Eseniya Shamonina was interviewed by our portal, telling us about the history of Prezervativnaya shop and sharing the concept of a new project to be launched soon.

What type of retail projects have you got by now?

At the moment, of such projects I've got only one-Prezervativnaya shop. This offline shop is 6 years old. It is
located on Myasnitskaya street. The project itself was born two years before. The point is that, at the beginning, the
project used to look as a number of tents working at festivals. Then, an online shop was open. Later, the
shop on Myasnitskaya was established. I've never planned to do online business only. The atmosphere of the place-that's what is
really important for me. I've always dreamt of establishing a cozy place for people. So, the online sales are on
the second place for me. The online shop serves as an additional ground to the physical shop for those who
have difficulties to visit us personally. Still, we aim to attract customers to our shop. It is well-located and has
round-the-clock working hours. It is not only our comfort, the customers are also interested in visiting the shop and choosing
something personally. The online and the offline prices are the same.

What kind of goods are included into the shop's range? Despite of the name, it is not about condoms only, is it?

The condoms prove to be the basis. We do not sell sex toys. Our shop is not of 18+ type.
We sell condoms of any possible types. They are all tested. We choose to sell those items we ourselves are
interested in. We seek to sell high-quality, curious items. We don't aim to represent all existing brands. Our range includes
a great number of lubricants and other love life products, massage oils, for example. And a variety of souvenirs. Our
shop is often thought of as a place for buying guifts-lollipops, chocolate figures, soap sculptures. It is given fun status,
so, it is not a shop selling condoms only. We turned to be a tourist spot, people take their friends
to the shop to show there is a place like this in Moscow.

Going back to condoms, can you name two or three favorite brands, please?

These are Japanese and German condoms, sagami and my size. The variety is huge, I wouldn't name them all offhand.

Nowadays, you are launching another offline project. Before we start discussing it, what's the reason of your decision to start a new project, instead of developing the existing one?

I like doing something different. A new challenge is something I am interested in. It is like a test for
me, I am eager to create something very cool. Prezervativnaya shop is doing well. I could have opened another condom
shop, but this is not so exciting for me, it is like an old chapter. While the new project is
so thrilling. I am the first to be interested in it. There are new tasks, some new experience. One more
condom shop in Moscow would be ok, but they can't be opened in hundreds, for example, they will become unprofitable
then. As for the other cities, I used to deal with franchise, so, I know how complicated it is, as
you have to take so many things under control. People who do that may have the opposite vision or perception,
they may not understand my ideas, and I would have to explain it all as if they were kids. I
opened a project like this in Kaluga. It was undertaken by two girls, but they ended up breaking all the
demands I had put on. In such a context, there is no use trying. It is not worth the trouble.
To make it really profitable, it is necessary to open nearly 20 shops across the country. It takes a lot
of efforts to maintain the appropriate atmosphere. I've heard of some franchise projects, supplied with a detailed brand book, a
good business-like approach and a description of how things should be done. Still, I prefer to work with a friendly,
cordial approach. And with such attitude, it turns to be more difficult to control the whole process.

Let's talk about your new idea then! I mean the offline shop "Spiele-Willy and the jade rod" ("Spiele Willy and nefritovy zhezl"). Tell me about it, please.

The desire of establishing a shop like this appeared two years ago. The complete perception was born at the same
time. Within six month, we have drafted everything, including the name, the design. Everything was ready for opening. And then
I had been looking for a suitable place. As the result, the place I finally rented for the shop, is
not perfect. But I was just exhasted of searching for the right one. This place is more appropriate than those
I had seen earlier. I had been looking for a place at the heart of Moscow, on Pokrovka street, for
example. It was important to find a place in the pedestrian zone, with great number of cafes, as many people
go there for an evening walk. So, it should be have been some good part of the centre, with big
traffic and expensive rent. I was against opening something small, on trial, for then having to arrange something better. I
believe that once you decide to do something, you should do it well from the beginning. I was considering Pyatnitskaya
street, by the metro station. But, it didn't work. First, there was no room for rent. Second, if there was,
and the rent price was acceptable for me, the owners were reluctant to rent that room for a sex shop.
Those places are good, profitable ones, they were fought for. While the rest of the options were simply inappropriate for
me. It proved to be pretty difficult to find a cool, spacious place in the centre, owned by a person
who welcome the idea of a sex shop. It took me one year and a half. The room was found
in late November. The rental agreement was signed in early December. But the building where the room was located has
been under reconstruction till nowadays. This building has four floors. It was completely cleaned inside, the utility systems were substituted.
It is a very big construction, all the four floors involved. The works were delayed. Three weeks before the opening
they had only put the water, while the electricity was still on temporary basis. Nowadays, the works are coming to
an end, so, on July, 18th, the shop will be open. This date can be considered to be the official
opening date. We have time to finish the preparation works. Besides, by that date, the World Cup will be over,
still, the date is not much later. As for the concept. On the website I indicated that all shops are
devided into two types: a market or a boutique. And nothing for the creative young people. I don't talk about
those of eighteen years old, they do not need our sex toys yet. I mean, young people aged from 28
to 38, who are solvent yet progressive. I don't say the other sex shops are bad and have got everything
upside down. I don't mean that. There are many shops I consider to be a dump, but there are others
and they are numerous. The latters have owners I respect greately, as they had done it all very well. Good
job! However, they have another business direction. With my shop, I aim to cover the niche for the creative people,
who needs something more vivid than a market or a boutique. I don't mean my shop is based on pure
entertainment, still, it is more lightweight.

You mean, sex is something cheerful?

Well, yes, on the one hand, sex means fun. To be more clear, I would say, it is something natural.
Yes, sex is natural! When I was drafting this concept, I was making a lot of inquiries, I asked about
a hundred people, my friends and strangers, about their experience at sex shop, in order to understand what is missing.
I realized that, in the majority of cases, people miss this kind of lightness. At a sex shop, they feel
awkward, as if they had found themselves at some indecent place, they don't feel at ease. My aim is to
set up a shop which will take away this awkward sensation, for people to be more extraverted than in other
sex shops. Will I succeed? I don't know. Will my concept work? Or it won't? Still, I must try, because
I consider it to be the right thing.

On your website, you state that looking for vendors, you put the age limit-from 25 to 30. Tell me, please, what's the use of putting such limits? Why do you think an experienced woman, aged 40, talking about sex and adult goods with simplicity, doesn't serve as your employee? Can a young person arise confidence within this sphere?

Well, it is also based on opinion polls. Consider the fact that I had been asking people of different age.
The majority of those who are within my target audience' age (28-38), say they are confused by vendors of older
age, of those mature women. Of course, it is a double-edged sword. When the vendors are too young, just looking
at them, you think they probably know nothing about sex. But, I hope they will be able to inspire confidence.
I am very strict at choosing employees. At the moment, I enjoy an amazing team. The new project will get
almost the whole staff from Prezervativnaya, while the latter will get a girl who had been on maternity leave. I
trust them a lot as employees. They are brilliant at talking to clients. And I can watch people of different
age getting confidence with them. Moreover, I've already found a new employee, a girl. I haven't seen her working, I
am still instructing her. But I can guess she is a sort of person able to win clients. Besides, that's
the peculiarity of the shop, it implies certain amount of playfulness, lightness and a complete loss of awkwardness. Young people
are easier at copying with awkwardness and maintaining a light environment as they are naturally more active, cheerful, light-hearted and
carefree. That's why I've got such vision. I might be wrong, it remains to be seen. By now, I am
full of hypotheses regarding everything: the concept, the staff... As for the staff, the problem is generally solved. What is
missing are the boys for the night hours. I am unwilling to let the girls work at night, while, at
other shops, there are women to work at night, including Prezervativnaya shop. They are often students, they go to uni
in the morning and work at night. But I am afraid of leaving a sex shop, located in such a
crowded place, for the girls' account. It is much more difficult to hire a male employee. I've got a boy
at Prezervativnaya, whom I consider perfect at communication. Another one is to begin working, still, I don't know whether we
match or not.

As far as I am concerned, you appreciate the atmosphere of the place, both in Prezervativnaya and in your new project, "Spiele-Willy...". What do you mean to do for getting it, apart from staff selection and decoration? Perhaps, you plan to hold some kind of events? How can you maintain this atmosphere?

The greater part of the success is guaranteed by the staff, the rest is supported by the design, the product
range, etc. I wanted to reach a perfect match between the shop's furniture (the showcases, the shelves, the colouring) and
a rather complicated design pattern. The interior designer and I have spent a lot of time drawing it all. The
concept seems simple, but it should be also attractive. We also included the printing: we are going to distribute small
books talking about the sex toys, what they are meant for. It is pretty costy. We are going to distribute
them at both "Spiele willy" and Prezervativnaya. They are not product brochures, there have no brands represented. They are not
for sale. They are a kind of "educational stuff". Despite the costs, I consider this to be a useful investment
for rising sex culture in Russia. Many people feel awkward, not knowing what to do with these toys, what they
serve for. I would hold some events with pleasure. But at my small room, of 36 square metres only, I
am not able to do it. I hardly find some room for the stock. The goods have already been purchased.
They need to be distributed properly, considering the merchandise matrix, 1 C accounting, the pricing. The employees have to be
instructed, they are already in it. Despite the fact that they took part in a training, at mini Thai Fest,
for example, they still need to get well-acquainted with the stock. Before the shop is open, I can't say anything
else. The conception and the idea are drafted, as for the result, we will see it next.

How quickly do you expect to get your investment back?

My financial model says it can take three years. It will probably take more or less time. But three years is a usual term for such kind of projects.

The most impatient of you can visit the website of the shop and look forward to its opening, together with the project's owner, Eseniya Shamonina!

The company shared some opinions regarding the general problems of the adult toys market. While the facts are solid and undeniable,
some claims can differ greatly from the traditional vision. The story is about sex shops' routine and the tips for
attracting customers. The information corresponds to the authors' point of view and is given in a witty and humorous manner.

Erotic Fantasy is an exclusive distributor, working with many notorious brands, such as pjur, wicked, b-vibe, le wand,
the rabbit company, crazy girl, love in luxury, hustler lingerie and others. Many brands are represented by Erotic Fantasy exclusively.
The company got a number of awards for its merit in the professional sphere and is constantly striving to undertake
new approaches. To rest on the laurels is not the company's style. In particular, Erotic Fantasy supplies many American brands,
one part of them has become very popular in Russia, others are making their way on the adult toys market
of our country.

On the last day of spring, as the Chief Editor of the portal, I came to the capital and visited
the office of the company Erotic Fantasy. Its people agreed to share their vision, their strategy and told me about
the way they do business. The first thing I felt entering the office is the big space. Once you leave
the street, you find yourself in a spacious lobby, all the rooms, located there, seem spacious as well. This area
is very different from the street you come from, so, you feel free and relaxed. It may be because there
is nothing hidden in the corners, in a shameful way. There are shelves with items on them and dummies wearing
fashion-forward erotic sets, some funny toys and lubricants. You can see and touch any of them. 

We had a conversation with Kseniya Borisova, the founding member of the company. The thoughts she articulated turned to be my notes and are posted below, uncensored, not edited. The company' opinion is expressed in the first person.

***

We have always been apart from the Russian erotic market's common flow, we tried many strategies, product categories and trademarks
that have already finished their life cycle on market, or failed to get any successful position, while many of our
branch neighbours start tring these goods and ideas at present. Our current strategy also differs from that of other companies
on market. Three or four years ago, we estimated the erotic market' perspectives through the prism of the economic situation
of that time. We decided to change our basic niche of middle-class goods by that of premium items. The decision
was thoroughly estimated and taken in a conscious way. Since then, we have been watching that the decision we once
made fits perfectly for the development of Erotic Fantasy, according to the financial rates.

We are up to date with everything that happens of the erotic market of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Some features across our country are similar to those of the Member States of the EAEU, that form a single customs area with Russia. 

1. Sex shops' attendance. While the rest of the world is driven by positive sex culture, within the EAEU this topic
remains uncovered. Many people avoid entering a sex shop, being scared or feeling awkward. We, the market players, are to
blame, as there are few shops people are not scared to step into. The windows and the showcases are covered
with banners saying "Intimate", what you can see there are those orange dummies, the items hidden in plastic bags, those
scarlet walls, the employees not wearing uniform, the lack of testers, including the cosmetics, etc. Fortunately, all this mess starts
changing, yet, hard work is to be done furthermore. The sex shops' attendance is very poor, in comparison to the
stores of lingerie, beauty products or gadgetry. Many of our retail clients across Russia and within the EAEU report they
have approximately ten customers a day at offline shops, while the online shops feel blessed if they manage to get
1000 people a day. Only with the oldest and the most popular shops and players this figure can reach 8-15
thousand customers a day. Let's compare then. Such online store as pudra.ru has more than 30 thousand visitors daily, despite
the existence of l'Etoile and ile de Beaute. Sviaznoy has more than 400 thousand visitors a day (with Evroset', the
manufacturers' monobrands, Mvideo, Eldorado in the background) and so on. In general, the figures of mass market are far beyond
those of sex toys market. Mind the fact that we are not considering conversion and other indicators, we are talking
about attendance only. With the attendance rates for adult shops being so low, the priority task, in our opinion, is
to raise the average check's amount. Even with one thousand people, paying 500 roubles each, the total will not exceed
500000 roubles, one half of this sum had been spent on purchasing, so, you get only 250 thousand, and now
you are to pay everybody who caters for those 1000 purchases. 

2. Sex shops' merchandise is not the basic necessity, thus, our potential customers shape a limited segment of population. That's ok, though.
Sex itself plays different roles in different people's lives. We should understand it and avoid bothering the clients who just
came to get acquainted with the world of sex shops by offering them anal lubricants and dildos. We have witnessed
two cases recently. One of the market players posted a video telling the vendors about "the things a newcomer may
be offered at a sex shop". And then the author listed the whole range there, from cosmetics to dildos, erection
rings and floggers. People who spent years working in the adult industry seem to have forgotten what it means to
be a newcomer at a sex shop. The occupational deformation is a frequent problem, we have not skipped it either.
We control ourselves, as it can be harmful for our business. Another example is a post on social networks about
what the sex shops' owners and the senior managers find about distributing samples. They think people should not be given
sachets of cosmetics, as they can only take the sample without buying a larger tube. The fact that, following this
practice, the shop can acquire a loyal customer for only 15-50 roubles (the sample's value) is not considered seriously. Everybody
wants to get the profit here right now, instead of bothering themselves with building some business relations that can last
for years. People are scared of investing 15-50 roubles! They are afraid that the client, after trying a lube or
a perfume from the sachet, will buy them at another store. Following this logic, all the electronic shops should urgently
hide those samples of home appliances inside the cupboards and should never show them to the clients. What if a
client takes a look at iPhone at Eldorado store and buys it at Mvideo shop? The whole work for nothing! 

3. Sex shops' position. One can frequently hear adult shops being referred to as stores of health and families' well-being. It
may sound sharp, but, in our opinion, such strategy is ambiguous. It can attract a lot of negative feedback from
the opponents of the sexual liberation. Besides, people with a degree in Medicine are not likely to work at sex
shops, so, the latters have no ground for offering sex items for one's health. An intimate shop is meant for
selling goods for sex, for comfortable intimate life, for entertainment and for leaving the severe reality behind, in form of
an intimate game. Sex shops' influence on family life is implicit. The same we could say about a supermarket, it
can also be called "a shop for families' well-being". The whole family sits down for dinner in the evening, such
things can make people closer to each other. If the family has got problems, they cannot be addressed with a
new catsuit or fresh tangerines. We can hardly imagine how a flogger or an iron anal plug or a fisting
dildo could benefit one's health. These are different spheres. In our sales strategy, we hardly ever consider sex shops to
be something able to strengthen the family relations or benefit one's health. Their mission is to provide entertainment, personal care
and that of the partner, and to raise the quality of life. As for the family and health, they can
serve only implicitly. 

4. New type of clients. We can devide the potential customers into two groups: the first one is comprised of those
who consume, the second one-from those who choose. The former generation of consumers seeks to satisfy their necessities. They would
say:  "I need a vibrator, this one can vibrate, it means it serves". The up-to-date purchasers are those who choose,
they like to select the best goods from a range of good items. Think of a supermarket or a beauty
shop, whatever. What can you frequently see there? Right! Everybody is reading the labels, checking the expiry date, the manufacturer'
data, other buyers' comments upon the goods on the Internet. These users act this way: "What are the best vibrators
you have got? Ok, I will choose something from these ones." After that, the client studies the stuff, the item's
properties, its safety, has a look at the warranty card, estimates the design and the comfort of usage, reads online
comments and finally chooses a piece having all these parameters on the desired level. This issue of the changing customer's
type, perhaps, is the most deep and challenging, but it has always brought good results, in the form of rising
incomes. At the moment of shaping our merchandise matrix, we rely on the theory of generations. Till now, we have
been satisfied with the output this knowledge enables. 

5. Goods of frequent demand. Items of advanced technologies-smart phones, computers or even cars, are, probably, what sex industry entrepreneurs prefer. We
all like visiting modern supermarkets, drugstores, clothes shops and so on. Everyone is eager to make their life more comfortable
with the household appliances, preferably, of the latest model. That's the way people behave worldwide. However, when it comes to
sex shops, people must have forgotten we are now in 2018! We can still find battery-powered items on wholesale market,
old-fashioned wrapping, if any, with no warranty provided and we can even see some odd devices of unknown purpose, made
only because factories are able to make them, misconsidering the end customers' needs. Imagine a client who has recently chosen
a hybrid automobile, is using voice control on his smart phone and ordering food through a tablet application. Can you
think of a situation when he enters a sex shop, saying something like this: "Can I have that massager with
N-type batteries, my favorite type, you know? Don't bother yourself with showing me the warranty card, as this item's paper
wrapping, with a tick in front of the article number, on the side, inspires me great confidence towards both the
manufacturer and the shop. Don't even think of getting it out of your glass showcase, what if I can't control
myself and steal this sex art masterpiece! You needn't explain what is this items' difference from the other 28 looking
totally alike that are placed on the next shelf. I can pretty see the difference among them!". Another plot: a
girl comes in. She came by Uber taxi, paid by card, using online banking service on her smart phone, she
has recently posted a comment on Instagram about a new powder nail coating she got at a beauty salon. She
has got a bag by Calvin Klein on her shoulder, is wearing a perfume by Lancome and a mascara by
Armani, and has plenty of beauty products by Anastasia Beverly Hills, Lime Crime, Clinique and others in her make-up purse.
She loves herself, she takes care of herself and monitors the beauty products she uses. She visits popular beauty shops,
where she can smell and touch all the luxury and non-luxury products, she can read their composition and ask a
shop assistant for advice. Imagine her entering a sex shop, saying she heard her mates discussing some lubricants and they
said those are nice. She is coming closer to the counter, locked with a key, with several tubes arranged there,
their price is of 100 roubles each. She is not allowed to either read the composition or test the product.
She has to turn to the vendor, who is watching a soap opera or making a video about how to
put make-up properly. She asks: " Can I have that tube? I need a lube urgently, it is a lube,
actually? I don't care about who and where made it, how well it lubricates or smells. I am sure you
have got only trustworthy brands with centuries-old history. Some time ago, I ordered a pair of shoes by INCH2, having
paid a deposit for the full cost. You have got the same level of quality as those handmade, best quality
leather shoes, haven't you? Don't offer me anything beyond 300 roubles. To say the truth, it is only a facial
cream or a shampoo that I pay 4000 and 2000 for, respectively. But this lube is another story. In this
case, I will only apply it on the most sensitive part of my body to be touched by the closest
person of mine. Not a big deal! I simply take your word for it! A plastic pavilion by the metro
station you are located in seems to be a model of both sustainability and confidence in the future." The two
cases are comic, ironic, just hyberbole. However, at times, it seems that this is the way the old-fashioned sex shops'
owners see their customers. One can blame me for focusing on the brands' price range (Dolce&Gabbana, INCH2, Calvin Klein, Armany),
but the point is that even such affordable brands as Nivea, Garnier, H&M, Zara, l'Etoile, Bershka, provide you with open
access to their goods. Think of a store of domestic appliances! The same thing. Even fine jewelry stores are moving
towards a new type of selling- Swarovski in Vienna and Duty Free shops worldwide. Many people say that the customers
are short of money or prefer AliExpress instead or the rivalry is to blame. But the true reason is that
you can't stop the time from ticking! The generations come and go, the technologies are developing, yet sex shops are
stick to their former policy. We started in 2007, and now, in 2018, we can still see some shops that
look exactly the way they looked eleven years ago, it is awful! If you are selling to the modern audience,
it means you are to meet their expectations as for the level of quality, service, goods' availability and you should
let them talk to a vendor. Our clients are ordinary people, with no specific skills or desires. They live in
the same city, they watch the same movies. Arrange the selling process the way they are used to! 

