to go into management, and asked her father David Gold to gain extra work experience. After acquiring the four stores of the "Ann Summers" chain in 1972 with his brother Ralph Gold, they gave Jacqueline at the age of 19 summer work experience in May 1979 - Jacqueline was paid £45 a week, less than the tea lady.^[4]

As her parents had separated when she was 12, Jacqueline was not close to her father. Gold also didn't like the atmosphere at "Ann Summers", which was Gold Group's "up market" clean sex shop. Jacqueline says of her introduction: "It wasn't a very nice atmosphere to work in. It was all men, it was the sex industry as we all perceive it to be."

Ann Summers, 79 Wardour Street, London

But a chance visit to a Tupperware-style fashion party in an east London flat in 1981 changed everything - Jacqueline saw the potential of selling sexy lingerie and sex toys to women in the privacy of their own homes. Jacqueline launched the Ann Summers Party Plan - a home marketing plan for sex toys, with a strict "no men allowed" policy. These parties were and remain immensely popular, providing women with an excuse to meet for a party and talk about sex, and have entered British popular culture. They also provided the company with a way of circumventing the law which limited their presentation space for sex toys^[5].

Jacqueline was made Chief Executive of the company in 1987. Jacqueline transformed the chain into a multi-million pound business, with a sales force today of over 7,500 women as party organisers; 139^[6] high street stores in the UK, Ireland, Channel Islands and Valencia, Spain; with an annual turnover of £110 million in 2006/7.^[7] In 1999 the chain relaunched its website, and in 2000 it acquired the five stores of the Knickerbox brand^[8] and its range of premium site lingerie kiosks - "Knickerbox" concessions are now in every Ann Summers store.

Although the chain has one licensed sex shop in Bristol selling a wide range of products, Jacqueline has described the latest award-winning new store concept as: "Wonderful! Every time I walk in, it feels as if I‘m entering an intimate, sexy and very girly boudoir. I just love it."^[9]

The company's head office was raided as part of an immigration check in 2004, consequently 15 staff were arrested and 10 were subsequently deported.^[10] The company employs a series of celebrity models to show off its lingerie, who presently include Kate Lawler, Nancy Sorrell and Emma B.

After a number of years of falling sales and profits, sales have increased back to 2005 / 2006 levels of £117m^[11] and profits to £3m, up from £1.53m pre-tax for the period 2006/7.^[7][12] Previously profits had doubled to £9.5m in 2001/2,^[13] £8.9m in 2002/3^[5][14],falling to £3.2m in 2003/4^[15] - following investment in a new building and technology, dropping further to £2.2M in 2004/5.^[16]
Ann Summers lingerie factory in Portsmouth closed in 2005, with over 50 redundancies.^[17] Other parts of Gold Group International(GGI), the parent company have been sold, such as Gold Air, which is now owned by Air Partner ^[18], along with a large number of Birmingham City F.C.^[19] (which followed Birmingham's return from relegation^[20] and lower than expected profits^[21]) and a management buyout of a leading publishing business.^[22][23] GGI was part owner of the Sunday Sport^[24] prior to its sale.

In June 2009, it is rumoured that Ann Summers are in negotiation with Football League Championship club Peterborough United to become their shirt sponsor for the 2009/10 season. David Gold is known to be a long-term friend of Peterborough United director Barry Fry.

Controversy

Due to the adult nature of the stores, Ann Summers has faced opposition, both legal and social. For example, when attempting to open a new store in Tunbridge Wells,^[25] they were accused of degrading marriage.^[26] In 2003, they won a legal battle to advertise for employees in job centres^[27] and an ASA complaint was rejected.^[28]

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.^[29] Perth was originally the only UK town where an Ann Summers store failed to take off.^[30] However, in May 2007 the Middleton Grange, Teesside store which opened in November 2005 was closed after less than two years of trading due to poor sales.^[31]

In 2002, the company was hit with a number of problems including the theft of some of its internal IT systems^[32] and a recall of its best selling vibrator^[33]. The company received a letter of complaint from Buckingham Palace, due to a non endorsed advert featuring the Queen.^[34]

In 2003, the company's payments to party organisers were investigated and discussed by a number of media sources.^[35]

In 2004, two complaints were upheld by the ASA.^[36] 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.^[37]

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. [1]. Also, a former director, who is now a Beate Uhse AG employee^[38] is pursuing a libel claim against Jacqueline Gold^[39]. A recent advert was banned from the tube.^[40]

References

External links

• Ann Summers website
• Ann Summers Uncut website
• Knickerbox website
• Jacqueline Gold website
• Gold Group International website
• David Gold website
• Ann Summers parties and recruitment website