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Almost every product category has a market leader, such as Coke, Apple, and IKEA. As for sexual wellness products, it has to be Durex, due to its high-quality product, creative advertising, and providing excellent customer experiences since 1915.

Working in a company that makes sexual wellness products often trigger people’s curiosity. This time, we had the chance to interview Ahsish, the Sales Director of Durex, to uncover the mystery behind Durex. 

Make Purchasing Condoms and Lubricants a Pleasant Shopping Experience

A lot of people find buying condoms awkward and embarrassing, and wouldn’t stay too long in front of the shelf to compare brand and features that best suit their need, instead, we often find ourselves buying loads of things and try to stealthily sneak in a pack of condoms. “We hope couples can enjoy the pleasure of sex in a safe and joyful environment. However, due to the awkwardness, customers just want to get over with the process of buying condoms as soon as possible, sometimes I wonder if they know what they’re buying.” Said Ashish.

It’s also with this finding that Durex decides to bring its products online. “We hope our users can learn more about our products and sexual knowledge to obtain more pleasure in sex. After we launched our store online, we found out customers stayed on the product page for over 2 minutes on average. It’s a great sign that they’re willing to spend more time to read product descriptions, understand what product works best for them, and use it in the right way. In addition, e-Commerce is a rising topic in the retail industry. Til now, 50% of the sales of Durex is from online.” 

Durex is a brand that’s constantly making waves. “Besides our online store, we made a lot of efforts in our marketing strategy. We’ve put a lot of our resources online, such as social media, exclusive brand videos, and online advertising. With the integration of online and offline marketing strategy, Durex has been able to target our audiences more precisely.” Speaking of online advertising, the search engine has strict protocols and limitations to sexual wellness products. “We’re finding creative ways to address that issue and break through the boundaries. For instance, our newest product – Intense Orgasmic Condom, has used “Go Chill” (which sounds like climax in Cantonese) as the tagline for promotion, we also worked with Charlotte – a beauty pageant winner from ViuTV as a spokesperson, and the results were satisfying.”

Durex’s Surprise on Singles Day (11/11) Has Brought Closer Customer Relationship

All of these are not enough to express Durex’s “wildness.” Ashish brought up an event in China, “a few years ago, Durex held an event on Singles Day that went on fire, when customers purchase our condoms they get to print their horoscope on the package; if they bought over a certain amount, they can design their own package.” The sales have boomed in Singles Day and with fully customized packages, the team had to work late hours during that time to ensure all orders are well prepared and good to go. 

Speaking of personalization, Durex’s CRM system is one of the key reasons for the online store to success. “We’re especially fond of SHOPLINE’s end-to-end CRM system. Through our online store, we got more insights about consumer shopping trends, such as purchase amount, age, sex, how long they stayed on the webpage.” Said Ashish. “These data allow us to strengthen customer relationships and quickly plan promotion strategies to deliver to customers, such as birthday discount, shopping bonus, member discount and more. In addition, through online chat, customers can ask for recommendations and get professional replies from our customer service team, which is nearly impossible from offline stores.” 

Consumers are more willing to communicate and connect with Durex online, without feeling shy about it, which brings a closer relationship to both parties. 

Looking 10 Years Ahead into the Future, Durex’s vision of e-Commerce in Hong Kong.

Ashish has years of extensive experience in sales and management. We asked about how he visions the future of e-Commerce, and he said “China is highly developed in the e-commerce field, Hong Kong is in need to catch up. In fact, Durex has tripled on its investment in e-Commerce and will continue to do so. Consumers are also more inclined to shopping online, and one of the reasons is that they can receive personalized discounts.” He also mentioned “The biggest challenge for e-Commerce is the logistics. Generally speaking, Hong Kong is a convenient place, you can get almost every product on the street. If merchants are willing to reduce customers’ shipping cost, it will bring positive impacts on the development of e-Commerce.” 

However, Ashish thinks there’s a lack of investment in e-Commerce in Hong Kong. “e-Commerce in China has investments from Alibaba and other firms. However, there’s not a lot in Hong Kong. But I’m glad that retails are recognizing the importance of online channel, and heading towards that path. Yet, the key lies in the long-term vision and investment of large-scale investors or retailers in the development of e-Commerce.”

Ashish also has great expectations for the Hong Kong market: “Large investors and small companies have a great vision for e-commerce. Markets such as Taiwan and Thailand have great environments. I’m looking forward to the same in Hong Kong.”

Bring Innovation, Push the Limits, and reach Climax!

As the sales director of a large international company, Ashish has considerable experience in corporate management. We asked him for some tips for early-stage entrepreneurs. “It’s necessary to have a business objective and be flexible in business decisions. It’s important to have a vision when starting a business and stay persistent because a successful business will always be attacked by all sides. How far a brand could go depends on whether the entrepreneur can stick to brand reliefs. At the same time, entrepreneurs should be prepared for any contingency and adjust their marketing strategies according to consumers’ behaviors and preferences. Also, they should try constantly to develop innovative business models while the market changes. The ultimate goal is to make your business model continue to grow bigger and bigger.”

The entrepreneurial traits of continuous learning and curiosity are also found in Durex’s DNA. “What makes Durex unique is that we’re always pursuing innovation. And our team constantly strives to create A+ products and promotional content for the brand. We also encourage new product developments and are not afraid of changes. For example, although SHOPLINE has not been on the market for long, but we saw its potential and the advantages the platform could bring to our business so we went for it without hesitation, in order to bring better products and ideal user experience. For consumers, we always adhere to the spirit of learning and innovation.”