Every existing way of doing business can be ok, as every business person has a specific reason for starting a
company. We are not lecturing business people, we are not imposing our vision, saying our viewpoint is the only solution.
We are sharing our thoughts. Every business person is free to decide which role to choose for their company, still,
it may be useful to get acquainted with alternative minds. Once, a client told us: " Don't be confused, I
haven't opened my shop for money, but as a hobby!" We, the people of Erotic Fantasy, seek to marry the
income and the peace of mind. 

Andrej Nikolaenko, the Director-General of the company COSTUMEshop and the owner of the brand "Le Frivole", in a live interview with our portal's chief editor, told us about his work, his plans and his dreams.

My badge has been ordered. It takes a five-minute walk from the metro station. The office is cozy, the warehouse is
spacious, the employees look friendly and the owner is smiling. On the table we can see packages with lingerie, some
playful figures with play sets on them. It is all business-like and playful, as this business is set for playing
games. Everything is ready for the conversation.

Tell us, please, what did you begin with?

We began with opening a retail shop-a sex shop in Moscow. By the way, this shop is still working. At that time, the range of toys was comprehensive, while the lingerie range looked rather poor. No play sets at all.

How many years ago did you start?

Nine years ago, almost ten. The lingerie we were selling at that time was of bad quality, yet extremely expensive.
Pure inconsistency. We couldn't even complete our shop with good stuff. So, an idea emerged. We understood this was a
niche to be discovered. We started gathering information, looking for suppliers, manufacturers. We went there, found ones, had a talk,
came to an agreement and began working.

I was acquainted with your products at EroExpo, during the bondage session, when the guests were told the play sets had been provided by Le Frivole. The set was amazing, but the model was a well-built girl. So, how do you manage the cases of non-standart body sizes?

In many ways. Some sets, undoubtfully, do not serve for unusual body shape. I mean, if a woman with non-standart
body shape tried on the suit the model had on, you'd get a different effect. But there are suits that
are more appropriate for such body shapes, they are capable to conceal the body's imperfections and to highlight the advantages.
Such items exist. At least, we try to have them on sale, yet, to be honest, the large-size turnover is
not big.

So, it means women feel awkward to use such lingerie?

I wouldn't say they do, but if you compare small sizes to larger ones, the first ones prove to be
much more demanded than the second ones, at least in our shop. It makes no sense, though. As the majority
of the population have got sizes larger than small or medium. I mean, S and M are hardly the most
popular sizes across the country. I remember a story when I purchased some lingerie by the brand HOT. They had
a range of items for larger sizes, perhaps, they still do, I don't know. So, we purchased a significant amount,
about 15 items of larger size, because they used to be on demand. It took us near three years to
sell that range, some items lasted even longer at the warehouse.

So, the larger sizes are demanded, yet not always bought? Can it be explained by the fact people seldom go to such shops?

That's the peculiarity of our shops. From ten to twenty customers-it is a good result! Thus, the average number is ten, successful shops have from twenty to thirty visitors.

Isn't it easier nowadays to have a close look at the item on the website, to read the customers' comments and to order the item without having to go anywhere?

I believe, the retail sales are still viable, as there are people who are unwilling to buy anything without live advice, without touching the item. To order a mobile phone online is one thing, but to buy a vibrator, a lube or a set of lingerie is something different.

Ok, I come to a shop, have a look at the pretty packages with good-looking models demonstrating the lingerie. What happens next? How do I know whether they fit me or not?

On the packages we put some information about the size and the correspondent dimensions. A customer doesn't even need a
vendor, he or she can study the package, with knickers, for example. The decoding is stated there, all sizes are
indicated. While making our products, we aim to provide our packages with the maximum information so that those people who
are unwilling to talk to the vendor could make their choice by themselves. And if I have no idea of
my size, I do need the vendor's advice when I come to a shop. By the way, the vendor will
not only suggest the right size, but will also make it clear how this particular set of lingerie can change
the body shape, through tightening the frame or highlighting the advantages. A good example are the jumpsuits. A frequent question
is whether they are meant for tall or shorter girls.

How do you deal with the height, the width and the fit?

It is quite easy. The item has some percentage of elastane which determines the way the item fits when used.
The elastane is responsible for avoiding the suit to inflate at the bossom level, and guarantees a good fitting instead.
The more elastane the item has, the highest the quality is, the better the item fits. Our products have got
high percentage of elastane, so, they fit perfectly.

Please, tell me about some other items, the novelties..

As for the latest experience, we have launched jumpsuits, they were shown at the recent EroExpo. Frankly speaking, by that
moment, we hadn't got the delivery yet, so, we arranged the pre-orders. The storage unit for shipping was filled by
half with pre-orders. The message was clear to me, it meant we were making what people really need. People won't
pay much for mediocre things. This range includes thirty-one models in white, scarlet, black and beige.

What colours are the most demanded ones?

Black items are always on demand. At the same time, bright colours are also needed. There are people who have
already bought five things in black, so they seek something new. However, not every brand offers a variety of colours.
We do, yet in small amounts, as we can't overload the store with the third-turn items. The stock is based
on the mass consumption goods. We sell our own products, but we are also suppliers of other brands. We have
got an exclusive contract with such brands as "Demoniq", "Casmir" for Russia and Belarus and another exclusive contract for one
collection by "Me seduce".

It depends on what you mean by saying "promoting". If people were eager to buy other products, you would not stop them just saying they should not. You can't say, 'Hey, this brand is better, don't buy anything else'. People won't join the line. People make their choice consciously, they are free to decide.

There are some categories among our clients. First, there are those who have the most confident relations with us, such
partnership has been formed for years. Such clients just take our word. If we say this item is good and
it will be sold well, they buy it. Fortunately, by now, we haven't let anybody down. The second group. These
clients show less loyalty. They make their decision after visiting the exhibition, for example. Some of them will take a
sample to try it on. The deal is made. They buy this item. Despite the fact that the first category
can make an order just looking at the picture, we are honest describing the real state of affairs. For example,
we say that the jumpsuits are meant for the height from 172 to 175 cm. They are not suitable for
each kind of model.

Are you selling only in Russia or also abroad?

To date, we are selling in Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine. The shipping to other countries is to begin.

Where is the manufacturing located?

The knickers are made in Russia, the jumpsuits, the sets are all from China. Well, I see it this way:
it is necessary to distinguish between the two things. Look, the company Apple has no manufacturing of their own, has
no factories. Their specialization is not about the technical side of the matter but about making up things which people
are willing to pay for, and they really pay much more for Apple's items than for other brands. So is
our task. We aim to create a product which is better and more interesting than the other ones on market,
we prefer to have it sewed than to sew it ourselves. We place orders, make contracts and the factories make
our products for us. It allows us to be more flexible. Nowadays, the best price is in China, so we
have our items sewed in China. Tomorrow the best price could be in Indonesia, so, we'll move our manufacturing to Indonesia. Our clients won't even feel the changes.
If we had our own factory, we would have restrictions, so we would have to change the price in case
a problem occurs. We have many factories actually. If one of them is coming through troubles of any sort, we
can place our order at another manufacturing point, thus, the delivery is not interrupted. Our target is to guarantee the
goods' availability for our customers at the moment they need them. We don't always succeed, but we are trying to.

How big is your warehouse?

It's about 300 square metres. The ceilings are 4-5 metres high. We will have a look at it later.

Tell me about your plans, please. It must be the most exciting part of the interview.

At the moment, we are working on a collection of stockings, as we really need them in our range. The whole market needs to fill this niche, actually. There are some stockings on sale, but we'd like to make something fantastic.

Now your range includes knickers, bras, play suits, baby-dolls, shirts, negligee. Anything else?

Nightgowns, stockings, knickers... I mean, the stockings are present, but they are few. The majority of suits have a pair
of ordinary stockings included. But, the suit will probably last longer than the stockings, so, it is worth buying an
extra pair. A perfect solution would be to provide the shops with items meant to be sold together, with the
maximum variation. Think that the stockings are usually sold in addition, it actually raises the average bill of a shop.
We've got other accessories, apart from those within the set. They are the caps, for example. And we've drafted a
plan of novelties for the current year, but I prefer to save this information for later. The plans are huge.
The task is to grow more than we usually do. In general, we are growing well. For the current year,
the task is to double the sales, apart from the exporting. To double the growth, it is necessary to give
the market such goods that will make people pay you more than ever for them. It is not enough to
provide some items, it is crucial to provide something people really need, so that the sellers could get the maximum
profit out of it.

With the crisis on the background, the demand for your goods hasn't dropped, has it? You are selling entertainment goods, things for joy, not for everyday needs.

Let's mark a line. On the one hand, there are sales of our company. On the other hand, there are
sales at our clients' shops. The latters are more than 400. Some clients prove to have contradictory opinions under the
same conditions, some watch their sales going down, so, they have their puchases frozen for a while, some companies report
a good sales dynamics this month and continue buying this or that. It depends on a particular region. We sell
in almost 70 regions. Some of them are powerful, we have a close partnership, the sales are sustainably high there.
There are also regions where we are present, but in fact the situation is not clear. The clients exist, but
they hardly buy anything. It is not even clear whether they refuse to buy our products or this is their
working style in general.

How big is your company? Is your staff big outside the factories?

Our company has more than 20 employees, perhaps, more than this, at the moment. This year we have grown significantly
but we are going through a transitional period. Have you heard of the theory of seven-year life cycles? Judging by
our company, the theory is valid. We've got a difficult year, a transitional period, we can really feel it: we've
got plenty of tasks, not everyone is ready to work under such pressure, some people leave, naturally, some people join
us, some people come and are dismissed in brief. So, it is a serious staff turnover that we are going
through, the permanent staff includes only two employees. There are two girls that have been working for more than three
years, the rest -for more than a year, others-for slightly less than a year. At first, I felt awkward about
it, then I realised that some people were likely to choose a quiet, peaceful life. I am not. I've got
another view. Naturally, if the company has got a leader like me, it can't run half asleep. We are growing,
it requires great efficiency from every employee. So, those who make efforts, stay.

Recently, we have moved to a new office. A fortnight ago. Here, we look really mature. We've got a conference
room. The warehouse is also here, by the office. The office is a hundred metres away, the warehouse has additional
three hundred metres. We are to visit it soon. Meanwhile, we arranged the working places more effectively, it allows us
to build and hold an integrated working environment.

What's your approach for selecting your team members?

The question is whether people want to do what they are doing. This is essential. My task, as the director,
is to build an environment people want to work in. They shouldn't work here through obligation, or being afraid of
a punishment. They should work here because they want to. Another important point is that people must understand what contribution
they make to the common cause with their part of work. It is essential for people to feel they are
actually team players, aimed to reach the results. It is important. If we succeed with this, we'll succeed with the
rest. Of course, this is not a matter of few days, there are moments of success and failure.

I can see the girls filming here. By the way, do you make your nice videos here at the office or you rent a studio?

The girls are filming the instruction to be used at the warehouse, including the assemblage, the wrapping. We are having
our warehouse regulations registered nowadays. As for the sessions with models, this is a complete event, with a studio, a
screenplay. It is worth making an independent interview. Back to the video the employees are making. We have a training
system. All candidates go through the training course and are tested before joining the company. The newcomers start working here
after having acquired a notion of what sort of company we are and what is customary while working here. At
the warehouse, the staff has been fully refreshed. The former warehouse's manager used to tell me stories about the lack
of time or of anything else. After they were all dismissed, a number of measures were taken, and we managed
to immediately offload the warehouse by half.

Is the process at your warehouse automatic?

Yes, it is. The order is assembled and is passed through a scanner before wrapping. The automatic check is made.
The employees are unable to pass the order to further stages without all the items having been previously scanned. If
they make a mistake by having scanned the wrong code, a mismatch takes place, no goods distribution is possible. Such
way of control allows us to exclude the possibility of an error by 100%.

This method has been introduced recently and is meant to avoid human factor-related errors.

In the nearest future, what exhibitions are you planning to take part in? Or, perhaps, you have been recently exhibited anywhere?

This year, we plan to show the products of Le Frivole for the first time at the international exhibition, EroFame,
in Hannover, Germany. We have already made up a few "hooks" to step ahead among the other companies. I invite
everybody to join EroFame. We will be very pleased if our Russian clients come to encourage us (our stand is
number 168). I have a dream of coming to every big city of the world, going to a shop and
seeing the products of our brand Le Frivole there. This dream is gradually coming true. We have already managed to
sell our items to a number of clients in Italy. So, a start has been made. To develop the international
unit, we have hired a manager with good command of English. He spent the major part of his life in
Great Britain and now he has moved to Russia.

What are your leisure activities?

I read a lot of books. The majority are on business (how to set up a business, how to manage
it, how to provide incentives, etc.). I also read fiction. I consider books and trainings to be very useful for
business development. As a matter of fact, within our industry, there is no company with billions in turnover. Not even
half-billion. The best ones have 200-300 millions in their annual turnover. And I am interested in creating a business worth
several billions. This is really fascinating.

However, to do so, it is not enough to do what others do. To understand what exactly you need to
change, it is necessary to study the examples of those who has already succeeded. For this sake, there are books.
People tell true stories. Another idea proves very interesting to me, yet it is not completely shaped buy now. I'd
like to convene a small society of entrepreneurs from our environment, those who are eager to develop, who never stop
getting new ideas that are briefly fulfilled and incorporated into the business. Such people live in the capital, as well
as in the regions. They are those who look for more than simply covering their major needs. My idea includes
holding the type of events different from the traditional round tables. They should be the meetings for mutual learning, exchange
of experience, not at the level of 'we are all so nice', but at the level of 'I've done it,
this is how it works, come and see it working, perhaps, you will find it useful'.

Are people ready to share such kind of experience? What about the competition?

No problem about it. This is an old wives' tale. Any kind of information is available nowadays. Just because you
know your rival's way of acting, nothing changes, because it is a very difficult task to copy it and to
fulfill it. So, I don't see any problem of sharing one's knowledge. People won't tell you the company's top secret,
of course. Still, as for some interesting things, some specific crucial points, I would hear and share them with pleasure.

The company Luxlite was the first to invite our editor to their office for acquaintance. A live talk with Georg Safaryan, the Marketing Director, and Alexandr Sinyukov, the business development manager, followed.

At the moment, the company's office is located in the northern part of Moscow. It is cozy, the staff is friendly, Georg is charming and has a wide smile. We are holding the conversation in a conference room.

Tell me about the company's history, please.

The company Luxlite was established by three founding members, who have been cooperating since 1992. Officially, Luxlite exists since 2001.
At the beginning, the company was selling lighters, they are still the fundamental area of our business. Meanwhile, promoting the
lighters' range, we had always been conscious of the necessity to diversify the portfolio. Later, the range came to include
condoms, playing cards and electronic cigarettes. The condom range began with simple classical items, being enhanced over time. Such ranges
as "Maximum" and "Exclusive" appeared. They are items of particular use that we call "playing" ones. Nowadays, we are working
on promoting these products, we are going to do their rebranding. The existing range will enjoy some new design, we
are taking pains to raise their quality and, what's important, we are going to save the existing price level. The
only factor able to modify the price is a significant deviation in currency exchange rates. We've got really ambitious plans,
so, now the sales management is object to our personal attention. 

Can you explain how a company making lighters ended up selling condoms? Was this shift motivated by the idea of a gentleman's pocket usually containing a lighter, a condoms and a deck of cards? 

To date, we've arranged a genuine gentleman's kit: a lighter, an e-cigarette, a deck playing cards and a condom. But
in fact, this kit has been arranged due to other reasons. All these items are sold at the cash desk
area. They are always the same people, taking decisions, specific people at the outlet. Despite the fact that these items'
manufacturing principles are different, their factories have nothing in common, still, these pieces are forming a group of non-food industry
and their shelf life is long or unlimited. 

As for the company's development, as I have just said, it began with selling classical condoms, then transformed into playing
ones. Why are condoms closer to lighters in comparison to lollipops, chewing gum? That's their shelf life! If a company
works with lighters, with their shelf life practically unlimited, it is difficult to start selling products with longer shelf life-
from 6 to 12 months. The company would have to realign the whole process. But in case items of several-year
shelf life are added, it proves to be much easier. 

Do you mean, it is explained by the processing peculiarities, on the way from the manufacturer to the outlet?

It involves both business processes and warehousing. It is hard work to switch from a long to a shorter shelf
life, saving the lighters' sales rates at a good level. That's why we chose to deal with non-food products. We
have been developing for the cash desk area, we are still doing so. However, this development is not focused on
intimate sphere. 

Our female examiner has already tried condoms called "Hawaiian cactus". This range has got different sizes, hasn't it? Are these condoms of usual composition? 

Both their length and width are standard. We are working on improving our items' quality at the moment. As with
any mass consumption goods, they are of average size. The rule we follow is simple: we work with the same
manufacturer. For 15 years, we have been cooperating with the same people. We've got almost family-like relationship with all the
factories and their CEOs. Fifteen years, a big term. We are doing so to have the possibility of establishing a
dialogue. One of our employees spends half of his time in Moscow and the other half-travelling abroad on business in
order to control all stages of manufacturing. And we are constantly discussing the ways of raising the quality. The usual
smooth condoms and the playing ones have got the same stuff, as they are made at the same factory. 

Do you personally use your items?

I do. No problem with them. The only thing I left behind is a lighter. I gave up smoking.

Tell me more about your plans, please.

When the crisis of 2014-2015 broke out, the demand dropped, the prices went up, and this let us realize which
processes of ours need further alignment. The company is currently going through global changes of every type, including the partnerships,
the inner processes and the warehousing. We are strict at observing deadlines, the warehouse system is automatic. We used to
do "business as usual", but nowadays, we are planning to get to another level. Our plan is to move to
another office. A building of our own, of 4.5 thousand square meters is being built. And we are working to
guarantee a cutting-edge equipment at our new warehouse, to avoid this type of problems: "someone put it somewhere and forgot
about it, then found, so, what do I have to do with that?" Should we throw this item away or
put it on sale, realizing the reputational risks-to-take? For one year and a half the work on avoiding this has
been done, we don't plan to stop it. 

The average end customer of ours is used to the following practice: rushing to a drugstore, buying anything they offer and feeling satisfied. How can you make people buy your brands? 

For selling at drugstores a number of papers are necessary, we are getting them ready. The process of certification takes
long. We have been waiting for more than 18 months. Not every company can afford it. We can, as we've
got a variety of business lines. A crisis on vape industry market has taken place recently. The companies that have
been developing this unit exclusively, failed, many of them are closed at the moment. Due to a number of lines,
those of them that are successful help the vulnerable ones to get over a crisis. In our case, they help
to get through an eighteen-month process of certification, not mentioning the costs it requires, they are numbers with six figures,
though.

So, you would like to see your condoms being sold at drugstores, wouldn't you?

Yes, we would. As soon as those drugstore market's specific certificates are ready. They are not meant for the whole
brand but are given for every trademark, every package separately. Now, the papers are getting ready for the newly designed
condoms. It means that we are working hard on improving the quality, it is always worth improving, being our supreme
goal to arrive at a new quality level. The consumers will be able to compare our condoms with the famous
brands' items. For this sake, we undertook the certification, the rebranding, the quality management and a global allocation on market,
including our plan to engage a pharmaceutical channel. We will take pains to get it, but we realize this is
an ambitious, challenging goal. 

Does your plan include selling those playing condoms at drugstores?

The playing ones are part of a specific profile. We are trying to enhance it. There are some chains ready
for such challenge. By now, we managed to make a deal with some stores of draft beer, in the Siberian
Federal District. We put one or two articles on their shelves to see whether they are sold. Are condom sales
a peculiar, non-massive channel, as we used to believe? Probably, they will be demanded not only at sex shops, but
also at traditional retail stores. We started with the most ordinary items to avoid people's embarrassment. If the sales at
these chains are successful, we intend to diversify the portfolio. 

Are your products represented in other cities, apart from Moscow?

Our company sells in every region, in every million-resident city, we are present at federal chains, but this is true for other items of ours. As for condoms, we are going to win the market and get expanded. 

Later, we had a walk to take a look around the office, and Georg went on telling us about the company.

Here we are, in the office of the founding members. There are three people, and what makes our business different
from the majority of others, these people come here daily. Each one has got specific things to do, each one
is responsible for a specific business line. For example, one of them is basically responsible for sales. He is always
here, until the late evening. We believe that the business should be under the founding members' permanent control, if not,
it will get in trouble, sooner or later. 

