Solid gold

When the young Jacqueline Gold first hit on the idea of selling sex to the masses, it was met with a lukewarm reception in the boardroom by men who failed to recognise that women were in fact interested in sex for pleasure. Twenty-five years later, Ann Summers is a multi-million pound company with 139 stores in the UK and Spain, as well as a force of 8,500 party organisers. So how did Jacqueline turn things around?

"For one thing, the products have changed considerably since I started out," she comments. "At that time there were not nearly so many resources available, and not many suppliers - and most of those were used to supplying men only. The lingerie was usually either red or black and was not very good quality, and the product range was very limited."

Crucially, however, it was Jacqueline's idea itself that proved popular, despite the limited wares - holding Ann Summers parties meant that women could look at and buy lingerie and sex toys in their own homes, so avoiding embarrassment about what was still very much a taboo subject.

The business, acquired by Jacqueline's father in 1972, had begun with just four shops that were not especially female-friendly. Through the parties, women could be introduced to the suggestion that their needs and desires were just as important as their partner's, and Ann Summers went from strength to strength as Jacqueline rose through the company's ranks, becoming chief executive in 1987.

"The main reason we were able to become so successful is that society itself has changed - and I think that a large part of that change has actually been initiated by Ann Summers," Jacqueline claims, refuting the notion that Ann Summers simply took advantage of an obviously changing society. "We have empowered women to the extent that there has been a complete turn-around - women are now taking the lead sexually, whereas in the past it was the men who made all the decisions in the bedroom."

This is certainly the popular view, reinforced by the media in shows like Sex and the City, which incidentally was responsible for a huge rise in sales of the Rampant Rabbit vibrator. But are women really "empowered" when they buy sexy nurse outfits and bondage gear - which, in some ways, surely serve to please their partners? It's not exactly the height of feminism.

"Of course, there is still an element of women wanting to please men," Jacqueline says, "but it's a rather old-fashioned view to say that that is the only reason for dressing up or buying body paint. It doesn't mean women are being subservient. I think many of them do it to please themselves as well, because it makes them feel sexy, and everyone wants their man to find them sexy - if he doesn't, he's in big trouble, isn't he?!"

As you would expect from one of the UK's most successful businesswomen, Jacqueline certainly knows her customers, and claims that they are particularly product-aware, the Rampant Rabbit being a case in point. But the shops are far from being a female-only preserve, with male customers making up 50 per cent of the clientele at weekends and plenty of couples shopping together, although Jacqueline - facts at her fingertips at all times - says that during the week 74 per cent of customers are women. In terms of sales, Ann Summers has introduced equality rather than completing the circle that began with sleazy sex shops aimed solely at men.

It's a mark of Jacqueline's undoubted business nous that Ann Summers has successfully presented the best of both worlds where sex products are concerned, offering some genuinely risqu items alongside the fun stuff such as edible underwear, penis-shaped chocolates and mischievous drinking games. The "nudge-nudge, wink-wink" side of sex is very much alive and well in the country that will never lose its fondness for harmless sauciness.

Other best selling items include a wide variety of costumes such as Barrack Babe, Air Hostess, Prairie Girl and - for the guys - a variation on the Superman outfit. The lingerie, though sexy, takes a similarly tongue-in-cheek theme, with collections entitled Madame Fifi, Harlot and Lady Chatterley. The pink and cutesy Cup Cakes and Angel Delight ranges appeal to younger customers, as do the cheeky slogan T-shirts and the vast selection of hen night essentials.

There is also the bondage range, and it is arguably this type of merchandise in particular which represents the final outrage for those already uncomfortable with the idea of the high-street sex shop. Although Ann Summers is a runaway success story, it has sometimes encountered high-profile opposition, for instance the refusal of the Bluewater shopping mall to allow a store within the complex, and the row over whether the company could advertise for staff in Job Centres.

"Uninformed people are occasionally offended, but the times are changing," declares Jacqueline. "When the Job Centre row went to court, the judge ruled in our favour, and we are now in talks with Bluewater about opening a shop there after all. People do want Ann Summers on the high street - the amount of stores we now have is proof of that."

Jacqueline has plans to open yet more outlets in the UK and worldwide, and will eventually take over as chairman of her family's £515m empire, which includes Gold Air International, Birmingham City Football Club and various property and publishing interests. She is regularly listed by national publications and organisations as being one of the most influential, most powerful and most inspirational women in retail and in the entire UK, while Ann Summers itself has won a number of accolades.

As well as being the subject of several TV documentaries, Jacqueline co-presented the 2005 BBC series Mind Your Own Business, which in one episode featured the makeover of the Bon-Bini boutique in Hagley. It's hard to think of someone better suited to advising small businesses on how best to grow - after propelling sex shops well and truly into the mainstream despite male scepticism, she is an appropriate role model both for the business world and for women in the workplace.