Bonny Hall had never even seen a sex toy before she met adult website Lovehoney’s co-founders, Neal and Richard, when she was 21. She had befriended the pair on her lunch break, popping across the road from her job to their warehouse on the outskirts of Bath, England, for a chat. Soon, she started re-arranging their shelves.
“I couldn’t resist,” she says with a laugh. “I think they offered me the job based solely on my organizational skills!”
That job was ostensibly to oversee inventory, pick and pack orders and manage returns and website content, but over the years it has blossomed into product director, a title that comprises both unearthing the world’s hottest new sex toys and designing new ranges for Lovehoney’s own brand of vibrators and accessories.
“The best thing about my role is that I get to travel the world and work with so many fascinating people,” Hall says. “The worst thing is also the travel… when I travel, all good intentions to go to the gym and to eat healthily and to get more sleep go out of the window. It’s a blessing and a curse.”
An average day
Like most women, Hall’s days are filled with emails, mostly from suppliers around the world. She spends the first few hours at her desk fielding responses, before her regular Skype meeting with Lovehoney’s factories. After this, it’s time to hit the spreadsheets and take a look at the weekly sales.
“My afternoons are often reviewing product samples that are delivered that day,” she says. (And yes, by product samples she means sex toys, accessories and lubricants.) Her office receives up to three courier deliveries a day with boxes and boxes of new samples, and “the faster we can feedback on the samples, the faster we can bring new products to market.”
Something surprising, she says, is the office “taste test” of new flavored lubricants. “We can spend a month testing different batches of flavored lubricants, trying to find the perfect balance of sweetness and tartness,” she admits.
What she looks for in a sex toy
One of the most rewarding things about the job, Hall says, is empowering women and helping them get in touch with their sexuality. “I think that sex toys are still perceived as a ‘replacement’ for the real thing and that only single people use them,” Hall says. This is a huge misconception in her opinion. “They really are an enhancement to a couple’s sex life and are there to be enjoyed and to have fun with.”
Before a toy is stocked on Lovehoney it has to pass Hall’s rigorous rounds of tests. This includes interrogating whether there’s a gap in the market for the product, whether it offers something unique to the customer, whether it’s functional, well-branded and sleekly designed.
“We also sometimes will get the product human tested prior to making the final decision, especially if it’s a brand-new technology or new design as this gives us a lot more detailed feedback about how the product works in use,” Hall explains.
These questions helped Hall design the bestselling Fifty Shades of Grey product range, designed in tandem with E.L James. There are more than 100 products in the range now, which have sold more than a million units around the world.
The one sex toy every woman should own
“My number one favorite and the product I recommend to all my friends is a wand vibrator,” Hall says, like this one from Lovehoney. “It’s great for solo play but also for couples and for a relaxing body massage.”
Sex toys have come a long way since Hall first entered the business as a 21-year-old. “I’m personally really excited about the changes in product materials and processes that are allowing us to have more fun with the look and feel of products,” she says. Printed and patterned sex toys in bold, bright colors are the norm now, with high-powered tech on the inside to make each product more powerful and long-lasting.
“And if sex toys are a little daunting for your partner, then perhaps start with a sexy game or a soft, teasing blindfold or feather tickler to create a talking to try new things,” she adds.