The room where the staff works, the logistics department, the accounting office, twelve sales agents working in the Moscow area,
and two warehouses, the cool one and the heated one. As we plan to move to a new office before
the year ends, the investment for the former office development is frozen. The existing office takes two floors. We've got
our own machinery-six lathes for printing on ligthers and souvenirs, and making our logos on any kind of pieces. Our
manufacturing is one of the biggest in Moscow, there are six lathes, one of them is four-coloured, it allows us
to apply four colours at once, one ultraviolet printing lathe and a unique lathe, the only one in Russia, for
tape-wrapping the lighters. We have got the largest warehouse of lighters in Europe. In particular, we make the flattest lighters
in the world. 

Thank you for an interesting story and your sincere fascination with your business!

From now on, we consider October, 17th of 2017 to be the official opening date and the birthday of the adult goods industrial portal – sexshopers.ru.

Take a blank sheet, place various ingredients on it: sex toys, erotic lingerie and a large list of those manufacturing,
designing, inventing, delivering, selling these items. Season them with curious facts about sex, news about the exhibitions of adult goods, the
pleasure industry's novelties, incredible technologies that seem to be a pure fantasy. Add an opportunity for professionals to get in
direct contact with colleagues, pack it with market reviews and some statistics... 'Shaken, not stirred', James Bond used to say. 

What are we going to get out of this cocktail? And what we have got is the project sexshopers.ru? 

We have started to fill an enormous catalogue of all the adult industry market players, including manufacturers, distributors, online and offline shops and catering companies! If we failed to detect a particular company- please, write to us, the catalogue will be growing and changing along with our business.

The second catalogue is about all of the goods for pleasure! The whole range of both novelties and classical items;
the toys, tiny and big, quiet and buzzing, spinning and still; every vibrator, dildo, male masturbator, every little dress, every
pair of stockings or knickers-they are all sorted, taken into account, arranged by pages, joined together to form a group
and put separately for handy search.

News. News! News about everything regarding this area! Do you know you can have sex being thousands of miles away from
each other and still exchange your sensations to the nearest second? Are you informed of where you can touch those
little things and know what to do with this pretty strangely-shaped toy? When and where is the proximate exhibition held,
who and why are given prizes in this sphere?

The entrepreneurs will be able to raise their business' effectiveness, while the users can improve their love life, which means they can get happier!

Our project will make this world better!

Exactly one year ago, on October, 17th, 2017, we announced the opening of the adult industry sector-specific portal, sexshopers.ru!

Exactly one year ago, on October, 17th, 2017, we announced the opening of the adult industry sector-specific portal, sexshopers.ru!

The story began with a simple desire of setting up a user-friendly platform for gathering some information there- about the
industry players, the products they make and sell, the events, while the most important part is the news about everything
that happens on the adult toys market. This time last year, full of ambition, we started building a lively, informative,
useful and interesting website, equally cozy for both types of the audience, whether b2b or b2c. It seems to us,
in all modesty, that we are on the right way. 

Let's run through the sections of the website. We've got news everywhere! It is located in several parts of the
main page and is taking the major space of the latter! Wherever you go, to the page of a company,
an event or a product, if there is anything concerning those topics, ever published on the website, you can immediately
see it at the page's bottom. Besides, the field on the right of every page has got three tabs containing
news! During the year, the articles' general subject was getting clear. In most cases, we are writing about the novelties,
talking about the events, supplied with the impressions of the real participants, we are posting a lot of companies' news
as well as the legislative changes. The articles labelled by the tags "test drive" and "sextoystesters" are extremely popular on
the website. As you may guess, they have to do with sex toys' tests, and it happens to be pretty
hot there! We also love to publish interviews and live talks with our colleagues in the sex toys industry.

By the way, now, it is easier than ever for you to find these articles, although they do not form
a particular section or point of the menu. All you need do is enter the key words into the search
request area, and you are going to get the whole list of the sites where these words have ever been
mentioned, distributed by sections and supplied with the text extracts’ quotations. It is a new service we have launched very
recently. Even such routine thing as the search option can prove to be very handy and operational!
A pair of other comfortable services is news mailing and price comparison. Thanks to the first one, you don't need
to visit the website daily for some new information. You can get a brief digest on everything that has been
published during the week and you can go directly to the news you are interested in. The second service will
be useful for the shops’ owners, as it allows them to get a list of wholesale companies with a particular
product in stock and its price. 

The coolest piece of news sounds the following way: sexshopers.ru speaks English now! To coincide with the anniversary date of the portal's
launch, we have opened a section in English! The news of Russian sex toys market is being accumulated here. From
now on, our foreign colleagues will be able to read the things we put on the portal without having to
use automatic translators, we are going to get closer to each other thanks to a common language!

What else? Come to visit our stand, and the Chief Editor in person will be pleased to show and tell you everything about the website!
Now, the most interesting point! To know each other better, we are launching a project called "The faces of EroExpo-2018"! The participants will not only get their photos in the exhibition's area, but they will also take an active part in prize drawing! We are waiting for you all!

In conclusion, we would like to thank Dmitry Korobitsyn, the portal's mastermind, for his aspiration to bring the industry players
together and his desire to help them. We are also grateful to the company "Postavschik Schastya" for having provided the
area for our portal and for having been supporting its work. We thank everybody who is taking part in the
website's life: the programmers who make it lively and user-friendly, the authors of the texts and reviews, those who translate
the news from English into Russian and vice versa, those who make up banners and select illustration, those who write
on social media; everyone who has been interviewed, shared some information and their experience with us! On behalf of the
editorial office, we thank all of you! 

Yours Sincerely,
Marina Chicheva, the Chief Editor

Irina Kramer, representative of Satisfyer is going to give an online presentation, organized by the company "C-Market". The participants will see some vivid novelties that combine German quality and cutting-edge technologies.

On Friday, the 2nd of November, 2018, at 11.00 a.m. (Moscow time) the online launch of the new collections by Satisfyer is to be held. The presentation will be given by Irina Kramer, the official ambassador of the manufacturer. 

Irina Kramer will tell the audience about the expansion of a product range called Satisfyer Men, about some totally new ranges-Satisfyer Vibes, Satisfyer Multifun, Satisfyer Balls, and the innovative stimulators, Luxury.

The organizing company, C-Market, believes that the presentation will be of great use for the professional market players. It is especially important to make the sellers join the webinar, since these novelties have already appeared on the sex shops' shelves.

The access to the webinar can be provided by personal managers of the company C-Market. 

Eseniya Shamonina has lots of energy, it is amazing. Last summer she managed to open a new-format sex shop in the center of Moscow, launched an application for couples, an initiative, co-authored with her husband, and she also succeeded in a purely domestic project.

We have already published some information about "Spiele Willy and a jade rod", a sex shop that was officially opened on July,
18th. The shop's opening was followed by "Spi-Wi" application's launch meant for the couples that want to get acquainted with each
other's sex preferences. The partners are to answer a number of questions about the new practices they would like to
try. In case their wishes coincide, the application will inform them. If one of the partners said "Yes" and the
other chose "No", their answers remain to be a secret. Besides, the application can give some advice and recommendation concerning
the practices both partners are interested in.

Eseniya agreed to inform us on how the application had been created and told us about the ideas it takes to the users.

At the beginning, give me some basic information on the application, please.

Ok, I can tell you about the application's idea and where it came from.

I will say right away, this application is not my invention, but a joint project with Dmitry Voidakov, my husband.
This proves to be a product of our collective work. It was born during a training course on digital products'
creation and management we were attending, and we decided to set up this application as part of our homework. It
was only an idea, at first, just homework. After that, we sat down to think it over and found it
was a fantastic, useful thing for lots of people! A huge number of people can sign in their acquaintances and
friends there. We realized, there are plenty of problems in the life of different couples, those who have been living
together for a long time and those who are at the beginning of their relations. Frequently, these problems take place
because people are not able to talk frankly to each other, so, the spark between them goes fading, that's why
many couples fall apart. Sex is the basis of the relations between a man and a woman. There can't be
any perfect match if the couple has got troublesome sex. We thought it would be nice to help those people
to understand each other and hence let them feel happier. Yet when I was interviewed about the shop, I said
that our ultimate goal was to provide people with happiness. The application's objective is the same-to make people happy. And,
though this idea has already taken large sums of money, we have never meant to get any profit. It proves
to be a sort of gift to the world community. Still, the application gives reference to our shop. It is
like a promo, a pleasant detail, why not?

Are those application's tricks an exclusive invention of yours? Did you borrow any of the ideas you had seen in other similar applications?

When the idea was born, we thought someone might have invented similar product and we started seeking analogue things. We
found an application, a paid one, it has English version only, and every additional set of questions is to be
paid for, a dollar or two. So, this is a paid application, designed for raising funds exclusively. There, we borrowed
nothing but some general ideas concerning the way it should look like. But we designed it all and wrote the
texts by ourselves. Perhaps, they are not examples of high proficiency, neither I nor Dima is a professional designer, we
have never dealt with applications, but I think it proved to be better than the original one.

It proved to be fantastic! Can you see how many people have downloaded the app and are using it nowadays? Have you got access to this kind of statistics?

Yes, I can see the figures, but they are too low, the users are our acquaintances only, as we are not
currently pushing our application anywhere. It has to do with the fact that the Android version is not ready yet.
We had two different programmers working for us, one on them was coding for iOS, the other-for Android. That's why
we have neither advertised it nor discussed this topic with bloggers by now. The iPhone application is ready. The Android
version needs more time, it can't be downloaded anywhere yet. When it is completely finished, it will appear. We do
not pretend to let people feel disappointed with a version being somewhat raw.

Do you plan to update the application after a while? Perhaps, with new sets of questions or anything else?

We do. We will probably have it updated. We've got an idea of supplying more detailed advice and recommendation as
for some specific issues. Then, we plan to add more practices, to have the texts' errors corrected and to have
the text paraphrased and improved. In case it deals with our devices, we are going to share detailed recommendation about
what is useful and what's the difference between the items. Talking about BDSM, for example, and the floggers, in particular,
we are going to give advice on how to choose a nice piece. If one day we decide to set
up an online sex shop, we will probably get the two projects interconnected. At the moment, we are completely against
making Spiele-Willy an online store, as it is very hard to compete on price. I am sure, what we really
want is to improve the content's quality, as for commercializing it (I don't mean people must pay, I am talking
about the links), we need time to think it over. It is not easy to launch the shop and the
application at once. However, as Dima and I are getting closely involved in both things, I believe, they are going
to improve fast.

I've got a question regarding advice on sex toys and techniques. It seems to be your unique invention. Is it true? A variety of things are discussed on the Internet, but I have hardly ever seen similar recommendation.

We haven't made any detailed study within this area. There is an application which is sustainable and quite good, but it
has no information of that sort. We spent a lot of time thinking it over, asking ourselves: what can make
us feel good? Then, we set up focusing groups, held interviews, we did so much! What we did was not
about taking any existing application in order to improve it-we undertook a several-month investigation. It may not be noticed, but
it was conducted. Thus, the idea was created by us only.

I have seen nothing of what your application offers. I will be able to evaluate it when the Android version appears.

The application was not made for economic gain, so, we can't afford hiring those super-fast programmers. We only have to hope the Android version will be finished soon.

Tell me, please, what was the opening of Spiele-Willy like?

To a certain extent, the equipment' suppliers let us down and everything didn't look as nice as we wanted, but
nowadays everything is ready. A great number of our friends took part in the opening ceremony. There were also many
guests, who had heard about the event and came around. I think, it was a good start for the shop
and now the sales dynamics is obvious. People come around, show their interest. We are absolutely conscious of what our
current aim is. It is not about selling any specific goods (while it is also an objective of ours), but
about getting people involved into this sphere. We are visited by those who have never been at sex shops and
we are scattering the seed of love towards unusual sex toys and we are looking forward to see them coming
back.

Thank you for both your positive energy and your magic ideas!

We are doing our best. It is you whom I should thank.

Eseniya Shamonina has lots of energy, it is amazing. Last summer she managed to open a new-format sex shop in the center of Moscow, launched an application for couples, an initiative, co-authored with her husband, and she also succeeded in a purely domestic project.

We have already published some information about " title=""Spiele Willy and a jade rod" shop" target="_blank" href="https://shpi-vi.ru/">Spiele Willy and a jade rod", a sex shop that was officially
opened on July, 18th. The shop's opening was followed by "Spi-Wi" application's launch meant for the couples
that want to get acquainted with each other's sex preferences. The partners are to answer a number of questions about
the new practices they would like to try. In case their wishes coincide, the application will inform them. If one
of the partners said "Yes" and the other chose "No", their answers remain to be a secret. Besides, the application
can give some advice and recommendation concerning the practices both partners are interested in.

Eseniya agreed to inform us on how the application had been created and told us about the ideas it takes to the users.

At the beginning, give me some basic information on the application, please.

Ok, I can tell you about the application's idea and where it came from.

I will say right away, this application is not my invention, but a joint project with Dmitry Voidakov, my husband.
This proves to be a product of our collective work. It was born during a training course on digital products'
creation and management we were attending, and we decided to set up this application as part of our homework. It
was only an idea, at first, just homework. After that, we sat down to think it over and found it
was a fantastic, useful thing for lots of people! A huge number of people can sign in their acquaintances and
friends there. We realized, there are plenty of problems in the life of different couples, those who have been living
together for a long time and those who are at the beginning of their relations. Frequently, these problems take place
because people are not able to talk frankly to each other, so, the spark between them goes fading, that's why
many couples fall apart. Sex is the basis of the relations between a man and a woman. There can't be
any perfect match if the couple has got troublesome sex. We thought it would be nice to help those people
to understand each other and hence let them feel happier. Yet when I was interviewed about the shop, I said
that our ultimate goal was to provide people with happiness. The application's objective is the same-to make people happy. And,
though this idea has already taken large sums of money, we have never meant to get any profit. It proves
to be a sort of gift to the world community. Still, the application gives reference to our shop. It is
like a promo, a pleasant detail, why not?

Are those application's tricks an exclusive invention of yours? Did you borrow any of the ideas you had seen in other similar applications?

When the idea was born, we thought someone might have invented similar product and we started seeking analogue things. We
found an application, a paid one, it has English version only, and every additional set of questions is to be
paid for, a dollar or two. So, this is a paid application, designed for raising funds exclusively. There, we borrowed
nothing but some general ideas concerning the way it should look like. But we designed it all and wrote the
texts by ourselves. Perhaps, they are not examples of high proficiency, neither I nor Dima is a professional designer, we
have never dealt with applications, but I think it proved to be better than the original one.

It proved to be fantastic! Can you see how many people have downloaded the app and are using it nowadays? Have you got access to this kind of statistics?

Yes, I can see the figures, but they are too low, the users are our acquaintances only, as we are not
currently pushing our application anywhere. It has to do with the fact that the Android version is not ready yet.
We had two different programmers working for us, one on them was coding for iOS, the other-for Android. That's why
we have neither advertised it nor discussed this topic with bloggers by now. The iPhone application is ready. The Android
version needs more time, it can't be downloaded anywhere yet. When it is completely finished, it will appear. We do
not pretend to let people feel disappointed with a version being somewhat raw.

Do you plan to update the application after a while? Perhaps, with new sets of questions or anything else?

We do. We will probably have it updated. We've got an idea of supplying more detailed advice and recommendation as
for some specific issues. Then, we plan to add more practices, to have the texts' errors corrected and to have
the text paraphrased and improved. In case it deals with our devices, we are going to share detailed recommendation about
what is useful and what's the difference between the items. Talking about BDSM, for example, and the floggers, in particular,
we are going to give advice on how to choose a nice piece. If one day we decide to set
up an online sex shop, we will probably get the two projects interconnected. At the moment, we are completely against
making Spiele-Willy an online store, as it is very hard to compete on price. I am sure, what we really
want is to improve the content's quality, as for commercializing it (I don't mean people must pay, I am talking
about the links), we need time to think it over. It is not easy to launch the shop and the
application at once. However, as Dima and I are getting closely involved in both things, I believe, they are going
to improve fast.

I've got a question regarding advice on sex toys and techniques. It seems to be your unique invention. Is it true? A variety of things are discussed on the Internet, but I have hardly ever seen similar recommendation.

We haven't made any detailed study within this area. There is an application which is sustainable and quite good, but it
has no information of that sort. We spent a lot of time thinking it over, asking ourselves: what can make
us feel good? Then, we set up focusing groups, held interviews, we did so much! What we did was not
about taking any existing application in order to improve it-we undertook a several-month investigation. It may not be noticed, but
it was conducted. Thus, the idea was created by us only.

I have seen nothing of what your application offers. I will be able to evaluate it when the Android version appears.

The application was not made for economic gain, so, we can't afford hiring those super-fast programmers. We only have to hope the Android version will be finished soon.

Tell me, please, what was the opening of Spiele-Willy like?

To a certain extent, the equipment' suppliers let us down and everything didn't look as nice as we wanted, but
nowadays everything is ready. A great number of our friends took part in the opening ceremony. There were also many
guests, who had heard about the event and came around. I think, it was a good start for the shop
and now the sales dynamics is obvious. People come around, show their interest. We are absolutely conscious of what our
current aim is. It is not about selling any specific goods (while it is also an objective of ours), but
about getting people involved into this sphere. We are visited by those who have never been at sex shops and
we are scattering the seed of love towards unusual sex toys and we are looking forward to see them coming
back.

Thank you for both your positive energy and your magic ideas!

We are doing our best. It is you whom I should thank.

Karen Nazaretyan, the official ambassador of We-Vibe, will give an online presentation organized by the company "C-market". The participants will be
told about some curious peculiarities of the toys' set up that managed to reconcile the cutting-edge technologies with the intelligent
design.

On Friday, November, 30th, 2018, at 12 p.m., Moscow time, the online presentation of the collections by We-Vibe is to take place. The presentation will be given by Karen Nazaretyan, the official agent of the company. 

Karen Nazaretyan will talk about the design and the structural peculiarities of the devices from We-Vibe range and about the unique program, We-Connect. 

C-Market, the company that organized the webinar, invites all the professional market players to take part in the event. The webinar will be of particular interest to the sellers as this range is one of the most famous ones represented on the adult industry market. 

The access to the webinar can be obtained through the personal managers of C-Market. 

Anton Chesnokov, the director of the project "Shtuchki-Driuchki", told us here, at our portal, about a new chain of stores, their background and the idea they are expanding.

The story began a couple of years ago. At that time, a curious thought came across our minds: what if we put a sex shop looking unlike a sex shop? A place that anyone can visit, regardless of their age, in order to find a thing that fits for them, with a modest remark: every item there is to be somewhat "peppery" anyway.

We undertook a serious analysis: we gathered information, conducted some inquiries, made plans and designed the concepts. The idea proved
to be far from simple: to open a retail chain of stores that even the unprepared buyers could visit with
no fear. Those who are interested in the 18+ topic, yet are unconscious of the fact, and feel scared to
step into a common sex shop.  We intended to establish a place deprived of the dirty design and those stereotyped showcases
and we wanted to have it located at a shopping center definitely. That's the way Shtuchki-Driuchki appeared. It is a
chain of shops selling peppery items. What does the word combination "peppery items" mean? At our shop, you can buy
everything for love and comfort, for the relationship including sex. They are gifts and souvenirs, textile and tableware, intimate cosmetics
and lingerie, adult toys and accessories. Our buyers comprise an audience of different age and preferences. Someone seeks a gag
present for a specific occasion, others search for some "spicy" souvenirs for no particular reason, just to have a laugh,
some people come to buy a specific product: for household, for private use, for people they love and, of course,
the items of the 18+ segment. The location within big shopping centers provides us with the possibility of addressing both
our target audience and those casual visitors who come to our shop for the first time, fearless, and leave the
shop with sex toys. We show people that sex items are meant for everyone, they are accessible and open. 

In October, 2017, our first store was opened in Tyumen', during 2018- three more stores were opened, one of them was established in the city of Izhevsk.

At the moment, we are a progressive, long-term franchise with a new business approach, an interesting product range and a pair of aces in the hole.

How do we differ from the other shops? What can we offer from those things the market has never seen before?

1.   A barrier-free entrance to the big shopping centers of the city. Some clear windows, a spacious 0+ zone, a
friendly climate and a smart design, basically different from that of the traditional intimate stores. All this proves to be
very attractive and nothing risky for the owners of the TCs, they are willing to cooperate and promote us.

2.   Competent trade matrix and merchandising-no lingering lots, so to say, all the items are on top and are sold out rapidly as hot cakes.

