AJ Papadatos uses TikTok to expand sex toy business

Relationship issues? Want to spice things up in the bedroom? The manager of two successful adult stores in Sydney is blowing up by posting free sex advice on TikTok.

An adult shop manager who helps run his family’s Sydney businesses is blowing up on TikTok by posting videos giving free relationship and sex advice.

AJ Papadatos, 25, manages two Oh Zone stores at Caringbah and Penrith, jumping into the long-running family business with his parents when he was just 18.

“Looking at my parents, you wouldn’t think they owned adult stores,” he told the Macarthur Chronicle.

While he was only 18 when he started out, Mr Papadatos said working in the stores had given him some of the best experiences in his life.

@ajpaps

I said what I said ##fyp##relationship##toxic

♬ original sound - 🇹🇰

“Majority of the people in the world have had sex … it’s one of our core necessities in life,” he said.

“We need to eat, we need to drink, we need shelter … and we need physical attention, intimacy, that’s how humans work – it’s how we’re wired to work.”

This year Mr Papadatos turned to TikTok, posting a range of videos attracting new customers by giving relationship advice, sex advice and marketing his stores.

AJ Papadatos manages two adult shops in Sydney and has seen his customer base grow since growing on TikTok. Picture: Instagram

The 25-year-old has found so much success on the popular video sharing app that he has grown to more than 86,000 followers in just four months.

He prides himself on marketing sex toys and other products by educating his audience, and gets to interact with “all walks of life” in his job.

“One of the toughest things to actually do is sell sex toys, I have to make it relatable for people to understand” he said.

“Sales are a by-product of education … I’m not driven by money, I want to help people.”

The Oh Zone store at Penrith has seen more customers come in from TikTok.

“If you’re selling you need to make people laugh and educate them at the same time, and that’s when you are going to make a great impression … then I take that all back to TikTok.”

Despite only being on the app since February, it’s clear Mr Papadatos’ approach to educating his audience with entertaining and humorous videos has been a success.

After spending time getting advice on what to do from his 14-year-old brother, Mr Papadatos’ success on the app has only risen.

“TikTok is the perfect app for my personality because I’m a bit of a smarta**,” the 25-year-old said.

While he thought using TikTok would be good to grow his business and educate people, he never thought he would have the mass following he’s seeing now.

@ajpaps

Your loss x2 baby ##fyp##puppy##funny##ex

♬ Super Mario Smash Remix shaeotmusic - THFC.SZN

“I didn’t think it would ever get to this,” Mr Papadatos confessed.

Now, he’s being recognised on the street, in the Apple store and even in a nightclubs in Melbourne and Sydney.

“I walked out of a club in Sydney recently and I saw these two young blokes and I got scared for a second thinking they were out to get me … but they came up and told me they followed me and asked for advice,” Mr Papadatos said.

“In terms of business, I have a lot of people come in now because they see it on TikTok.”

AJ Papadatos has more than 86,000 followers on TikTok and uses the app to educate them on sex and relationships. Picture: Instagram

While his customer base is growing, Mr Papadatos said he has even noticed people becoming more open and comfortable with using sex toys in their relationship.

In the last four months, majority of his new customers have come from TikTok.

The 25-year-old is happy to see his business growing but says his sole purpose on the app is to educate.

“At the end of the day, sales will always be a by-product,” he said.

“If you chase money, you’re never going to catch it but you can’t put a dollar value on education.”

“The bigger I get on TikTok, the more people I can help.”