KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 6 — Already the world’s biggest condom maker by volume, local label Karex Berhad is looking to raise its stake by rolling out fun, premium-priced goods such aimed at younger users, including a range of glow-in-the-dark rubber that resembles the Star Wars lightsaber.
Founded in 1988 in Johor, the family-run company now helmed by Goh Miah Kiat is now eyeing to conquer the Asian market after acquiring for US$6.6 million (RM21.6 million) last week, a 55 per cent share of Boston-based Global Protection Corp, the brand owner of ONE condom, which ranks fourth most-popular after Durex, Trojan and Lifestyles.
“Asia is going to create a lot of demand because our population is young. When we got into the condom business about 25 years ago, it was pretty much a dirty word. Today, things have changed,” Goh was quoted as saying in an interview with Business Times (BT) today.
“We want to roll out ONE condoms in Southeast Asia by the first half of 2015. We’re also looking into brand-building,” he reportedly added.
Like most Asian nations, sex is a taboo subject in Malaysia. Condoms, despite playing a prominent role in sexual health, are not allowed to be advertised openly. This leaves the act of encouraging their use largely limited to the point of sale.
To crack the market, Karex is working on developing its products to make it not only thinner and stronger but more fun.
Last year, it focused its research on colourful packaging and exotic flavours — durian and Pina Colada, among others — to catch the eyes of buyers and, hopefully, overcome the bashfulness of picking up a pack of condoms.
Other “innovations” include textured and unusually-shaped to condoms to help introduce variety inside the bedroom.
“We strive to produce our condoms in an assortment of colours, texture, shapes and flavours,” Goh was quoted telling BT today.
Among its range of premiumly-priced condoms are those that “glow-in-the-dark”, with tongue-in-cheek marketing suggesting a lover to “rise-and-shine” and play “hide-and-seek” for a night to remember, according to the business news daily’s report.
According to the report too, Karex will also have exclusive rights to expand its “fun-loving” ONE condom brand to North Africa and the Middle East, apart from Asia.
To this end, Karex is now building a RM80 million eco-friendly factory on a 7.3-hectare plot in its home-base of Pontian, Johor to increase its output to six billion pieces by the end of next year.
Karex’s current output stands at 15 per cent, or four million pieces annually in a global condom market of 27 billion condoms valued at US$6 billion (RM19.68 billion), according to statistic reported by the daily.