3.   A thoroughly shaped marketing strategy, from advertising action stage to dealing with social media. We follow the uniform style and design at every step.

4.   We enjoy doing things, not chattering. Only three weeks passed from having chosen a place to the shop's opening. To say the truth, we are proud of ourselves!

5.   After a month of operation, one of our shops managed to cover the expenses. The benefit proved bigger that the costs. It is a success!

6.   We are against Chinese off- brands. So, we don't sell cheap, low-quality goods. If we could compare ourselves to some popular brands, we would be something like Zara Home, having a peppery implication.

7.   And the key point is that we've got our own product range. Nowadays, it includes sex toys, while the
souvenirs and the textile are to be added soon. At the beginning, we expected to address younger and more daring
audience. But, as the experience showed, such products are demanded at the ages of 45 and 55. It allowed us
to diversify the range to attract much more customers that we had intended. Still, we are very pleased with the
fact and we go on exploring this direction. 

But, we are not going to open all cards, let us save the suspense for later, up to the exhibition Ero Expo, scheduled for September. See you there!

ATAC, the adult travelers’ club is inviting its members to join another adventure in the mountains.

It is the twelfth time the club ATAC (Andrey Travel Adult Club), with the adult industry' representatives as its members,
intends to set off to the mountains. Since the club was established in 2012, its members have been striving to
combine these enjoyable trips with non-formal communication among the business colleagues in order to boost their development and exchange their
experience.

This time, the participants are invited to go to the Dolomite Alps, the favorite place for all the downhill skiers
and the biggest skiing region in the world. This is one of the most beautiful mountain chains worldwide and it
has got 12 skiing resorts. The travelers will be able to visit the famous Marmolada-the highest mountain wall of the
Dolomite Alps, reaching the height of 3.342 meters. At the time of the World War 1, people fought there, nowadays
this is an open-air museum that welcomes the lovers of all winter spots. At the height of 3265 meters, Punta
Rocca, the panoramic terrace, is located, offering views of the surrounding mountains. Here, the endless twelve-kilometer-long ski route, Bellunese, starts.

The participants will stay in Val di Fassa, Canazei village, suitable for active leisure. The trip is scheduled for March, from 2nd to 9th, 2019. For more details, please, go to the club's official website.

A number of foreign editions have instantly published the data saying some fake pieces copying the original products by Bathmate were
detected and expropriated in China. We turned to Igor Gerasimov, the official representative of the company in Russia asking him
to tell us about how the counterfeiting is controlled and fought against in Russia.

The articles published on such industrial portals as XBIZ, EAN, ETO say that the fake products
were detected during a specific raid conducted within the open-sale sector in China. The illicit products were eliminated and the
company that was selling them was imposed a significant fine. After the raid was finished, Tim Brown, the brand manager
of Bathmate claimed: 'We are delightful to see the results the raid brought in and we are warning everyone who
wants to profit using our brand's name: we will chase and catch you! This year, we are going to spend
more than £100 thousand in order to jail you!'

Igor Gerasimov is now telling about the state of affairs in Russia.

I can tell you about the our practice to fight counterfeiting here. The first method implies making undercover buys. We've
got some mystery shoppers: all across Russia, Ukraine, the CIS. Nowadays, it is not so hard to find people who
can make a purchase. Besides, I myself travel to visit the countries of the CIS telling about our goods. If
I come across a fake product (or the data about the latter are reported by the mystery shoppers), so, first
of all, the company turns to the directors asking them if they are informed or not of the fact that
non-original items are sold in their shop.

I tell them about the difference between the original and the fake goods. As a rule, the original appearance is
copied with high mastery. But in other respects, the toy is not able to fulfil those functions the original product
can fulfil, so, the clients who happened to buy this non-original pump will not be able to enjoy any good
results. We've got feedback client service. They presumably buy an original piece, at the original toy's price, use "our product"
during about nine months, but in conclusion they can't get any good results. Then, the clients write at  target="_blank">our official website that they found no effect while using the hydro pump. We ask them to send us some photos
of the latter and we immediately notice that piece is far from the original one. We tell the clients they
had bought a fake product, providing a list of the stores that sell original products only.

If their receipt is not lost, we make either undercover buys on our own or turn to our mysterious shoppers. The choice between the two options depends on whether the product had been bought online or in an offline shop.

If the fake selling is confirmed, at first the management receives a warning about the counterfeiting. At times, the managers
are unaware of the situation, they could have got this merchandise labelled as an original item. The director is then
acquainted with the original item's advantages and its difference from a fake item. First, the original piece is provided with
a service guarantee of two years. Second, the result is guaranteed if the product is used regularly. Third, to make
original hydro pumps, a specific stuff is used-a high impact plastic by Lexan. It can't get broken or cracked, it
serves to make bullet-proof panels, aircraft windows and other highly-resistant things. Finally, a fake pump is not able to provide
the same amount of pressure the original one can.

In case the store's management decides to continue selling the counterfeit products, a warning about copyright infringement (patent) and the
following appeal to the Court based on the undercover buy's report. At the Moscow office of the company, a group
of lawyers is joined together, they control the brand and all the data for solving the issue in court are
passed on to them. However, more frequently, the stores don't let the situation come to the point of requiring legal
proceedings and they just stop working with fake items, they either start selling original ones or simply refuse to deal
with that particular range of goods. If a shop was once caught selling fake items, it is inscribed in the
list for repeated control in a while.

Next step to fight the counterfeiting is the product re-branding. It has a number of aims. The first one is
to make the product name look and sound easier for the consumer. For example, the former product name was Hydromax
X 20, X 30, X 40, these numbers didn’t use to bring any significant information to the customer. From now
on, Hydromax X 20 will be called Hydromax 5. Here, the number 5 means ‘five inches’, so to say, it
indicates the maximum penis' length this model is suitable for. If a hydro pump is called Hydromax 7, it is
also equal to the maximum length in inches. It will be easier for a client to select a pump's size
when its name includes some information about the erected penis' maximum length.

The second aim is to make the counterfeit manufacturing more difficult through changing the package design. From now and then,
the color of the package’s inner side will correspond to the amount of pressure the pump creates. For example, the
box of the weakest baseline model will be yellow inside, that of a more powerful model will be orange, and
that of the strongest one will be red. The companies making fake items are unlikely to notice such details. In
any case, this policy will save some time before the details are discovered and used making fake pieces.

All Bathmate ‘s distributors should test their origin in case of any doubts. The company will be grateful for any help to fight the counterfeiting.

Everyone who desires to start working with our products is invited to the free trainings, and every shop that orders six or more pumps from any of our distributors will get the videos on how to use the product and some specialty displays to be installed at the cash desk zone-a good tip to boost sales.

For any questions you can write directly to my e-mail address igor@bathmatedirect.com

The company Astkol-Alfa is announcing live training sessions to be held on their platform every fortnight. The first training is scheduled for the nearest Thursday, January, 17th.

Face-to-face trainings are going to be held for the vendors of different level of expertise indicated in each training’s preview. There will be some webinars also, meant for regional vendors and for knowledge retention as well.

The timetable is still being drafted, the very training program is being tested. However, the Marketing department is working on this, so, within a year, the training sessions' concept will be polished.

Among the presenters, you will meet those leading Marketing and Sales specialists from Astkol-Alfa, but also some brands' representatives, it is also planned to engage some outside trainers. A similar "trial" training session about the products of the company Pipedream, delivered by Steven Sav, the brand's agent, took place in early December.

On January, 17th, 14:00, the company will be waiting for those inscribed for the training about Svakom. Olga Blinkova, the Marketing manager and sex-blogger will act as the trainer.

You can see, touch and test the functioning of almost all sex toys from the range of Svakom. Each participant
will be provided with a summary table of both functions and properties of the brand's items. After the training is
over, everyone who takes part in, will get a certificate confirming they have completed the session. This particular training is
meant for vendors of any level.

The company is going through major changes, and its stand at EroExpo is expected to be the "hottest" point.

Earlier our website published some information about an exclusive
offer concerning the selling of the wholesale company, EROSKLAD, and of several retail stores too, being all property of the same
owner. Evgeny Yurchenko, reported to our editorial staff that the deal on selling the business had not been completed for
a number of reasons, and nowadays the company is going through significant changes.

Two decisions were taken:
1. To develop both the company's retail chain and the manufacturing.
2. To engage a partner in order to sell him or her some brands that are considered unprofitable from the company's point of view and let him or her represent them from then on within the Russian Federation.

Currently, EROSKLAD indends to focus on manufacturing its own brands, such as Pikantnye shtuchki, Dolce Piccante, Gvibe, Viamax, Pheromax, Stud100, Topco, Tom of Finland and also-on developing those brands that correspond to the company’s ideology, LELO, for example.

The fact that the company gave up working with some brands doesn’t mean its wholesale clients are left unsupplied. Those
brands that EROSKLAD gave up supplying, remained as part of the range. A partner company had been found, now responsible
for selling these brands as a wholesaler in the RF. This company is opt4sex. The list of wholesale
brands it is going to represent is the following: Scala, Inverma, Eropartner, We-Vibe, ABS Holdings, Womanizer, Satisfyer, Sense Max, Lovense
(Lush). 

The changes mentioned above coincide with an expanding of the company's own retail business. Two offline shops in
the center of Moscow (near Taganskaya and Pushkinskaya metro stations) are now added the third one-near  href="https://www.eroshop.ru/sexshop_Moskow_Kurskaya/" title="Kurskaya" target="_blank">Kurskaya metro station, the opening of the fourth retail shop is planned in the nearest future to be located
in the district of Proletarskaya station. Moreover, the company is offering  a franchise to those entrepreneurs who wish to
open their shops. 

But the most curious and unusual show  was held on the stand of EROSKLAD at the exhibition, EroExpo. Andrey Likhachiov, the company's
ambassador, has shared some information about the presentation of a new range of strokers called "FLESHNASH
Zviozdy", made of a specific stuff, BIOSKIN, one of the most realistic materials that have been made up ever since
the adult industry started its way on market. The items were represented by those models whose curves had been taken
as a pattern to create these sex toys for men: Elena Berkova, Katya Sambuka and Olesya Malibu. It was hot! 

Want an autograph signed by a star?!

How often does an online shop's owner have to check the current state of affairs? How many orders have been processed,
how big is the resulting profit? For those who work with Postavschik Schastya using a drop shipping scheme, it is
Alice, a voice assistant by Yandex, who answers these questions.

The voice assistant's official description says: "You can teach me something new. Particularly, if
you are a coder." A company interested in any sort of technological innovation could not have missed this achievement. The
company made an effort and, as a result, Alice has got a new skill that helps to control one's business
on the run, literally. All one needs is a smart phone with a Yandex application installed on it and a
code the drop shippers can get in their back office. 

The following procedure is simple. It is enough to enable Alice and ask her to download the skill called "Postavschik
Schastya" (Supplier of Happiness). After that, your personal pocket assistant will be ready to keep you informed of three blocks
of requests: the orders in process, the income and the costs. Alice is able to analyze the current values and
compare them with those of the corresponding period in the previous year. 

One might as well use Alice service on one's computer or a "smart speaker".  Still, the most valuable element of this initiative is the possibility of getting necessary information within a minimum amount of time and effort. 

Dmitry Korobitsyn, the company's founder and Director-General, explained how the idea of using a voice assistant had been born and specified if it was difficult to implement the whole thing. 

"I have heard of Alice at a presentation given by Yandex that was held on May, 29th, 2018. Yet another conference is the annual event where they represent their innovative ideas, new areas and breakthroughs.

This year, at the conference, they first mentioned the Yandex station and told people about their new devices and a
number of their newest products. As soon as the technology was announced, we thought it would be nice to apply
it to our work with merchants, just because it is very convenient. In fact, in the majority of cases, the
merchants turn to the system claiming the account details, the order's status, the access map, the availability and so on.
These are rather common, standard questions that can be easily addressed with the new technology. Some time passed, we bought
the station in July and, in the early August, approximately, we started exploring its possibilities in order to fulfill the
idea. After having made a few tests, we realized there was no big science in it. The first version has
recently come to life. To date, it solves quite a small range of issues answering four or five questions, actually.
It works perfectly through via chat room. It also works through Yandex voice applications, but sometimes there are troubles with
voice identification. As a rule, it works rather well. We are planning to enlarge the spectrum of issues the device
will attend. I think, this is a handy scheme able to boost the effectiveness of our merchants' work."

"C-Market", a wholesaler, informs you of another webinar to be delivered by the ambassador of the company System Jo, this time.

One of the intimate cosmetics' leading manufacturers is now expanding their limits. The brand's agents are visiting different cities across Russia
to give personal presentations and educational trainings. Especially for the furthest corners and cities that have not been visited till
now, an online webinar is scheduled for January, 31st, 2019, 11 a.m. (Moscow time). Irina Parkhomenko, the brand's ambassador, is going to
tell you everything about the new products of the company that have recently appeared on our market. 

The presentation will offer a detailed analysis of the comparative properties that prolongers have, their specific qualities as well as
recommendations for selecting the proper effect the end customer needs. Irina will present a comprehensive report on the Volt stimulator's
new formula and the peculiarities of its effect having no parallel to date. The ambassador will explain some physiological aspects
of the fertilization and will speak about the unique brand-new product contributing to the process, called Actively Trying. She will
also cover the topic of the proper care the intimate zone needs highlighting the unique properties of the Renew cream.
She will tell us about how to make winter nights warmer using the new All in one Warming. Surely, the
delicious, calorie-free range called Cookies&Cream  won't be missed.

In the nearest future, an educational video about the coming and long-awaited collection, Candy Shop, to be given by Nikolay Orlov will be available too.

System Jo is a range of intimate cosmetics with proven clinical effectiveness that is manufactured following high quality standards.

To get access to the webinar, please, turn to personal managers of the company "C-market".

The official ambassador of the brand, Irina Kramer, will speak on the company’s products on January, 24th at 1 p.m. Moscow time.

The company “Andrey”, the organizer of the webinar, indicates the following.

A world-famous manufacturer of unique sex toys is offering new items within their hot range! The peculiarities of the new products, the secrets of working with them and other interesting things will be highlighted by Irina Kramer, the brand’s official representative in Russia.

The date and time the webinar is to be held: 24.01.2019, 1 p.m. Moscow time.

Anyone who wants to take part in the webinar, please, sign up on the organizing company’s website.

The company Astkol-Alfa is famous for its active work in holding trainings, educational seminars designed for the industry mates. Recently, a new video blog and a new customer-targeted youtube-channel have appeared on the web.

Olga Blinkova, Mikhail Starovoit and Vadim Naezdnikov, the latter usually staying behind the scenes, are those who form the team
of the blog ProSack. In a live talk with Marina Chicheva, the portal's Editor-in-Chief, they told her
about whom this blog is meant for, how they manage to speak about the taboos in a light and cheerful
manner and what is left off-screen. If you haven't watched any video yet or you simply want to lift you
up, do it right away!

Marina: Let's talk about your remarkable blog! How have you arrived at such extremity? Where did this idea come from?

Vadim: Well, on a regular meeting, we thought why didn't we get to where many people had already arrived at?
And we decided to try it. The task of selecting a name was appointed then. We tried the brainstorm technique
and, suddenly, the name ProSack, its English version, exactly, came to my mind. While everybody was still in doubt, I
took it and let it be the final choice. That was all.

Marina: Well, it is quite an ambiguous, suggestive name.

Olga: Oh, yes, it can be explained in many ways, the way it sounds is also perceived differently by people. As a matter of fact, this name is somewhat catchy, I may say.

Marina: What is the way you, the creators, can decode it?

Olga, Vadim: ...to find oneself between (Laughter)

Olga: We find ourselves between such points and we talk about such points that few people dare to mention. Anyway, we are here, there and everywhere and we draw very close attention to these points.

Mikhail: We mean we are between the two holes. It is like in the song: it can't be that way, there must be some space between.

Marina: Great! Where do you borrow your topics from?

Mikhail: Working, where else would it be?

Vadim: It is also the Internet, some reactive blogs arousing the topics of the day.

Mikhail: In general, the information is just streaming by our side, so, the topics are countless.

Vadim: From people's unawareness, their ignorance.

Mikhail: Yes, right, this is our major source.

Olga: Our blog is mostly designed to make people understand that having sex is not prohibited but necessary, and once you do it, do it right, talk about it! And we talk about sex toys, of course, pointing out the how, the what, the where to, the what with in order to do it in a right, adequate and reasonable way.

Mikhail: Sex is not a job… For most people.

Marina: We, now talking to each other, are an exception. (Group laughter)

Vadim: We have fallen into the caste of the female sellers- women for sale, just as fast.

Marina: Were there any curious situations during the video-making?

Olga: Without a break.

Mikhail: It seems to have become common practice. We've got so many takes left off screen! More than those that usually follow a movie starring Jackie Chan!

Marina: Can you remember of a particular case?

Vadim: Tell her about the way the guys were surprised when they came to take part in the challenge for the first time and they had never stepped into a sex shop before.

Mikhail: Well, that was a curious case. One of the topics concerned throughout our videos is the way people outside
the adult industry (the friends of mine, Olga's or Vadim's ones) come and get acquainted with this world, they do
it by touch, literally. That day, I can remember it was Thursday, the guys visited the warehouse first and they
were shocked after seeing all that, after that, we moved to our studio, a room where we make videos. Finally,
the emotions reached a peak and we got a warning: "Guys, can you be quiet, please, we are working here,
you know..."

Marina: You mean, people who have never been to such filming feel awkward?

Mikhail: Well, it hardly has to do with the filming, actually, we can see such reaction when people simply enter
a sex shop. If one is laughing and takes this situation with good sense of humor, it is a good
sign because laughter means we downgrade the situation. But for an average newcomer, say so, visiting a sex shop is
a rather stressful experience.

Vadim: There were no serious cases afterwards. Nothing like that: people came and then a large-scale orgy took place. Not
yet. We haven’t got so many visitors. Besides, our project is a low-budget enterprise and we make videos with the
windows closed, and we sweat greatly, so, for an outside observer, we look like people after an orgy or a
BDSM session, being all sweaty and exhausted.

Olga: The staff looks so cheerful and reasonable because everything that happens is fun.

Vadim: One day we will release everything that was left behind this video.

Marina: Can you think of a video you, personally, like most of all?

Vadim: Is it the anal one? (Giggling)

Mikhail: I agree, the two parts of the anal release.

Olga: Sure, the anal one is our favorite!

Mikhail: We actually took pains to make it, in comparison with other videos launched to date.

Vadim: Meanwhile…a kind of spoiler… we have got even more challenging videos in our plans.

Marina: By the way, tell me about your plans.

Olga: We agreed to make a big video group comprised of three parts to speak about lubricants specifically, about the what, the what with, the where to, because we really want people to do the right thing.

Vadim: The point is that we've got everything written by now, yet without a storyboard, the scenes remain to be fully arranged next. There will be a sketch, it is just on paper yet, it is full of fun, though. To our mind, mostly.

Mikhail: Talking about spoilers: there will be a video from Voronezh also, I won't say which one, and another one from Rostov. Unfortunately, I don't know exactly when this article will be published, so, to date, we've got two spoilers like these.

Marina: The lubes topic always arouses great interest. Can I place an order then? It would be nice to mention some cleaning solutions as well.

Vadim: Do you mean the cleaners?

Mikhail: We've already filmed two thirds about lubes. If there is still some space within the video, we will be able to mention the cleaners. If we run out of time, we will make a specific video on the cleaners.

Marina: How do you manage to do it in such a light and easy manner?

Olga: It only looks so.

Vadim: Any kind of creative process causes an awkward expression on one's face at the beginning. It is like...woo, do we really have to do it? Then, one pulls oneself together and sits down to work. Anyway, one has to make an effort to start, no matter how greatly one loves this kind of work.

Mikhail: Sometimes, we come to moments of extreme tiredness, we are overworked and have lack of time or something else,
but when we hear Vadim saying "Action", everything grows easy and stress-free. We do not write a screenplay, we just
mark the general strategic points we want to talk about. The rest is improvised, just the way we used to
work in the retail trade. That is the way I used to advise the customers and teach the interns. I
believe this to be the most adequate format for ordinary people. We are not making videos for those who work
within the adult industry, they are all well-informed. We are filming for ordinary people. That is our mission!

Marina: Have you got many subscribers on your channel?

Olga: Not many, yet

Mikhail: To date, we have got 304 subscribers.

Vadim: 306! We do grow fast! (Editor's note. Now it is equal 877!)

Olga: It is a sad story, because the English version of Youtube in this area is so open and so greatly inhabited that I saw videos of poorer quality than the ours, still such channel has got more than one hundred thousand subscribers.

