A Dutch online shop selling halal
sex products announced on Wednesday an alliance with Germany's largest
erotic retailer to tap into the lucrative Muslim market, potentially
worth billions of euros.
The founder of Amsterdam-based El Asira, Abdelaziz Aouragh, said the deal with Frankfurt-listed Beate Uhse came four years after his company first launched a range of erotic products that do not contravene Sharia law.
El Asira, which means "Society" in Arabic, launched its range of
discreet products in 2010, including sensual oils based on the highly
sought-after agar wood oil - one of the world's most expensive natural
raw materials - to massive acclaim and approval from the local Muslim
community.
"We will take 18 of our Islamic branded
products to the market through Beate Uhse," Aouragh told
AFP. "Considering we're targeting a (global) market of around 1.8
billion people, the potential is huge."
Beate Uhse, based in Germany's Flensburg, approached El Asira in 2012 with a business proposal to throw its weight behind the Dutch company to market their products.
"We think we can learn a lot from El Asira on how to tap into the
Muslim erotic market," Beate Uhse spokeswoman Linda Blommaert told AFP.
Both Aouragh and Blommaert stress the venture is far removed from
the traditional sex shop image of dildos and pornography that would not
be permitted under Islamic law.
"The products
we're putting on the market have nothing to do with blow-up dolls or
vibrators," said Aouragh, a second-generation Amsterdammer of Moroccan
descent.
"It's not about the sex act, it's what's
going on around it. Our products increase the atmosphere and heighten
feelings of sensuality," he said.
Beate Uhse is a
company that "respects women and presents its products in
a woman-friendly environment. That's why we believe there's no conflict
in working with them," Aouragh added.
Beate Uhse,
which started off in 1946 distributing pamphlets about family planning,
last year posted a turnover of €142 million and has 96 shops in 11
European countries.
It was set up by Germany's
only woman stunt pilot in the 1930s, Beate Uhse-Rotermund, who opened a
sex store in Flensburg in 1962 to much controversy.
Both Aouragh and Blommaert declined to say how much money was involved in the joint venture.
The two companies are now looking into the possibility of opening a concept store for halal sex products in Saudi Arabia's Mecca, the holiest place in Islam, Aouragh said.
Some three million pilgrims converge on the city during the annual hajj pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam.
thelocal.de
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