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BMS Factory

By on April 13, 2016

It started as a small adult toy store called, ‘Aren’t We Naughty’ in the early 80s which picked up more and more as time went on. As a young business owner, I found that Canada didn’t have a great and reliable distribution network for adult products so I started a small one of my own called BMS Enterprises. It also quickly expanded once people realized that we do fair business with great customer service and competitive prices. The next step was to start production of our own products under BMS Factory. We weren’t happy with the quality of most products available, so we came out with PowerBullet which is still one of today’s strongest vibration technologies in the industry. We didn’t stop there, we were the first to develop a virtually seamless collection with a 100% silicone finish called Swan. Over the years since, people have tried to also do a seamless design and some have succeeded, but we still do it best. Today, BMS consists of the entire chain from design, to manufacturing and from to distribution and retail.

The BMS main office in Canada is a 41,000 sq. ft. warehouse and office environment in Toronto. From here, we have distribution networks that span across the all major parts of North America and the rest of the world. In China, we have a manufacturing facility which produces all of our quality products and is capable of shipping to our Canadian warehouse or direct to the customer.

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How and to what countries are you selling to?
Currently we sell to almost all countries around the world. We have trusted distributors in key regions that we have a great relationship working with.

In terms of growth, where do you see yourselves now?
Swan – our flagship brand is constantly growing bigger and better. We are ready to introduce a new colour with 7 new vibration functions. Up until now, Swan has used a Press & Hold control which let users simply press and hold to increase the vibration for those who wanted precise control over their vibration intensity. Now, we have taken 7 unique vibrations each offering a different sensation that will add to Swan’s luxurious experience. Recently, Swan has also become wildly popular in the Asian markets securing a great brand presence in many stores – they love it. We hope to continue to see this surge and further gain momentum in the European markets as well. Everything is on track so far for a great 2016 for BMS.

How do you promote, create awareness?
As with any company, promotion is very important for BMS. As much as paid promotion is needed, we love that our brands gain so much success from recommendations. Customers and shop owners around the world love Swan so much that they have developed a loyalty to it. With the strong social following that BMS and its brands share across all platforms, we also receive a lot of emails each day which express gratitude for what our products have done for relationships and individuals.

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At trade shows, we put a lot of thoughts into our booth design. Being from Canada, it offers some challenges in terms of what we can and cannot bring with us, but we make up for it with how great of a product we bring. Once people come to our booth and hold the product in theirs hands, it sells itself from that point on.

Direct sales? Amazon, Ebay, your thoughts?
We don’t currently sell direct through these mediums, but this is definitely a direction in which we are actively pursuing. Amazon style selling is the future, but we are trying to find a way in which we keep things fair and balanced for both us and our customers. Once we have a team built and a plan solidified, BMS would love to embrace Amazon-style selling structures. For now, we rely on our distributors to do what they do best.

What percentage of your product do you think is sold online vs brick and mortar stores?
This would be a rough estimate, but I would say about 70% offline to about 30% online. Many of our brands would fall into the luxury category which means it is slightly more difficult to sell online. While they really are amazing products, customers sometimes need to feel and experience the sensation in their hands to make a buying decision. We appreciate that which is why we offer in-store display options and high-resolution imagery for many of our top brands.

What can you tell us about working with retailers?
We love working with retailers – they are the front line contact with customers. We offer our support with training, in-store displays that are well made, eye catching and functional. We also have a range of brochures, pamphlets, images and other POP materials that are available from their distributors.

What can you tell us about working with distributors?
We have a trusted network of distributors that we work with around the world. Each and every distributor has been chosen because of their excellent business practices and customer service expertise. If someone is going to sell a BMS product, we want to make sure that they are a great company, and we’re very happy with who we’ve chosen so far.

What are some of your best selling items?
A strong contender in the last few years has been the PalmPower. PalmPower offers such incredible power for its size – actually, it can even stand with the best of much bigger competitors as well. With the release of PalmPower Recharge, that is also quickly growing to the same popularity. Swan is a steady best-seller throughout the years and remains strong.

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How has the European market in terms of distribution and retail evolved?
Many of our items perform very well in Europe and the surrounding regions. Swan (not sold in North America) has been a great success and is a staple brand for many shops in these regions. It fits in well with the beautifully designed shops and high-standards of customers in that region.

Are there any country specific trends globally or are some countries more receptive to certain product categories over others?
As mentioned earlier, Swan has seen a recent steep increase in the Chinese market. This is a great trend to see that market wanting more and more high-quality items since that opens up possibilities to bring some great new items into that area.

What brands/product categories are you now manufacturing and how did you select these?
We currently manufacture many different product lines from bullets to massage wands to silicone vibrators. Our currently manufactured items are chosen from a carefully curated list of what performs well and what doesn’t.
What are some of your best sellers and what makes a product a ‘best seller’.

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We consider our best-sellers a combination of feedback with sales. For instance, our critically acclaimed PalmPower is a best seller because it has a lot of really great reviews from trusted industry bloggers while simultaneously maintaining strong sales that sell out before they even arrive. We are in the process of ramping up our production further to keep up with demand.

Tell us about the manufacturing process. What does it involve?
The design process is intricate. Some customers need to understand that it takes time to create a great quality product. We love to provide that and spend a lot of time going back and forth with our manufacturing facility to do this. A vibrator hand-sample may come in and we decide that the clitoral stimulator is too high or too low so we move it 1 cm. This adds to the time but it’s a delay that we’re willing to make to create a superior product. Sometimes the changes are internal as well. It’s a very interesting process that we love to do and see the end result that we’re proud of.

What legal and compliance issues are there to deal with in regard to manufacturing?
BMS complies with all standards and aims to surpass them. Standards keep increasing year after year for RoHS, CE, etc. These are especially important for Europe, so we make sure to stay on top of everything. We will be introducing a new mission statement into our factories soon and make routine trips there to make sure that all compliances are being kept.

Tell us about your staff resources, how many do you have now, and in what sectors?
BMS throughout its retail, distribution, administration and manufacturing levels currently employs approximately 200 people. With the migration towards the online shoppers, we still keep a great team of sales representatives but are ramping up our online team to include more digital marketers, graphic designs and website development.
We are also actively growing in China and are pursuing a Managing Director for the region to handle operations.

Company Name: BMS Factory
Founder/Owner/Director: Steve Bannister
Founding Year: 1983
City: Brampton, Canada
URL: www.bmsfactory.com

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