Vadim: Well, for such channels, this number is insignificant, even five million seems to be little for them.

Olga: In our country, this topic is so packed with taboos, it seems to be a denial, and we feel hurt with the fact. So, we do our work in a cheerful, merry way to make people get relaxed and realize we are all the same kind of humans.

Vadim: Some people just watch the video and make no subscription, because if they do, they will get such stuff in their feeds. It is difficult for us to step forward and overtake those channels. On the other hand, Youtube is conscious of the fact that we do not fail to place some content weekly, so our channel is going up.

Mikhail: Olya mentioned the foreign segment of Youtube. In my turn, I will speak about the Russian one. It is
all about misery. I won't mention any specific channels, but the channels dedicated to sex education and trainings are extremely
boring and dull. I can't really understand how they manage to talk about sex toys in such a boring manner.
Yet, those guys do succeed in it.

Vadim: Nevertheless, they have got an audience. It is because they emerged at the moment when the area was unexplored.

Marina: Anything else to add?

Mikhail: At EroExpo we plan to target the participants instead of trying to hook visitors or bystanders. I won't disclose the program we have prepared for them (just because we have got nothing prepared yet), but the guys on the stands should be ready as we are going to ask our breathtaking questions that are always naturally funny!

Vadim: They'd better wash their asses.

Marina: We are looking forward to see you on the stand of Sexshoppers!

Olga: You will recognize us immediately!

Mikhail: I'd like to highlight one point that is on everybody's A-list: the relations we have with Astkol. Ladies and gentlemen, do you find I should mention it? Should I place the cards on the table?

We are related to Astkol by the simple fact we work here!

However, ProSack is our own project. We address the end customer, we do not aim to push any products. We say "good things" to describe the things we like, and we say “bad things" to address things we don’t like.

Marina: Do you mean your opinion does not always coincide with the official point of view of the company Astkol-Alfa?

Mikhail: You are absolutely right. Sometimes, our opinions even differ from the company's official view, and that is good. We are open for a variety of suggestions. If you want a sex toy's honest review, we are ready to make it against all odds.

Astkol supports our independence, their message is the following: "Guys, we agree 100%, the filming studio is yours, you are free to act by yourselves."

This time, the speaker asked to share his impressions was Ilya Ostanin, the director of the wholesale company Kazanova 69, located in Ekaterinburg.

It wasn’t our first time at eroFame exhibition, of course. We used to take part as visitors. The exhibition actually represents
the present market structure: all the exhibitors bring their novelties, their best achievements. Right here, one can see some emerging
trends, guess the direction the world market is going to follow and take part in the process of its construction.
This time, the majority of new goods proved to be follow-ups of the existing ranges, no revolutionary ideas were found
here. 

A good stand, in my opinion, is one that complies with the general idea of the company and echoes the
message the company wants to transmit to people at the exhibition. This is something more than a nicely designed comfortable room.
Once you come over such stand, you feel as if it were sharing a message with you. As we are
also an exhibitor at EroExpo in Moscow, the requirements we put on our own stand are exactly the same, so,
come around to see it!

At eroFame, I liked the stand of the company JoyDivision: made in blue, being spacious and simple. It reminds us of the accuracy that is so characteristic of German pharmacies. For a reason, their lubricants are considered to be medical-purpose products in Europe. 

As for the events held to accompany the exhibition's work, I think, our exhibitions are pretty filled with activities. We could rather share them with our foreign colleagues. 

As a result of working at eroFame, new contacts are now established. Regarding the agreements to be made with our partners, nowadays it is not necessary to wait for an exhibition to come to any of them.

The Russian adult toys industry is one of the youngest in the world, a newcomer, we may say. Our market
is still under rapid development, and the present boundaries of this market are still far from the potential ones. Since
the emergence of this market, Kazanova 69 has been developing it as for the quantity and also ideologically. We were
the first to launch the term "health store”, we were those who created the first erotic museum and an adult
cafe that is unique worldwide. 

When I come to eroFame, the biggest European exhibition of the 18+ industry, I can estimate our ideas, technologies and the working format and I find them highly innovative and demanded. The fact that I am representing our country as well as the company that is guiding the world market’s development, for me is a big joy and honor.  

Some time ago, one of the biggest exhibitions of the adult goods industry, eroFame, was over in Germany. We asked Russian participants and visitors to share their impressions. The company LoveMachines was the first to respond.

Sergey Ivanov, the director of "Amatus" company group, including "LoveMachines", the sex machines' manufacturer, answered our questions, shared some photos made
at the exhibition and during a walk across Hannover and told us about his plans for EroExpo. Scroll through the
slider and have a look at eroFame through Sergey's eyes. A first-person narration is offered next.

It was my first time at eroFame, a young yet famous exhibition, this time, as a visitor. Unfortunately, this year, at the exhibition, we couldn't see any new products and technologies able to explode the market. This means, the following year, the chances are to increase.

There were quite a lot of visitors and familiar faces from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. It is a pleasure. To my
mind, this fact means that a significant number of entrepreneurs are strongly interested in the warehouse novelties, they think about
developing their business making both verbal and written commitments concerning their cooperation with foreign partners. These entrepreneurs are the industry
leaders having the biggest chance of getting something more out of their work just because they are the first to
dive into a topic and have a deeper view. Among the exhibitors, there was a stand representing "Toyfa" by a
Russian company "Andrey", one of the adult industry flagships, another stand of "LeFrivole" headed by the ambitious and willful Andrey
Nikolayenko and the guys representing the brand G-Vibe.

I was impressed by the stands decorated in a creative way and a good representation of their items offered by their
active agents. I liked the stands of Scala, Orion, XR Brands, EDC, Fleshlight. I'd like to mention those small stands
with their single representative showing their only item. They proved to be the bravest ones! They develop their own products
trying to push them on to the international market. Well, they have chosen a challenging way to success, they are
seldom taken seriously, this is an expensive enterprise and they simply fall on the margins. Still, it is nice work!
They do believe in their product and they are making their way using their intellect!

As for the events, there was nothing fantastic at eroFame. The Octoberfest offering beer and appetizers was not well-organized. It was
unusual to see something like that in Europe. What makes eroFame different from EroExpo, for example, is that we will
can see more space, more exhibitors, yet we find less beautiful models and nothing about seminars or lectures. The exhibition’s
key attraction is comprised of those nice, comfortable, informative and really working stands. As a whole, I believe that EroExpo
is organized with better quality and it is more interesting for both work and entertainment.

Regarding the effectiveness of the trip, we signed four contracts for shipping to the RF, three of them are exclusive. We
were offered an opportunity to distribute our products within Europe from two major industry players. We discussed the direction of
expanding our cooperation with the present partners and obtained a more agreeable price list. We found a great number of
new products that could be of interest in our country. And the contacts we made are numerous! The people within
our industry are open, good-humored and easy-going.

I have already signed in as a visitor of EroExpo. I will be glad to see my colleagues, discuss the trends and problems our industry faces.

Nikolay Orlov, the brand ambassador of System JO, turned to the industry members telling them about the way the brand is positioned on the Russian market, its background and its sister brand, DONA.

Nikolay Orlov:

Dear friends,

The brand System JO is a creation of the United Consortium, an American company headquartered and manufacturing in Valencia, a
sunny town in California. A curious fact: our leading lubricant, currently known as JO Premium, was created and made to
order for a group of gynecologists in 1999. The demand for this product went on growing, so in 2003, an
independent trademark, System JO, was established, ready to satisfy the customers' needs. To provide our clients with the whole SYSTEM
of good-quality goods for intimate purpose, developed for the need of an average human such as JO (that is one
of the most popular names in the USA) became our major goal.

As a manufacturer, we focus basically on lubricants and medical-purpose products. We work using the equipment certified by the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA in the USA) and meant for producing non-prescription medical items and goods. We follow the guidelines
of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), this fact implies all-round control of our products' quality. We are constantly upgrading
the process as we believe that our devotion to the cause is the only way to achieve perfection.

To date, the brand System JO is offering five different product categories on the Russian market: lubricants, stimulants, products for body care, hygiene and massage.

Apart from System JO, we are very proud of our sister brand, DONA, launched to market in 2013. What does
DONA by JO look like? This is a collection encouraging couples to dedicate more time to their intimacy! Our collection
includes such products as bubble bath, massage lotions and candles (those scented ones, made especially for kissing) and a range
of unique perfumes. And, certainly, each product of DONA is enriched by pheromones and aphrodisiacs to enhance sex appeal and
establish a guaranteed romantic contact.

We consider DONA collection to be comprised of products that can help to transform the moments of your life into those unforgettable recollections of love. With this range, you can offer your partner a delicious massage, take an aromatic bath and step into a perfumed bedroom with a bed covered with rose petals.

I, personally, wish you success in your romantic adventures, my friends! And, of course, love more with JO!

After the two-year pause, the ETO show comes back and starts a few days from now.

The exhibition is scheduled for March, 10th and 11th, and is to take place in Great Britain (Coventry, Ricoh Arena). This time, you are going to get all the information firsthand, piping hot, as in a couple of days our Chief Editor is setting off to get right in the middle of it. 

The March issue of the ETO magazine, published on March, 4th, says a number of exclusive novelties are expected to be
presented on the exhibition, these are items the customers have never been shown before. Particularly, the new Womanizer Duo and
the Moxie by We-Vibe will be shown. Besides, a new collection, VooDoo, by Shibari Wands will be presented as well
as the new range of male lubricants called Bucked, by System Jo, and many other things.

The General sponsor of the exhibition is the company Satisfyer, and their plans include giving out presents to the visitors.

The new collections of lingerie will be shown by the following companies: Alterego, Classified Costumes, Kevco Wholesale, New Temptations and others.

Despite the fact that the exhibition is meant for the retail representatives in the first place-online shops and companies from the adult goods industry, still, it also welcomes bloggers, authors writing erotic pieces, testers, reviewers-everyone who spreads the information to consumers.

‘We believe that Great Britain really needs an event of its own within the adult goods industry. We look forward to
see all our colleagues and friends in a friendly environment and a cozy place where everyone will be given an
opportunity to get the best of the two things-the business and the professional talk’, said Lee Schofield, the ETO magazine’s
editor.

Well, stay alert to get the latest news, while we are rushing to get our luggage ready!

Every owner of a sex shop might have faced a problem dealing with neighbours-people who show active hostility about being located next door to a store selling those dirty things. Ivan Knyazev, the owner of the chain "Intim 69", has shared some tips to get on well with next doors.

Ivan Knyazev: In several shop of our chain we are currently distributing a local newspaper. We do it free of
charge when it comes to the retired people. This story began some time ago in Balashikha. A friend of ours
became the editor of a local daily and he asked us to help him in spreading it throughout our stores.
We placed an ad saying that this newspaper is being offered here. However, as its price was so little, we
refused to capitalize on it, instead, using such policy, we tried to make retired people from the neighborhood more tolerant
towards our business. So, we added a specific point to the ad saying the newspaper is given free to senior
citizens. From then on, every Thursday we can see older people making a line at our stores. They used to
write complaints, but nowadays they are no more against but for our activity, they even come to express their gratitude.
Considering the usefulness of such experience, we expanded it to another town (Elektrostal'), there are some stores of ours there
too. We found a local newspaper, made an agreement with the editorial and they approved our project. Thus, with the
cost being so insignificant, we have got a welcoming audience of older people from the neighborhood. We believe, this is
a simple and low-cost way to change people's opinion towards our business.

Igor Gerasimov, the official ambassador of the company in Russia, shared his impressions, told us about the novelties the company had already presented to the public. He also mentioned the issue of the company products’ rebranding.

Was it the first time you took part in the eroFame exhibition?

No, it wasn’t. That was the second exhibition I took part in.

Did you company get a stand of its own?

Yes, we did. We got our own stand. This year, it has been twice bigger than last year, more than 10 meters. I was working on the stand together with other colleagues.

What was represented on the stand, any novelties?

Yes, we showed a novelty, we got a new device. This is a ring, called Hydro Vibe, equipped with two
vibration bullets to be installed on the pump, on its external part, providing additional hydro-massage thanks to the bullets’ ability
to let very strong vibration get to the penis through water. This know-how allows you to enhance the erection and
activate blood circulation at the expense of a strong hydro-massage during the trainings with the pump.

Did you show this particular novelty at Ero-Expo-2018?

Sure, we did. We represented it to the Russian customers. The Hydro Vibe is already on sale, and judging by the first feedback, it is going to be a success.

You got your own stand at EroExpo too, didn’t you?

No, we didn’t. At this exhibition, by tradition, we work at the stand of our partner, Kazanova 69, a wholesale company. This year, Kerry, my colleague, has joined me.

Ok, let’s go back to eroFame. Did you meet many Russian colleagues there?

This year, there were fewer Russian mates that last year, actually. Instead, to our pleasure, many brands started engaging Russian-speaking
agents. It means that world-wide brands have focused their attention on Russian-speaking clients; almost every stand had a person speaking
Russian. There were fewer clients from Russia this time, but at our stand, the most active audience was made up
of Ukrainian customers. We made many contacts. There were clients from Kazakhstan and we held useful negotiations with the Russian
colleagues and clients also.

What has been your biggest impression this year?

The market of this year is different from what it used to be. The manufacturers used to fix their priorities
on the items meant for women, I guess. This year, there have been more stands designed for male devices. New
brands and distributors appear, and what they offer are male goods exclusively. I realize we are up-to-date as the majority
of goods from our range are meant for men. It seems as if men were getting interested in the matter.
Men from all over the world have been interested since long ago, but I hope this trend will reach Russia
too, and in the nearest future, we will see more male devices emerging in Russia. But not to the detriment
of the female ones!

Thank you! Have you made up any general impression of the exhibition?

They are doing well, steady, at high level. Both the atmosphere and the organizational work are nice.

Can you give some details about your participation in EroExpo, please?

We got all our range represented there, those were novelties we had presented last year: our Hydro Rocket, some vibration
bullets called Vibe and the Hydro-Vibe that I mentioned earlier. We set up an interactive aquarium and the whole stuff
just the way we did last year. There were many visitors coming closer to try the items on a dummy,
listen to our advice given by Kerry in English and by me in Russian.

What you showed were those re-designed products, weren’t they?

Yes, we undertook certain rebranding and the distributors have already got our products in the new design, the whole range is fully updated. The customers will see our items in the new package. The whole range, including the novelties, is available for order, our distributors will be happy to deliver it.

--------------------------

The article published on the official website of Bathmate contains a note saying that the
company got several important awards and presented some exciting novelties at eroFame. In particular, the company won the first prize
in such nominations as Most Iconic Male Company and Best Male Enhancement Product. 

Maxim Kalyatin, the head of the project and the Director of the intimate cosmetics manufacturing, Biomed-Nutrition, told us about the company, its novelties and their plans for the nearest future.

When we first met, (at ThaiFest-2018, editor’s note) your company acted as a distributor of the brand called Dzhaga-Dzhaga. You also presented a range of your own called Analog that I liked very much. Has anything changed since then?

I’ll try to make things clear in the official way and tell you what we have gained by now, I
will define the stage our product has reached and tell you about the manufacturing, our distributors and the plans to
arrange our work in the short-term perspective. At the moment, I’ve got a clear idea of what exactly we want
to do and what is on demand in the corresponding niche of the market. We are active, we feel energy
to reach our goal-to launch our range of intimate cosmetics that is much wider than lubricants only. These are products
to let people get closer, feel comfortable, take care of themselves, improve their health and refine their body shape. We
pretend to go a bit further, then much further and we won’t stop there, though.

Saying ‘we’, I mean Biomed Nutrition, this is our manufacturing of intimate cosmetics in Russia. We are a fast-developing enterprise,
we are opening a new workshop currently. At the same time, we are working with a trademark called Dzhaga-Dzhaga. What
I mean is that our manufacturing provides the market with products of both trademarks -Dzhaga-Dzhaga and Biomed Nutrition. The whole
range of products you can find under the trademark Dzhaga-Dzhaga is a development of our own, our signature. That’s the
agreement in effect, and we are true to it. If everything goes on in such a productive and successful way
as nowadays, this cooperation will extend so far. We like to work with Dzhaga-Dzhaga. We trust each other and try
to move in the same direction, our interests are very similar.

Do I understand correctly? Dzhaga-Dzhaga is a brand, while the products are manufactured by your company, aren’t they?

Yes, exactly!

How are you doing at the moment? How is your company doing right now?

We’ve recently come back from Saint-Petersburg and we visited Kazan, Voronezh, Nijniy Novgorod before. In the nearest future, we plan
to visit Rostov and Samara. We take pains to reach every store and every trader. We come to a place,
hold some trainings, tell people more about our products. This activity is something we attach major importance. People selling our
items (more than one retail chain) must know why they are different from the similar ones and what are their
advantages. We always try to come in the fastest possible way and talk about our products face-to-face, mentioning the product’s
curious details, its specific qualities and answer the questions. Once again I stress we make our products of active components,
essential oils, natural extracts, free of any artificial colorants and fragrances. We also use additional plant sets, such as betaine,
L-arginine, caffeine, allantoin, etc., extracts of many sorts, including aloe vera, maca peruvian, centella asiatic, mauira puama, epimedium, Q10, hyaluronic
acid.

That’s why every product within our range is the unique formula of our laboratory and is benignant for human health
in this or that way. Here is the improvement of the immune system, the vaginal microflora and other positive effects.
A set of natural components is a nice way for personal care, tone up, moisturizing, nutrition and lasting youth of
our intimate parts. This proves very important for both women and men.

We have recently drafted two ranges. These are called Miss Tiny and Mr. Big. They are about maintaining and improving
blood circulation and hypertonus in men, preventing erectile dysfunction and so on. As for girls, there is a complex of
four powerful extracts, added coenzyme Q10, hyaluronic acid responsible for recovering youth, elasticity, enhancing sensitivity and providing any partner with
strong and deep satisfaction. 

I can't help mentioning our new design pattern - Gzhel and Khokhloma. It was a joint idea we drafted together
- our team from major league (as I call it) and I. The fact we managed to apply this traditional
Russian theme's to our range is as great as surprising. These pieces call for attention and look advantageous on the
shelves. This design sends us back to something truly Russian and helps to let people feel more confident about Russian
manufacturers! We are proud of our manufacturing. We take pride in the possibility of keeping many people satisfied. We want
couples that are going through certain difficulties within their love life get closer to each other and enjoy more sustainability.

To date, our range includes about 38 articles. Among them, there are classical multi-purpose lubricants, UNIVERSAL SEX, the anal collection,
ANAL SEX, the vaginal one, called SAFE SEX, a collection with excitement boosting warming effect, HOT SEX, 5 pieces for
oral caress, JUICY FRUIT, of different types (Melon, Bailey's, Pina Colada, Multifruit, Coconut), some lubes for fisting, ANAL SEX FIST.
By the way, we are at the point of launching a novelty, ANAL SEX FIST GEL, you will hear of
it a bit later. For the first time on market, we offer a black lube, BLACK DIAMOND, a healing one,
WET ROSE and others. By the end of summer, we plan to increase the number of articles up to 60,
launch a range which is to include massage candles and oils. I won't tell you all our secrets, still, I can
promise the compositions based on natural oils for nutrition, moisturizing, beauty and youth, that are mostly meant for nice warming slide
and sex drive, and the lovely fragrances, more than ten varieties,… will make you feel crazy.

We are going to present two new products for body care very soon. The first one is called Miss White, for dark and age spots lightening. The second one is called Miss Big, for breast augmentation and perfect shape. This is a cream added some extracts and components boosting localized growth of the fatty tissue, thus inducing breast enlargement.

Can these products be announced yet?

I guess so. The product is ready and take through the process of certification.
We convene a creative group and make up something new weekly. We've got long-term plans, the workshop is getting larger, new items are being introduced. We are going to work hard to surprise you. We have been gathering experience for holding seminars on sex, and we are open for new opportunities.

Can you share you impressions of EroExpo, please?

The exhibition proved to be big and cool. It was pleasant to see each other and have a talk, get
aware of something new and chat to those who plan a start-up. There are a lot of people who are
just entering the niche, showing interest and sound activity. Judging by the number of visitors, I can say the industry
is developing. Both the products and their selection are of better quality nowadays. Trainings are held and we can see
some companies arranging seminars, lectures and education appear. This activity is of great use, people start getting interested and choose
something for themselves without being embarrassed about it. We must thank the organizers and Alexander Zilberman, in particular, for patience
and will power he demonstrated. He gave a good and quick response to the entering requests. The exhibition caused big
impression!

