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Bondara’s year of evolution

Bondara, the Saffron Walden-based business which picked up the ETO Award for Best Online Retailer in 2012, has said that it has developed significantly during the intervening year. Founded in 2006, it’s grown to be one of the UK’s largest retailers of pleasure products but has bigger ambitions for the future.

Bondara MD Chris Simms said: “We were very excited to win the ETO Award for Best Online Retailer last year. Our team has always been proactive in improving the online experience for our customers while at the same time ensuring our suppliers have optimum exposure so we were very pleased to receive recognition from our peers in the industry. Since winning the award, our team has continued to pay close attention to our customers’ needs and to the wider commercial landscape. This has helped us to keep our finger on the pulse, find new ways to engage and inspire our customers on the website and introduce features that help them shop with ease.”

Key to this has been adapting to customer purchasing patterns and new technology, with the introduction of a mobile-optimised website in December 2012. By designing a site which minimises waiting for downloads and makes navigation as easy as possible on a handheld screen, Bondara hoped to improve customer experience and satisfaction. If the upward trend in traffic is any reflection of success, the mobile-platform site has been a winner. Similarly, the company says the introduction of a Consumer Forum on the Bondara site later this summer will help to build customer confidence in the business’s ability to respond to concerns, publicly answer questions and directly engage with its community of consumers. While social media allows some of the same feedback, the forum will help shape Bondara’s buying policy by giving a more discreet place for public discussion of sex toys and other adult products, which perhaps Twitter isn’t best suited to.

* Please note: the version of this story that appeared in the June issue of ETO magazine implied that Bondara’s Consumer Forum had already been launched. This was incorrect. We regret any confusion caused by this error and are happy to set the record straight.