Embarassed about buying some products? Shop online
A growing breed of sites with names like ShopInPrivate.com, Discreet Shoppers and HardToBuy.com that let you buy the things you're too embarassed to buy at the local drugstore according to this Wall Street Journal story (subscription required):
[ShopInPrivate's] Mr. Nardone believes shoppers are worried about buying "I'm a loser" products in public. "The person has to accept the embarrassing health condition they may have before they'll have the courage to bring a product up to the counter."
...While a handful of small Web stores vie for consumer dollars, they are dwarfed by Drugstore.com. The online drugstore giant had net sales of $57.1 million in the first quarter.
Drugstore.com, Bellevue, Wash., opened in February 1999. The site now boasts more than 2.8 million customers. Walter Conner, senior communications director, recounts a nightmarish commercial from the company's early days: A clerk over a loudspeaker calling out a price check on condoms.