The New Year is coming soon! What would you say to your industry mates, your consumers and our readers? (Editor's note: This interview was given on December, 25)

Dear users! ;) 

First of all, I would like to wish you good health and happiness in your family and private life. This
is something your soul and body need to stay in harmony, something that leads us towards the highest peaks of
success. May you all get closer and more affectionate to each other, open new dimension of your relations, full of
love and care! 

I am happy to find myself involved in this world and I want to help others, I want to let people enjoy their life to good use!

In this world, I am interested in everything and everyone. I want to share my love with everybody and transmit part of this love to you through my business. I am serious about choosing approaches to my enterprise, I intend to keep on developing. 

I wish you good luck and I wish you could achieve all your targets!

The CHINA ADULT CARE EXPO 2019 is to be opened in less than 2 weeks.

The exhibition is scheduled to take place in the city of Shanghai (China), at the Shanghai Convention & Exhibition Center of International Sourcing, from the 26th to 28th of April, 2019. This is one of the biggest events within the adult industry. More than three hundred manufacturers take part in the event every year!

Naturally, our website can’t resist having a look at the event! This time, Alina Shikut, a sex blogger, will be
our ambassador and a part-time reporter as well! We are looking forward to enjoy nice photos, interesting comments and detailed
stories about both the booths and the participants. We’ll be also glad to hear her sharing some impressions of the
country and the city!

We wish you a nice trip, Alina!

Laura Wood showed the company’s novelties and gave comments.

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Is it your first ETO show?

Yes, it is my first ETO, it is the first time when LoveHoney has their our own booth. We work with quite a lot of distributors, all of them have their own booths here as well. We just want to be unbiased and show our brands to all of the customers.

What’s the difference between this show and others?

I think, all the shows are unique and I think here we can see many UK companies and we like to be here. This is the show that does need supporting.

What kind of result do you expect to get here?

Well, hopefully, lots of orders for our brands! It is about expanding the brands as well.

Can you mention some novelties you are presenting here, please?

This is our new Happy Rabbit range. It consists of nine ‘rabbits’. We’ve just added these three, so, it is
now twelve in a family. Our development is going on, we are going to be adding on more products throughout
the year. So, we’ve got our ‘rabbits’ 100% waterproof, all USB-rechargeable and very powerful. They’ve got two motors for separate
vibration at the main part and the ‘ears’ while the clitoral part is enough long. We made this range based
on our customers’ reviews. That’s what we’ve got!

We’ve got the ‘Fifty shades of Grey’ range. It is one of our excellent collections. We’ve now got three collections: ‘Fifty Shades darker Collection’, ‘Fifty Shades Freed’, and ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’. We will be having a new ‘Fifty Shades’ collection, long chain, this summer. Just look out for!

Another novelty of ours is the range called Uprize. This is a realistic dildo with remote control. It can change
its shape by rising up and going down then. You press the button and it starts, there is vibration as
well. You can use it as a strap-on or as a simple dildo. We sell this strap-on separately of the
Harness. Because this is a premium product, people that do have a Harness, would probably want to have it to
use with their own Harness.

His trainings are always creative and thrilling- to the point of running a short show when he speaks about the company’s products that Randy really loves. It would be curious to know what is the day-to-day image of this funny guy.

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Hello, I am glad to see you!

I am also glad to see you again! It was nice to see you in England (editor’s note: on the ETO show)! I travel a lot, so I understand you. It is always nice to see familiar faces.

How did you come into this business?

That’s interesting. I had a spinal injury, in my previous career I was a professional in the financial industry. I
sold the information, with Thomson Reuters. And when I injured my spine, it was more than a year before I
could really work correctly, at all. That was great pain. So, I was retired, I thought I would never work
again. But I am not very good at being retired. But I was old, I was fifty years old. And
in my country (editor’s note: the USA), in this time, in 2008, the financial industry melted down. Trash… So, now
when I am feeling like I can work again, there are no jobs! No jobs. Especially, for a guy with
a back problem. The Human Resources person says: ‘Oh, no, not this one’. Sometimes, it doesn’t matter what you can
do, I have skills as a salesman. What matters is what they allow you to do. And no one wanted
me. No one. But my friend, very good friend, the owner of our company, Ralph Albrecht, he knows me for
years, he knows I have skills and he thinks those skills can be used for Swiss Navy. So, he hires
me. And I have been with Swiss Navy ever since. He probably saves my life.

A story with a good end! What is your position with Swiss Navy?

I am the international salesperson. Europe, the U.K. and Russia-these are my markets that I control. In future I might
be looking into Asia as a possibility. Because in Europe it is probably time for a European salesman-someone with more
languages (I have but one, I speak a little bit of a lot of languages but English is my fundamental
language). In Europe they really need multiple languages to be most effective. But in Russia I will stay.

Good! We love you very much!

I enjoy the Russian people, I really value you. If you look in my Facebook, I have more Russian friends than American ones. I really enjoy the people.

I have never seen anyone showing the products the way you do. You are excellent at doing it!

It is fun. And the Russian people allow me to have fun. So, you are very open-minded. You are not easily surprised and very fun to work with.

How do your friends and relatives see your job?

When I first started, it was a big surprise for them. From the financial industry I got into the sex
industry, it was a significant shift. I told them: ‘You can’t believe how warm the relationships are’. In the financial
industry they are very cold. It is all about money. And they are very full of themselves. They think they
are so good. In our industry, everybody is just friendly, helpful, these are real relationships and friendships. No one from
the financial industry calls me anymore. But I get calls all the time from friends that I have all around
the world. It has been very nice. I enjoy it. And as far as my family goes, it is just
a way that I make my money.

How many times did you take part in Thaifest?

I have been since the beginning. This is the seventh Thaifest of mine. Each one was different and each one was very memorable.

Tell me about the way your trainings have been changing till present, please.

I started almost eight years ago in Thaifest. So, I grew up understanding the industry much better. Every year I
try to improve how I train the people and I try to incorporate some entertainment. Because it is a long
day, you have got many presentations, there is so much information. How do I make my standup so that they
remember? I keep on trying to improve it, bring something different. Even if I do not have new product, I
can have new tool. We have quick reference cards in Russian so that they can remember the selling points of
our brand. It makes it easier for them to sell: they make more money, they like the brand more. I
like to think that every year the presentation gets better and more effective.

Some words about ‘Astkol-Alfa’ and the people who work for this company, please.

We have very important relationship, Leo is a great man. And you can trust Leo. Leo is honest. When we
started, when Swiss Navy began in Russia, he said: ‘Randy, don’t expect the sales to go straight up, it is
going to take time, it is going to take a lot of hard work, but we will continue to grow
together. We only ask you to help us when we need some help’. They have been true to their word.
In Russia I have currently one distributor. I had others that asked and wanted but I stay with the one
distributor and tell them that I think the market is strong enough because Leo has invested and worked very hard.
Tanya is amazing, Marina is amazing, they have been my close friends for eight years now. It is amazing! We
have grown greatly together. Our growth in sales has been phenomenal.

It sounds fine! Could you say some words to your Russian customers?

I would like to say ‘thank you’ to them. And tell them that I love them as they seem to love the Swiss Navy products. They are wonderful, robust, friendly, very warm people that the world should come and meet. The Russian people are amazing. Swiss Navy loves Russia!

The largest European exhibition of the adult industry is beginning in Hannover (Germany).

Our special correspondent, Alena Rain, is already there, waiting for the the exhibition to open! If you are also a participant with your own booth  or as a visitor and eager to share your impressions,  make an appointment with Alena via social networks or look for her in Hannover Messe Hall.

All the latest news will be published in our instagram, and we are looking forward for detailed reports here!

We interviewed Maxim Kalyatin and Yulia Isachenkova during trainings at Thaifest. Lately, they have managed to give an extensive interview to a foreign journal, get to eroFame and now they are actively preparing for EroExpo.

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Your brand is already well-known, so I will ask not about your products, but about you. How did you turn out to be people working in the field of adult goods?

Maxim: It is perhaps the most pressing issue, because we have learned that there are no random people in this area, although there are exceptions. In one way or another, they are drawn here and become intermediaries, manufacturers, wholesalers, open shops online and offline and so on.

Personally, I was drawn, in fact, very simply. My family have always treated seriously the matter of health and nutrition,
as well as what you do, what kind of life you lead, how you treat people, and so it took
me where I am now. In 2011-2012, I was about to graduate from the university and worked at the same
time. And approximately in 2009 I first visited a shop for adults, and was surprised to discover that there is
such a thing as intimate cosmetics - oils, lubricants etc. I began to actively use these products. There were lots
of brands in sex shops, a lot of different manufacturers, and from this, I chose the one which was best
for me according to its structure and composition. And at some point I noticed that in an assortment of products
there was not a single one that would not only give satisfaction, but also was beneficial. In any case, this
was the situation where I was buying.

It would seem, on the market there is a lot of cosmetics that is caring, anti-aging, health-restoring, for girls and
boys, with interesting extracts, essential oils, hyaluronic acid, coenzyme Q10. But the sphere of intimate cosmetics can offer nothing of
this. And I thought that it would be very interesting and cool to delve into this subject, to understand it
and make something that, first of all, I would use for myself. To me it was important that such a
product was safe and bring real benefits, sustain moisturizing and sliding characteristics for a long period. It was also important
to be sure, that after using the product there will not be any irritations, allergies, burnings, any unpleasant sensation not
only with me, but also with my partner.

This gave a start to everything: team selection, search for qualified specialists, technologists, raw materials and many other things. I
had to study a lot of information, especially legal. Then I needed to realize how to work with components and
how they are combined. The first to come was our lubricant - Universal Sex. He was followed by Safe Sex,
Anal Sex and Hot Sex. (They are still popular with buyers – editor’s note).

These are the first four products with a complex of actually working components included a D-panthenol, caffeine, L-arginine, betaine, aloe,
essential oils and natural e extracts. We learned how to mix them, to understand how much of each component we
need to make the whole system work. This four has become a powerful base for further development, strong growth and
consolidation in the market.

Our first customers, users of our products, were immediately amazed by the quality of our products that competes with that
of imported goods, with absolutely new texture and aroma. They also praised Russian-style design of Gzhel and Khokhloma. The icing
on the cake is the price that we keep low. Everyone should have our product, because people need it, it
was created for people. These are the first products on the market of intimate cosmetics, which comprise a useful health-care
abilities and also properties of a high-quality lubricant for sex.

We did not stop there. We realized that it was interesting and began to plunge deeper into the adult goods
industry. It turned out that there is a huge range of unresolved problems and issues. At the moment, we can
say that our products help reduce the appearance of fungal diseases and allergic reaction due to other causes. We do
not use synthetic flavors, colorants, parabens, waxes. All components of our products are useful for health, they do not require
washing, they nourish and moisturize skin, they are beneficial for mucosa.

What are your positions, responsibilities in the company?

Maxim: I am the CEO of the company and the project. Julia is my full partner, responsible for quality control. She is the person who ensures that everything from raw materials to the final product is of supreme quality.

Julia: Yes, I am responsible for the quality control of production, as well as for raw materials, that we supply. I also select suppliers, coordinate purchases and supervise employees. Maxim solves global and strategic issues.

Maxim: Julia works with clients, and also checks samples after every cooking, she watches that consistency, color, and properties meet the quality requirements.

How did you promote your products in this rather saturated market?

Julia: It really is not easy. And still requires 1000% commitment. Our advantages in my opinion are teamwork, determination to finish what we started, be prepared for any turns and make right decisions in the most extreme period. To do the impossible at any moment! In a nutshell, we are fans of what we do and we are positively charged!

By the year of 2017  we did a lot of work and we started to make our way in this
saturated market. We prepared a certified product, a website and a sales platform. We made photos, videos, prospects and a
sachet. But the sales did not satisfy our ambitions not even by 10%. I offered Maxim to create and promote
these products through our website. We talked with shops, sent newsletters via different networks. But it was clear that no
shop will place on its shelves some unknown products. This did not stop us and we started contacting wholesale companies
so that we could be seen, heard and tried. We clearly knew that as soon as our product fell into
the right hands, as soon as people who really understand the topic will try us, there would be no questions
left and we would begin cooperation. We called different companies saying that we are a new producer of intimate cosmetics
with new properties, different from all others. Usually the answer was typical - email your proposal, we will have a
look and call you back.

Maxim: We did a colossal job, because to reach people who make real decisions is incredibly difficult. Today with the second Thaifest behind us, when we have direct contact with the owners of companies and people involved in procurement it all became much more interesting.

Julia: The competition is very high, so they did not really believe in us first. We sent out our price lists and presentations, but it did not touch anyone. And then it turned out that someone wanted to listen to us. First, we were given some useful tips over the phone, and then we were invited for a meeting. And so our new story began...

Maxim: Yes, they were the only ones, who believed in our products. We tried hard and convinced them that they will be in demand, if not today, then tomorrow. We believed and still believe, that such products are really necessary. This is how our symbiosis with the brand name Djaga-Djaga began.

Julia: And the next meeting was with Leonid Efimovich (the head of the Astkol-Alpha wholesale company - ed.). He believed in us, we impressed him. It was a very positive meeting. And we should note that he is a person with strong energy.

Maxim: Yes, we already had more than a dozen meetings. But here they believed in us! Launching the brand Biomed
Nutrition required a lot of effort. We developed the general concept, packaging, design. The design in the Russian style, which
is now recognizable in stores, is the third variant. I remember at the first meeting we were told, that there
is only one month left before the Thaifest (which took place in Israel). To prepare from scratch it is very
little time. We set ourselves the task to participate and at any cost be prepared on the highest level. It
was a challenge and an incredible experience. And we did it!

Julia: Yes, Djaga-Djaga and Astkol-Alpha leaders saw that we are young and promising, the fire is burning in our eyes,
we have excitement and willingness to work. They decided that they were ready to work with us and promote our
products, but they warned that the market is very large, there will be many competitors, it will be difficult. And
all of this we experienced.

How so you now assess your position in the market, the demand for your brand? Has something changed?

Maxim: Confident movement upwards.

Julia: People are gradually beginning to choose, try and return to the shops for our products. We provide training in the stores, and we get feedback that sales increased because sellers understand how to convince customers that these are really quality products.

You prove it by deed.

Julia: We are trying. Before the Thaifest (in Georgia), we did a great job trying to produce a novelty, but it is not so easy, because you need not just to cook a new lubricant, but solve all the problems starting with packaging and design and ending with raw materials and certification.

Maxim: In our products there are over 15 components. To develop a formula which would work well, so that the
product is stable, had a long shelf life and a high quality – this is the most interesting part of
our work. People become more educated and begin to approach intimate cosmetics selectively. Today they want to get a quality
product with certain properties for reasonable money. And we strive to offer them such products.

Through our site you can address your consumers, people who come to the store and buy something that says Biomed Nutrition's. What can you say?

Maxim: First, huge thanks to you for your trust, it is very important to us. We have to compete with
imported products from Canada, the USA and Europe. On the one hand, we are pleased because we are the only
Russian company that can compete with Western manufacturers. And we really can do it: in quality, in design, in price,
in accessibility of information. But our people have greater confidence in imported goods. And this is where the seller comes
and tells the buyer about advantages of our products. If it happens so that the buyer chooses our product, then
he sees that the product works as stated and corresponds to the quality, and so he is most likely to
return for it again!

A few words about Thaifest and its organizers?

This is our second Thaifest. We would like to particularly thank the whole team, which organized this event: Leonid Efimovich,
Marina, Tatiana and Natalia, the Prosack team, everybody who worked hard to get everything organized. We have great fun taking
part in this event. And special satisfaction we get from the fact that we progressed a lot since with the
first Thaifest. At that time we had only 6 items, 6 articles, but today, after a year and a half,
we already have over 60 articles, 60 items, and we continue to gain momentum!

Editor’s Note: Outside of this interview, there was a question about the company’s entry into the international market. In June
Maxim and Julia were not ready to answer it. But now we already know for sure that this process has
begun. Two weeks ago, at eroFame there was a Djaga-Djaga stand with Biomed Nutrition products. Our correspondent managed to get
brief comments there.

What new have you brought to this exhibition?

For Europe, we have everything new. They have not seen things like this before. They are trying to understand who is the designer. But this design (Gzhel and Khokhloma - Ed.) has been a collective creation of the Russian people in the last 500 years. Generally, they look at our products with great interest. All reviews are enthusiastic.

We are currently working on massage candles with pheromones, with aphrodisiac. They will be of unique design. Nothing similar you can
find in Russia nor in the world. Massage candles are known of course but a design that we come up
with you cannot find anywhere. By the New Year they will already be on sale. At the moment, the brand’s
portfolio has more than 60 items, and 20-25 are in development to appear in a few months.

We will show something new at EroExpo. We invite everyone to our stand decorated in Russian style of Gzhel and Khokhloma. Surely it will not leave anyone indifferent.

All of a sudden our portal is 2 years old! In the honor of this event we share with you our policy. To be more exact it is me, who does it, your chief editor.

Who are we?

The editors of the portal about adult goods industry - sexshopers.ru.

What are the goals of the portal?

Providing complete and reliable information about participants, products, events and news of the industry.

Who is the portal for?

The portal is intended both for professional participants in the adult goods market as well as for consumers and all interested persons over 18 years of age.

What is the working language of the portal?

The main working language of the sexshopers.ru portal is Russian. The catalog of companies and goods, basic information about events
and all news are published in Russian. The most important news related to the Russian adult goods industry is published
in the English-language part of the portal. In the near future we are planning to release the most significant news
in German language.

Who determines the portal policy?

Sexshopers.ru is an independent media portal. All publishing decisions are made by the chief editor or by a collective decision of the team of editors. The editors have the right to sort out a publication without explanation. The founders of the portal do not influence the editorial policy.

What is the price of publication on the portal?

Sexshopers.ru is a non-profit project. We do not profit from our activities, we do not publish advertising and\or ordered articles and do not provide paid services. All publications on the site, including banners on the main page, are free.

Where do we get news for publications?

1) From foreign media. The portal regularly publishes translated news from XBIZ.com, ean-online.com, EroticTradeOnly.com, avn.com and others, as well as translations of press releases provided by foreign manufacturers of adult goods.

2) From Russian companies that post information about new products and events, talk about their activities, give interviews to our correspondents.

3) From bloggers for whom our portal provides a free platform to publish test drives of sex toys, reports on the events and reflections on intimate matters.

4) We publish our own impressions of exhibitions, festivals and trainings, conduct research on new products, compare products of various brands with similar functionality, and interview Russian and foreign participants in the adult goods market.

5) Any author can offer his or her text in Russian or English for publication on the site, provided that the article has not been published previously and is not plagiarized. At the same time, the editors reserve the right to edit the text while preserving the author's style.

6) Any participant in the adult goods industry can invite our correspondents for an interview, to write an article about its work or cover an organized event.

How is sexshopers.ru useful for professional market participants?

1) We will publish the news of your company.

2) We will provide information support for your trainings, webinars,  conferences, parties and exhibitions.

3) We publish reviews and tests of new products.

4) We will place your advertising banners.

5) We will help to organize interaction with bloggers.

6) We will take an interview, share our impressions of visiting your factory/office/warehouse.

7) We will place native advertising on YouTube.

8) We will help the retail store quickly determine the choice of suppliers through the wholesale price comparison service.

How is sexshopers.ru useful for consumers of adult goods?

1) Here you will learn the news of the adult goods market, get reliable first-hand information that no other online portal publishes in Russian. You will see not only the front side of the industry, but also its secrets and details, which are usually hidden from the eyes of buyers.

2) Be the first to know about new products, and not only from advertising materials, but also from people who tested them themselves and are ready to share all the details and tell who this or that toy is suitable for and who should not take it.

3) Your favourite was banned on Instagram - look for his publications on our portal or write a letter to the editor with a proposal to invite this blogger to our site!

4) You are a blogger and have long dreamed of getting to an exhibition of products for adults, but do not know how to get to it? Write us, and perhaps your dream will come true.

5) Are you a beginner author, but you want to test toys and become a popular blogger? We will try to help you with this.

What to expect from sexshopers.ru at the anniversary EroExpo-2019 exhibition?

Welcome to our booth 11, we'll tell you and show.

Your chief editor – Marina Chicheva

The brand’s agents, Valérie Palmeri and Christian Palix are a couple with some Parisian charm about them. Their products are meant to bring some beauty and romance into one’s life.

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Could you please tell me about the concept of the brand YesForLove?

This is a Parisian trademark born 12 years ago. I am very interested in cosmetics and perfume, I have been
working with them for ages. The word “parfum”, in French, has to do with eroticism, sensuality, there is a close
relation between “parfum” and sensual cosmetics. We have never been related to the world of sex toys as we originated
within the field of perfume and sensual fragrances.

