Business is buzzing for online sales of sex toys in China

With China expected to overtake the US in online spending this year, university graduates have found success by abandoning traditional career paths to start internet sex-toy companies.

When Chris Wu was studying abroad at the University of Leeds, she said she loved to go to high-end sex-toy shops to admire the "beautiful" products. After she returned to Beijing with a master's degree in public relations, she was disappointed that sex shops at home sold "low quality products that lacked design".

"That was when I first wanted to start my own sex-toy shop," the 33-year-old said. "But I felt I needed more experience, so I worked at a PR company for five years and then started the business three years ago."

Wu now employs six staff, and her online store has been profitable for the last year-and-a-half. Her sleekly designed homepage proclaims that TOIs Intimacy Boutique was "established with the conviction that sensual pleasure and fulfilment are paramount to a well-lived life".

Another young entrepreneur, Li Chengze, decided to start his online sex shop, called Xiao Ye, after working in the advertising industry for a year and seeing the potential of the online sex-toy market.

"Demand is huge because most people prefer the privacy of shopping for sex toys online," said the 26-year-old graduate of the Chengdu University of Technology and former journalist.

Li launched his business in Guangdong last October and is already receiving hundreds of orders each month.