Ann Summers Closes Its Party Plan Direct Selling Channel After More Than 40 Years

Ann Summers has closed its direct selling channel, known in recent years as Connect, ending the home party plan business that helped build the company in the early 1980s.

In a notice on its website, the company said that as part of a wider business decision it is no longer accepting new consultant sign-ups, and that the change reflects the evolving ways its customers shop and marks the closure of its direct selling channel. Existing consultants were able to continue shopping and placing orders until midnight on Wednesday, October 1, 2025.

The company's later annual accounts confirmed that it made a strategic decision to close Connect during the year to June 28, 2025, and that the channel ceased trading in October 2025.

For decades Ann Summers sold through independent party organisers, mostly women, who hosted home parties and earned commission on sales. In later years the channel recruited sellers as Sisterhood ambassadors. With the closure, Ann Summers now sells only through its stores, its websites and third-party partners.