Do you like the format of this particular event? It is not your first time here, is it? Do you feel comfortable about its organization?

A lot of brand ambassadors are here today, more than a hundred people. It is your experience, your vision on one side while we are on the other. There is a strong connection between us, such a beautiful love story. This format allows us to establish a relation and start falling in love.

Could you say some words about your cooperation with “Astkol-Alfa”, please? Are you content with this partnership?

Every time we arrive at a new territory, we need a distributor able to work with clients, to arrange the whole thing. In this perspective, “Astkol” is a wonderful partner who has helped us to found our niche on Russian market.

What could you say to the customers who opt for your brand?

As we can see, people are getting more concerned about the ingredients and they search for high-quality goods actually. One
shouldn’t forget that the intimate zones and the mucous membrane are something one should seriously take care of. No jokes
about it! People grow far more demanding as for the quality, therefore the market is going to be concentrated on
this aspect, it is going to pay more attention towards advanced innovative formulas and attach more importance to the most
sensitive zones and their care. Mind the ingredients used for the cosmetics, make sure you have chosen a premium-quality product!

Ekaterina, the owner of the adult-store for adults “Vibroduck of love” (Vibroutochka lubvi), shared her impressions of the trainings held on October 30, 2019.

© vibro.duck

Five trainings were announced, but 4 took place because the founder of SWISS NAVY, Randy Witheris, rescheduled the meeting for
a good reason. But he made up for it and gave everyone a bag of gifts. It is really pleasant,
especially when you present such gifts every day, and nobody gives anything to you. In the bag there were mini-bubbles
with brand products. Thanks, Randy

Let's start with the atmosphere. There were a lot of people - sellers and store owners. 30 people, of which there were only 3-4 men. There was water, tea, coffee and sweets. Comfortable and friendly. I was pleased to be among colleagues in the workshop, this happens quite rarely.

The first training was on the MyStim brand, conducted by Christoph Hofmann who showed toys with miostimulation. Once, being inexperienced, I
decided to get acquainted with a plug from mystim. I connected the plug to the device, twirled something there, pressed
the button, and I was so flabbergasted! For all my life I remembered that day. Therefore at the training I
touched the toys with caution. But many took the plugs in their hands and even tried the turbo mode, this
is maximum current power. Yeah, we have the most courageous and brave sellers. We raised many important questions about toys.
All the same, this is current, and there are a lot of nuances. Urethral plugs, the size of a knitting
needle, were nice as well as the ability to control eight toys simultaneously from one remote control.

The second training was from the Pipedream brand. The great news is that Pipedream toys no longer smell bad. This training
was the most emotional. Steven Sav poured watered first rows from the falloprosthesis, joked a lot and demonstrated new products.
A toy with a tongue made a splash. I was also surprised by a very light wand and falloprostheses with
vibration!

Next training was from Maria Volkova, the «Hot Octopuss» coach. Absolutely beautiful toys. It seems to me that I have never
felt stronger vibration. I have been waiting for this brand in Russia for a long time because they have many
toys for men. Unusual masturbators that can bring to orgasm without using hands. Cock rings that can turn a common
dick into a vibrator. I do not know what is inside these toys, but even the chair on which I
was sitting vibrated. Separately, I would like to mention silicone. Feels like I would put give it the first place.
Very velvety and pleasant, especially with erection rings. And now it’s almost the end of the third training, and I
have my jaw on the floor and my eyes are widened. I haven’t been so surprised for a long time.

A pleasant end to the evening we spent together with the Mai Attraction brand. There was a show and many, many
flavors. Do you remember the last scene of "The Perfume" movie? In fact, it was just like there. The founder
of the company began with liquid vibrators. Everyone tried the gel on the tongue. In 5 minutes, the whole room
was buzzing and screaming with delight. All lips and tongues vibrated. Then, home scents were sprayed around the room and
I virtually crawled down the chair delighted with mango aroma. I wanted to run away to the warehouse and take
all the boxes with this fragrance. When they lit the sticks and let the pheromones in the hall, everyone was
hypnotized. I smeared and rubbed myself with everything I could. And yes! Pheromones do work! I was smeared like from
two glasses of wine. It’s been two hours and I still feel excitement and desire, like a cat. Wow, that
was awesome! I got a lot of pleasure and emotions.

Thank you for your attention. These were the freshest impressions from the nano-Thaifest!

On the birthday of the company ”Kazanova 69”, in Yekaterinburg, we had a talk with the brand’s partners in the hope of revealing the secret of the twenty-seven-year period of success of this wholesale market player.

Русский

Karen Nazaretyan, the client manager for Eastern Europe and the official ambassador of the company WOW Tech Group GmbH in Russia

We have been cooperating with “Kazanova 69” for more than two years. This brand seems to be an anchor on
the market, there are few companies within our industry that are so professional, confident-someone we can trust completely. We are
very strict about selecting a partner as we sell products of premium segment. Metaphorically speaking, a rare diamond deserves a
proper setting. That’s why we opt for a partner who is able to share our vision. We do not only
create and sell our products but we rather supply them with certain ideology. This philosophy implies promoting sexuality, raising awareness
about sexuality, health and especially “sexual health”. Thus, “Kazanova 69” is good at illustrating the way this philosophy can be
embraced in Russia.

Frank Kok, the director of sales for “Kiiroo”

We have multiple distributors for the Russian market including the company “Kazanova 69”. The company’s managers are a nice team!
They are so enthusiastic about their work and they take what we do very serious. A lot of my distributors
all over the world only move a bit from the left to the right. In “Kazanova”, all the staff people
who work in the stores need to do an exam every year, not only about my brand but about all
the brands. The knowledge in the company “Kazanova” is very high. The staff working in the stores is very well
educated about all the brands you see there. That is very nice!

Hauke Christiansen, the manager of sales to the key-customers of “Orion”

We have been working with “Kazanova 69” for almost twenty years, they have been very professional, they do museums making
their products more open for everybody. This is very clever. Many people have a very vague idea of our industry,
a limited picture of our products. However, sex toys are looking very different nowadays. Therefore, the companies within our industry
arrange trainings, educate their staff, this is essential, especially the safety issues. You do not necessarily need to come to
a shop to see their goods as they are displayed at exhibitions where the customers can get information from sales
people, take part in trainings. I think the work they are doing is the best job in Russia.

Oksana Bachinskaya, the head of the training center “Sex.RF”

One of our key trainings is called “Awakening of female orgasm” where we make active use of Womanizer, and we
cooperate with “Kazanova 69” for its supply. And during the whole working period, I have never been rejected by this
wholesaler: they are always on our side and work for our benefit. It is a pleasure to work with cultured
people. Within the scope of our industry, culture actually involves ethics.

It is nice that in “Kazanova 69” they have a clear idea of how they should treat their customers, they
are very responsive to their customer’s needs and they act in the most effective way. You know, that’s the thing
about us: we can receive deliveries within specific time frames only-when the customers are absent. These time frames are extremely
strict, still the guys manage to fall within these frames and deliver the goods to the day! It is as
cool as worth learning from. It wouldn’t be a big thing if they worked with us exclusively but they are
good enough to manage their logistics to guarantee on-time delivery for the rest of their clients-undoubtedly, they are flying sky-high!

Milena Kokareva, the director of the chain store “Erotic” and “Intim” in Kirov

We have been in the intimate goods industry for 26 years now. The first stores were opened in 1993, one
year after sex shops appeared in Russia. We are one of the oldest market players. We have been cooperating with
“Kazanova 69” since 1996. This company has unbeatable advantage: their retail work. Every time we come we watch them using
innovations to make their store be viewed as a sex toy store and let it induce a really good traffic!
Despite the difficulties they are facing in their business they are increasing the number of stores and apply some business
formats that are unique: coffee shops, the museum-things that serve well for us to realize what the key drivers of
growth are.

The guests of the event were interviewed by Ekaterina Nikolaeva.

The Biomed Nutrition company presented a press release about its entry into the ASTKOL group of companies. This was the result
of success at the Hannover exhibition and entry into the international market, the result of a two-year partnership. This will
give the company funding to expand production and develop new products.

Biomed Nutrition LLC, which produces intimate gels and lubricants in agreement with the ASTKOL Group of Companies announced that the Group of Companies became their shareholders and the strategic partnership expanded. The terms of the deal are not disclosed.

This event was the result of a two-year cooperation between Biomed Nutrition and ASTKOL Group in the areas of
joint product development, packaging, branding, analytical and marketing work and joint sales. The culmination of the partnership was the unprecedented
demand from the European market that showed during presentation of the Company's products at the exhibition in Hannover in October
9-11, 2019.

ASTKOL Group of Companies as a strategic and financial partner will provide the necessary operational, marketing, human and financial resources that will be directed to the development and production of new articles and their promotion in international markets.

The global adult market is expected to reach $52.7 billion by 2026, with an average annual growth rate of 9.1%,
compared with a growth rate of 5.4% of the medical devices market and 5.2% of the cosmetics industry. In Russia
the market is ahead of the growth rate of an overwhelming number of industries and exceeded, according to experts and
analysts, 5 billion rubles. The industry is characterized by a stable average purchase of 3,000 rubles and the growth rate
of the Russian adult goods market exceeds that of the world market by 10-15%.

“The partnership with ASTKOL/Djaga-Djaga Group of Companies is a recognition of the leading position that our young innovative company
has taken over three years of work,” said Maxim Kalyatin, the founder and the CEO of Biomed Nutrition LLC. “We
carefully studied the history of creation, development and product solutions of leading world manufacturers and we believe that our entry
into the market will revolutionize this segment of the industry in all world markets. ”

Leonid Fishman, founder and head of ASTKOL Group of Companies, said: “The strategic partnership with Maxim Kalyatin and his team
complements our own production capabilities in Russia, allows us to consolidate our leading positions in the wholesale and retail markets
and is an excellent strengthening of the group's product line, which will allow us to be highly competitive suppliers to
the global markets of Europe, the USA and, which is especially valuable, China, where the production of these categories is
not developed or is absent due to external restrictions”.

Biomed Nutrition LLC, the Russian manufacturer of intimate cosmetics was founded in Moscow in February 2017. The company is one
of the most dynamic, innovative and high-tech Russian manufacturing companies in the industry and demonstrates a steep increase in production
at its own production facilities in the Moscow Region. The strategic goals of the company are to create the best
intimate care products for men and women in the Russian and world markets.

The main priorities of the company are:
– certified products, information support and loyalty to the client and commercial partners;
– high production technology in combination with a careful selection of ingredients, which ensures a high level of quality of goods that bring pleasure;
– monitoring and analysis of the quality of raw materials, active components, essential oils, extracts and the final product, which allows you to create something more than just intimate cosmetics;
– creation of a wide product line that best suits the needs of each customer in accordance with his individual needs.

The Astkol/Djaga-Djaga Group of Companies was founded in 1994 and is one of the leaders in the Russian adult goods market.
As of December 2019, the company consists of manufacturing, importing, wholesale, distribution, retail, educational, Internet and media companies. It includes
importers, distributors and wholesale companies LLC Astkol-Alpha and LLC FishEro, production groups in Zelenograd, the «Djaga-Djaga » retail chain (28 stores
in Moscow and the Moscow region), the annual industry conference "ThaiFest", YouTube channel «ProSack», online sellers school «SexStudy». Key employees
and beneficiaries of the Group of Companies are Leonid Fishman, the company founder, and Alexander Green, he head of production
and retail trade.

The press release is provided by Biomed Nutrition LLC.

A letter to all the sex toy dealer of Russia: KISSTOY have enough stockage of sex toys to help you avoid the shortage!

Russian version

Good days!

This is Davidson from KISSTOY, I’m the foreign sales manager of the company.

Nowadays the coronavirus situation is outbreaking all over the world. This is a big problem and will cause the shortage
of sex toy and the raise of the cost, so it will course the rise in price for clients. But
that also is a chance to enhance the sells of sex toy. I’m saying, people now are cancelled the large-scale
activity and stay at home, they will need something to pleasure themselves to keep healthy in mentally, sex product must
be one of their choice!

I’m here to bring you with good news! We KISSTOY have enough stockage of sex toys to help you avoid from the shortage of sex toy, which will certainly happen in the further of months!

Also, order now we can offer you with special discount! To help you reduce your cost!

Our company, factory and suppliers are back to work normally, our services and production are 100% guaranteed!

Please kindly contact me for KISSTOY price list and terms for special discount.

Look forward for your reply of your needs!

Sincerely, Davidson

Nicol Grossman, the marketing director for CalExotics, was interviewed by our reporter.

Russian version

Tell me about your company, please.

CalExotics has been around for 25 years, this is actually our 25^th anniversary. And we have come to eroFame
to showcase our products. CalExotics is the first novelty company founded and owned by a woman, Susan Colvin. We were
the first company to bring more of the female perspective to the market, we were the company to bring toys
in different colors, bright female colors, pink and purple. And we the first company to manufacture novelties and upd ate
our packaging to be more feminine and more female-friendly. Really you can a lot of that today from other companies
but it all started with CalExotics.

What about new products?

We have a variety of new products, actually over 75 new products since July.

Wow!

Yes. We probably launch close to 120-130 for the year. We come out with products two times a year, in
January and July, and we release them throughout the season. New this season you have InTouch which is a great
set of products in two sets: InTouch Passion Trio and InTouch Dynamic Trio. What they are is a se t
of interchangeable massagers, they come with one base and three attachments. But what makes them really unique is that each
item does something different: one of them rotates and vibrates, there is one that sucks and vibrates and one that
makes some kind of flickers. Each one does something very unique. This is a great product for people that like
the variety and different sensations and it also comes in a keepsake box which makes it a perfect gift.

Is it silicone?

Yes, it is made of silicone, very nice material, it is USB-rechargeable and it is waterproof as well. You can submerge it in water. It is waterproof when it is fully assembled: when the base and the top are attached, you can put it in water.

What about this one, Power Gem?

Power Gem is a really great product, it is an anal plug with a beautiful gemstone on the bottom. Most plugs that have the gemstone are made of metal, this is made of silicone, it is USB-rechargeable and has 10 different functions. And you can really feel the power! It is very very nice, the material is very soft.

We have new jack rabbits. Jack Rabbit is a very big name for us. It is a kind of a
larger-size rabbit-style vibrator with internal G-spot stimulator and the external flicker on rabbit ears. There are three new styles. One
that has the dumping pulsation on the top of the stimulator, so it dumps the G-spot, it is very nice.
And then we have one that is made of ultrasoft silicone, it is dual silicone, it has this really squishy
material. And we have the rotating beating rabbit that has internal beats, you can feel the beats through it, it
is made of silicone and it is waterproof as well. It is just the substantial product so that you can
feel how good they feel, they are not cheap, they are of very good quality

Nicol Grossman was interviewed by Aliona Ryne.

We asked the ambassador of Evolved Novelties whether we should expect interruptions in the supply of their products, and how the company's offices and warehouses work in this situation.

Russian version

© Steven Sav (Evolved Novelties)

Are there delays in production and delivery?

There are no delays in our production or deliveries. We were already buying heavily to support our 2020 sales projections and this helped us start March in very good stock positions across all of our items.

Do you notice a decline in sales in your country? In the world? In Russia?

Unfortunately, yes, there has been a decline in sales all over the world. It’s affecting brick and mortar stores the most. Our customers who sell online are doing better, but they’re feeling the effects.

Have you transferred the office staff to remote work?

All of our staff including Accounting, Order Entry, the Creative and Sales Teams are all set up to work remotely and address any customer needs or issues. The Sales Team has always been traveling 2-3 weeks per month every year – we’re used to working remotely. But we miss seeing our customers.

Have you transferred warehouse employees to remote work?

Our warehouse staff have remained in place to receive containers and ship out orders both in the USA and the Netherlands.

Are you taking any special steps at the office? In the warehouse? In the working space?

With the office empty there are no issues. With regards to the warehouses, we’re taking steps to ensure the safety
of our loyal employees.  We now have 2 shifts with less staff per shift.   The workspace between employees has been
expanded to 3 meters and they get more safety breaks to clean their work stations as well as taking personal
safety precautions.

Are you planning any efforts to support demand in your country? In the world? In Russia?

We have about 4.5 months’ worth of stock. With regards to our European warehouse, we have been shipping to them
every 2 weeks to make sure they’re in a good stock position as well. We’ll be able to address the
needs of our customers all over the world when they’re ready. Our fill rates have always been, and will remain,
the best in the industry.

On a personal note, I would like to add that I’ve seen videos of empty streets in Moscow and St Petersburg. These two cities are my most favorite in the world and to see them lose their vibrant culture almost overnight breaks my heart. I’m looking forward to this ending soon. Please stay safe and healthy.

Before the new year, connoisseurs of domestic intimate cosmetics were pleasantly surprised by the latest product from Biomed Nutrition (TM Jaga-Jaga). We asked brand representatives to talk about them.

An absolute novelty of the brand are massage candles with pheromones. They have stylish packaging, but the main beauty is
hidden under the lid. Inside the metal jar lie two candles in the form of yin-yang. They differ only in
color; form, flavor and composition are the same. Why are there two of them (well, except that it is simply
stylish and beautiful)?

Maxim Kalyatin (founder and CEO of Biomed Nutrition) explained why the package turned out to be just like this:
“We thought for a long time what package the massage candles should contain, and decided to pack two candles in
one. With this solution, you can simply light one candle for flavor, use the other, or use both of the
two hands. It is always convenient to put two candles by the bed, by the bath, the symmetry is beautiful.
Despite the fact that the shape of our candles is symbolic, it also carries an important practical property. While many
other massage candles melt only around the wick, leaving a lot of wax along the walls, our candle, also due
to the natural oil, melts evenly. The entire contents of the bath turns into a liquid, oily, velvety structure that
does not burn during application, and it can be fully used.”

The composition of the candles was clarified by Julia Isachenkova (Deputy General Director): “The basis of all our candles is
coconut oil and shea butter. It perfectly moisturizes the skin. Our candles can be used in intimate areas. I note
that the aroma (during combustion – Ed.) from them is not as strong as from specialized aroma candles. They are
intended for the body and reveal on the skin. ”

The collection includes ten fragrances that complement the range of massage oils from Biomed Nutrition. The completely natural composition leads to the fact that the candle melts even from body heat, in fact, even the candle itself can be applied to the skin.

Returning to the packaging, Maxim noted that the label sought to create an oriental flavor that would fit into the
yin-yang image of candles and at the same time complement the beautiful product with design. Pay attention to the fact
that the tube with massage oil and the candle with the same aroma look very harmonious in pairs, which allows
the store to draw out the display favorably and offer the buyer two products that complement each other.

Another great idea of the brand was gift sets of three lubricants in 30 ml tubes, a total of six
combinations. Since the brand has a very wide range of lubricants, it is difficult for the buyer to choose one
thing. Now customers have the opportunity to take instead of one large volume lubricant three small ones at once to
evaluate them and give preference to what they like. In addition to convenience, the sets look very stylish and beautiful,
they are all decorated in the same Russian style, but differently than large bottles of lubricants.

Here is how Maxim commented on the idea of sets: “We carry this Russian style in our products and try
to abide by it everywhere. In such a volume (30 ml), nine products were released: cooling, warming, anal, three fruit,
safe, healing and universal lubricants . Of these, 6 types of sets are composed of three tubes each. ” Julia
added: “This is a great gift for the upcoming Valentine's Day, February 23 and March 8, or a birthday. And
for those who are just getting to know our brand, this is a good way to quickly figure out what
is what. ”

At the end of a brief conversation, Maxim and Yulya said that the news didn’t end there and noted: “Every
day, every week, every month, confidence in our brand is getting bigger, interest is growing. People are already starting to
look forward to new products, and they themselves become participants in the process of their creation, giving feedback, fostering our
imagination, discovering their desires and needs. And we try to create what people are looking for. ”

WOW Tech Group announced its participation in the FORUS training business forum, which will be held on May 13 and 14 in Moscow.

At the moment, the company plans to introduce new products from the We-Vibe brand, and for the first time in Russia, a new men's brand with unique innovative Arcwave technology will be demonstrated .

Created by a Canadian couple in 2003, the We-Vibe brand has sold millions of toys worldwide since the launch of the first vibrator in 2008.

In June 2018, two large corporations merged: Group Management GmbH, a company specializing in the production of Womanizer sex toys,
and Standard Innovation Corp, the manufacturer of the We-Vibe brand. Under the terms of the agreement, the Womanizer Group acquired
all the outstanding shares of Standard Innovation, and the creators of Standard Innovation remained investors in the joint holding company
WOW Tech Group, with headquarters in Berlin.

Today the WOW Tech Group also includes such brands as Attivia, pjur, Novoluto.

The company is actively developing its brands. For example, We-Vibe introduced two new products with new technology and specialized advanced sensors that can independently respond to body movements, adjusting vibration to the desired pace.

We-Vibe Chorus, according to the official statement, is “the most advanced and intuitive vibrator for couples”. The new generation
of vibrating massagers for couples uses the new Touch-sense technology. Now control can be carried out not only with buttons,
but also with the help of a simple and natural gesture. To change the impact, just squeeze the remote in
your hand. The stronger the compression, the stronger the vibration.

The vibro massager uses the innovative AnkorLink technology which creates a more stable connection between the We-Vibe Chorus and the
We-Connect application. The toy is connected via the Squeeze Remote, which serves as an amplifier, the signal is not interrupted!
AnkorLink extends traditional Bluetooth connectivity, bypassing current connectivity issues.

We-Vibe Chorus has 10 vibration modes and the ability to create unique vibration patterns through the We-Connect app. And thanks
to special sensors, there is a new opportunity to choose one of three different modes in combination with the We-Connect
Touch-sense application, which allows the stimulator to monitor the pleasure itself, adjusting vibration to the beat of movement.

Another new brand was theWand vibro massager. As in Chorus, the We-Vibe Wand is covered with specialized advanced sensors
that can independently respond to movement. The vibratory massager utilizes Smart Silence technology, which allows vibrations to work only when
the device is in contact with the body and it is controlled with one touch.

Manufacturer officially declares that it is the most powerful wireless Wand today. With the Wand also come two nozzles. One imitates the effects of Sqweel, the second imitates Manta, making the vibro-massager universal and suitable for men.

You can learn more about all the We-Vibe innovations and see Arcwave technology in action at the FORUS business forum. There the company will introduce its customer loyalty system and marketing activity offers.

When this article was getting ready for publication, it became known that a vibrator-rabbit from We-Vibe will be presented at FORUS. There are no details about the toy yet, as the official press-release hasn’t yet come out and we are all looking forward to it.

Coronavirus pandemic. The fall of the ruble. In this situation we all have to change our lives, taking into account what is happening around. This is also true for companies.

What is changing for large Russian wholesale companies? To find out we sent them the following 5-questions survey.

1) Has the company’s work schedule changed in connection with the coronavirus?
2) Have you transferred employees to work remotely?
3) If so, how does this affect the shipment of goods?
4) What measures are you taking to protect those who still work in the office and your visitors?
5) What measures of keeping customers do you take in the situation with the fall of the ruble?

Astkol-Alfa

1) No, the work schedule has not changed.

2) Partially.

3) The goods are shipped in accordance with the regular schedule of the company.

4) We use antiseptics (wiping the door handles every 2 hours). Workers with signs of acute respiratory infections are sent home on sick leave. We carry out disinfection of rooms with recirculating UV lamps. 

5) Our measures are quality service and goods in stock.

Djaga-Djaga

1) Our company has three main divisions. These are production, wholesale and retail, represented by a chain of stores in Moscow. In all three divisions, the work schedule has not changed.

2) All employees whose physical presence is not necessary are invited to work remotely. Technical and information support is organized.

3) The company is developing. We are constantly expanding, there is no negative impact from innovations.

4) We conduct preventive conversations, replenish first-aid kits with everything necessary, carry out routine inspections before the start of each
shift in production, transfer communication with partners from real-life to virtual. For visitors - the mandatory distribution of visits by
time and shoe covers on their feet, optionally – medical masks.

5) We do not take any special measures. We are the Russian manufacturer, and the price of our products does not depend on the exchange rate. High quality, stable prices, a huge, constantly evolving assortment – these are our measures. But they do not depend on the fall of the ruble.

Inspite Company

1) At present, Inspirit has not changed the schedule. We still work daily from 9:00 to 18:00 (Saturday-Sunday –the regular weekend).

2) This issue is currently being worked out. If the situation becomes dire, it is entirely possible that some of the employees will be sent to work from home.

3) We are sure that when we send some employees to work remotely our dear customers should not notice this. We will ship orders on a regular basis.

4) Regular and most reliable measures: we keep our office clean, wash our hands, ventilate the premises, wipe tables, computers, and door handles.

5) We see our mission in creating new, interesting and most importantly, products in demand on the market, as well as in providing our customers with good service and efficient execution of orders.

Kazanova 69

1-2-3) Today we work as usual, employees in the office, we monitor the development of the situation. Shipment of goods is made regularly.

4) We carry out a set of measures to clean working areas with special means. They introduced strict regulations and control over its implementation. This is done both in stores and in offices.

5) Our company has no debts or loans in rubles or in foreign currency. Our stocks allows us to keep prices at the same level today.

Supplier of Happiness

1) The work schedule for today remains the same – 7 days a week from 9:00 to 21:00.

2) 100% of the administrative staff transferred to the remote mode. Warehouse employees and client department managers, as well as our courier service, are operating as before.

3) Administrative staff (management, accounting, it- department, advertising and marketing) can perform their functions remotely without complications. We always use
a lot of cloud technologies in our work, so the transition to the remote mode of operation of the administrative
staff did not cause any difficulties. It took me a few laptops to buy, but overall we quickly solved this
problem.

4) Recirculators are installed in all rooms. We provide all employees with the necessary number of masks and disinfectants. All
employees were given recommendations to minimize the use of public transport, if possible, get to work and back home by
personal transport or taxi. The company compensate the costs associated with this. We have established a barrier that ensures a
distance of at least a meter between employees who handle orders and visitors. We make every effort to protect personnel
and prevent the spread of infection.

5) We understand how dire the situation is for everyone. To support all colleagues in the market, we do not index the prices of goods in our warehouse. To support our customers, we launched an unprecedented campaign – until March 21 we give an additional 10% discount on all goods in our warehouse.

S-Market

1) For our country, the difficult period has not come, however, the S- Market company continues to work in the same mode. So far, the work schedule has not changed, but we are following the development of the situation and will act accordingly.

Since most companies are forced to cancel their events, including training, and many of the brand representatives canceled their planned trips, we are preparing a series of online training webinars to compensate for this situation.

2) Workers of all structures are currently at work, interacting with partners. Our customers can be sure: we are ready to handle their orders any time.

3) If significant changes occur, the company will officially report this without fail.

4) Of course, we understand the conditions in which both our company and others have found themselves. For our part,
we are taking all possible measures to ensure the safety of employees. Especially for this, we purchased masks and antibacterial
gels, measure the temperature of employees when they come to work, and a hand disinfector is installed at the entrance.
Every day our company employees disinfect gadgets, office equipment and the surfaces they touch, and also ventilate the rooms.

We care about the welfare not only of our employees, but also of our customers. Therefore, we additionally conduct a special campaign with sanitizers and gels, which customers receive as a bonus to the order, and have the opportunity to use it to additionally protect their employees.

5) The growth rate could not but affect the cost of production, so we have to adjust prices taking into account current market realities. We are constantly in touch with the brands that we represent in Russia, and together we determine the tactics during this period, taking into account macroeconomic factors.

There is no need to talk about falling demand after the prices have risen. At the moment the sales of
goods have increased more than one and a half times compared to last year. We believe that the reason here
is simple, as we continue to present top- quality products and, despite the rise of the dollar, we keep good
prices. The stability of demand for products is ensured also by the active work of the company to expand the
range of products. So, for example, in the nearest future we expect three new collections and an extension of existing
ones from California Exotic Novelties.

Erotic Fantasy

1) The schedule did not change

2) So far, no one has been sent to work from home, however, it was decided to cancel the face-to-face meetings of managers with clients. All issues are resolved using Skype and instant messengers.

3) Shipments are made as usual.

4) As a method for the disease prevention, ventilation systems have been cleaned and improved, all employees use antiseptic gels and sprays, and we also measure temperature regularly. If you feel sick, you should inform the management of the symptoms and go home.

5) At the moment, we maintain the same prices and do not plan increase them. 3 promotions have been launched – discounts on goods in various categories.

Le Frivole and CostumeShop

1) No changes.

2) No, they did not go, because this makes no sense. There is no problem, but the panic due to the bad news background.

3) As far as our shipments are concerned, everything goes practically according to plan. This week has been a little worse, but most customers understand that life does not end with the appearance of a virus that has a mortality rate tens of times weaker than the flu.

4) We wash our hands, eat apples and ventilate rooms! In general, a person with the good immunity rate is not afraid of anything.

5) All manufacturers and distributors have raised prices. Some of our products (suits, underwear, belts) are produced in Russia, so
we suffer a little less from the growth of the exchange rate, and, accordingly, we do not raise prices by
the entire exchange rate difference. This is beneficial to our customers. We plan to hold a webinar and share our
thoughts on what retail can do in the current circumstances. We shifted the emphasis on the development of new products
to the budget segment, but this will only bear fruit in the future. The most important thing is to communicate
with the customers and “reassure” those who are worried, but there are few of them. Most of us have long
developed “immunity” to crises, for so many of them have happened in Russia lately.

X-market

1) The schedule of the company has not changed, but we are taking measures that will allow it to be done if necessary or there are official prohibitions from executive authorities.

2) So far, employees have not been sent to work from home.

3) Shipment of goods takes place as usual. Warehouse workers are provided with protective equipment. Individual packaging of each product is treated with a disinfectant liquid before shipment. Also at least twice a day wet cleaning and airing of the warehouse are carried out.

4) In the office we carry out the disinfection of door handles, the obligatory washing of hands for all who come in, the distribution of disinfectant liquid for individual use. We provide employees with masks and we increased the frequency of wet cleaning and ventilation.

5) We “froze” prices and made it known to all customers by sending and publishing on our official Facebook page.

The editors of Sexshopers.ru would like to thank the companies that participated in our survey.

Shots and S-Market have officially announced the signing of an exclusive distribution agreement for the Russian, Belarus and Kazakhstan Market.

Hein Schouten, sales Director, said: "We believe that our choice is the right one for successful development. We have already
been working with S-market for some time now and the team is great. We have already started preparing joint
marketing campaigns with S-Market for our clients. Our joint promotion and sales plan is designed to meet the needs of
different sales channels in Russia. So this is the right next step for us."

S-Market will be engaged in strategic positioning of Shots brands. At the same time, the companies will work together to develop product representation and introduce new innovative toys to the markets of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

All partners will be offered even more additional support, including training programs, promotional materials, marketing programs, and, of course, an individual approach to each client.

Another point of cooperation is the appointment of an official brand Ambassador for Shots in Russia – Daria Norkina. Daria
will be responsible for promoting the company's products and increasing brand awareness from her office in Moscow. It is the
next step for Shots in their growth plan. Hein says: “The new distribution strategy in working together with S-market exclusive,
plus Daria as a great addition to the Shots family, will take Russia to the next level.”

Daria Norkina, official representative of the Shots brand in Russia, answered several questions about cooperation with the company and her experience in the adult industry.

How long have you been working in the industry for adult products so far and how did you get into it at all?

I have been working in the adult industry for quite some time now. However, my career in sales started with the largest German food retailer in Russia. But I didn't want to stand still, I wanted to learn something new and interesting. I was lucky to get into our field and I immediately realized that this is my calling.

What convinced you to work for Shots?

I am very happy to join the Shots team. This is a cool energetic young team. A huge range of truly high-quality and interesting products.

What do you especially like about your profession and this business?

First of all communication, it is meeting new successful interesting people. We are opening the door to a world of pleasure and new experiences for more and more people. And it's great to be involved in it.

Please tell us about your work routines and main tasks.

The Main goal is to make everyone in Russia know about Shots and their wonderful products. We have already started conducting training webinars on products, large-scale presentations are planned, and there is a lot of activity. We have big plans.

What was your best decision regarding your career up to now?

Definitely the best decision in my career was to join the Shots team.

Which principles do you follow at work?

In my work, I have a very important principle "success of partners is my success"!

How would friends and family characterise you?

I am energetic, purposeful, charismatic. Charming and attractive.

A glimpse into the future: What are your wishes/ goals job-wise?

Unfortunately, in Russia, the level of sexual development is not high enough, often you meet not understanding, and sometimes denial. Therefore, telling everyone about how great it is possible to diversify your sex life with all the variety that the Shots brand offers, it is very cool

The press release is provided by Shots Media and S-market companies.

At the end of February, our film crew visited the training center СЕКС.РФ (SEX.RF). Product Director Oksana Bachinskaya told us how the trainings are held, what is happening on the premises of the center.

Russian version

When the guests open the door (the training center only works with girls so far) they get into the reception
area where they can look around, enlist fir trainings, ask questions about the program of future events. A little further
is the shopping area where products are grouped not according to brand or characteristics, but according to their purpose. So,
for example, there is a separate rack where pelvic floor muscle trainers are assembled.

There are three training rooms in this center: Peppermint, Ginger and Cinnamon. Each of them is designed for its own class of trainings.

But it’s best to learn about it first hand. Watch a video tour with Oksana Bachinskaya and our special correspondent Alena Rain.

Watch the video on YouTube

Over the past month, the situation has changed a lot. Therefore, we cannot but supplement the story with an answer to the urgent question, what measures are being taken at the training center in connection with the coronavirus situation. Here is what Oksana says about this:

“The processing of our training rooms has always been at the highest level, starting from the disinfectants used (we use
Maxi – Steril with an exposure time of at least 3 hours), ending with the protocol for covering the halls,
which also contains an algorithm for processing all surfaces (even chairs) with disinfectants. Even in this situation of epidemiological alertness,
our processing protocols are more than reliable.

But still, we introduce restrictions. Temporarily we do not conduct the training “Deepthroat – easy”, and we do the “Art
of oral sex” without demonstrating complex (throat) techniques. We also limited the number of places in groups, so it could
be possible to increase the safe distance between the participants up to one meter. Additionally, at your request, we can
provide a mask or two if the training time is more than 2 hours”.

In accordance with the latest decisions of the President and the government, all the trainings are temporarily transferred to the webinar format.

The product director of the training center СЕКС.РФ (SEX.RF) was interviewed by our reporter.

This interview was taken before lockdowns, before the majority of companies, including SEX.RF, have left their off-line activities to opt
for on-line service. We hope we will be able to return to our routine in the nearest future and the
cozy halls of the training centers are going to be filled with people longing to make their sex life more
rich and diverse. So, this conversation may be of great interest despite of the current global situation. Given article contains
extracts fr om the interview while the complete version is available on our youtube channel. Well…

First things first. What sort of project is SEX.RF?

Oksana: SEX.RF is a project dedicated to sexual education in the first place. This is a training center, for women exclusively, so far (“so far”, I stress), focusing not only on sexual practices but on solving doubts about life in a couple, sexuality, sensuality, parenting and children growing up- also important.

SEX.RF is a place where people can discuss any topic related to sex in a gentle, client-friendly and professional way. The key point is: women leave the center after making sure they are totally ok, in the majority of cases. Or, they are supported with advice to ask for help fr om a health care specialist.

What is the mission of SEX.RF?

We focus on sexual education. We are oriented on any woman’s right to say “NO”, on teaching her how to
do it right. Second, we teach her to act for her own sake-a kind of sound egoism applied to sex.
We teach her how to stop making sexual charity or serve somebody’s else needs, how to listen to her body
and the most important-how to learn to cooperate with her own body… Our education is about the culture of consent
announcement among other skills.

Is there any age lim it for a woman to become your student?

Once she is 18 years old, she is welcome. Our doors are wide open. This is the “age of majority” in our country.

Can you please give a general overview of the trainings you offer and the areas you focus on?

We have 15 basic trainings that are always available. There are oral and manual practices. We tell women what to
do with their own precious body and how to please their partner. We have a big set of vaginal trainings.
This is a product called “Triad” including three trainings on the development of intimate muscles, vaginal sex and orgasm reaching.

Ok. Is the training center located in Saint Petersburg just a branch or a fully-equipped independent center similar to that based in Moscow?

It is a full-fledged center. Equal to the Moscow center. This is a department comprising the group of companies. So, this is SEX.RF on the Neva. We have been around there for many years.

What about branches outside Moscow and Saint Petersburg?

None at the moment. We used to have a center in Nizhny Novgorod but it was closed about mid-year 2019. It so happened.

Who can become a coach? Do they need a degree? Or anything else?

At present, all the girls working here have a degree in Psychology. We have recently opened some vacancies within two areas: medical doctors and the second area that requires coaches for games who need no degree in either Medicine or Psychology.

Can I ask you a direct question, then? Who is Oksana Bachinskaya? Tell me please about your professional background.

I am a medical psychologist. That’s all. Before publication or when I am invited to a place to deliver a
speech, I am often asked for regalia. Look, I have none. As a matter of fact, psychology is a medical
area of expertise and my certificate says: “Sexology in medical consultancy”. I have completed many academic hours of training to
become just a psychologist in sexology. However, the Diploma of the 2^nd University of Medicine is my pride. Because this
is a qualification in the Medical Psychology that I obtained from a good medical university.

Ok, another question. Imagine one who has never been to a sex shop. Wh ere does he or she begin?

I am sure people should start with a lube. With a simple water-based one. They are of different viscosity, of opposite consistency and this fact can actually change your life! It can just put things right! And can turn a frowny process into a really cool thing to enjoy! So, get a lube and enjoy!

I hope that girls who knew nothing or little about your training center before the interview are going to change their life. I have really enjoyed our talk, your speech is clear, precise and one can have a good idea of what is going on here.

I hope so. There are some reasons for choosing us. First, our center is a safe space. Photo or video
shooting are strictly prohibited on our territory. We take care to ensure that girls have left their mobile phones outside
the classroom because nobody wants to become a YouTube star after the “Deep Throat” training and have to deal with
troubles related to that. Second, our center is a place to ask those questions you cannot ask anyone else.

While Moscow is on self-isolation, we never stop working. We publish excerpts from Anna’s remote interview (VR 18+), whose business from a tiny room on the outskirts of Moscow has grown to an office on Arbat with branches all over Moscow and several franchises in Russia.

Russian version

We know that you have been through a lot of changes over the past year, please tell us about them.

Yes, we have had a lot of changes. Everything has probably changed with us. And most importantly, what has changed
is that since the middle of last summer we began to focus on delivery. We began to get more creative
with delivery, stimulate more people, and at that time no one else did it. It’s more convenient for people at
home, and the helmets we use are mobile. We were the first to start actively promoting VR with home delivery,
and now it has flourished. This is the first thing.

We’ve got completely different helmet models. They are innovative and, in my opinion, this is really something! You can play active games, the controller is not needed, you can control the menu with your own hands. That is, they combine the advantages of both massive helmets and portable ones. This is the second point.

The third. We have opened many exclusive representative offices. In Smolensk, in St. Petersburg, in Novosibirsk, in Rostov-on-Don.

The most important thing that happened this year is that we created our own application, which is called “VRAYU” (“In
Paradise”). And it is also available for our helmets. The application accelerated video downloads, and it has for example, the
eye-control function. Imagine – your eyes are like a cursor. In addition, several resources are connected at once, automatic login,
no need to enter a login and a password. A very large variety of stories, for completely different people with
different preferences. And all this is very fast, convenient and easy. We also sell it separately for people who already
have a VR. That is, we are becoming more than just a rental service or a helmets store, namely an
IT company. I am extremely happy about this.

As the quarantine ends, we will invite you for a test. You will be shocked at how much everything leaped
forward. Naturally, this is not only our merit, since the VR industry is developing very quickly, with leaps and bounds.
Just the day before yesterday, it was in this helmet that I just participated in the conference. You will say
what it is, now we all participate in conferences, both in zoom and in Skype. But it was just a
VR conference. These are absolutely bombing sensations. You create yourself an avatar there, like in the Sims, and you can
move around, approach different people. It’s like in real life completely. That is, people there are drinking coffee somewhere, you
approach a person, you hear him or her better, you go away and you hear someone else. First there was
a coffee break, then we all gathered on the stage, someone acts, someone leaves. This is a future where you
do not have to be physically present, but you are there. This is what we will all come to, it
seems to me. The current situation hints on this.

The future is already here with us, it's amazing! Let's try to go further. You have already listed the cities in which your franchise exists. And suddenly in other cities there are interested entrepreneurs, how can they find out the terms of the franchise?

Everything is very simple. Visit our website, there is a section “for partners”, “about the “VRAYU” franchise and leave a
request. A corresponding offer is sent to everyone. We have now created a more flexible format. Our franchise, for example,
includes marketing and promotion. But if you are a famous person and promote yourself and you want such a franchise,
then we will give you a discount.

I know for sure that you dealt with the issue of using virtual reality by people with disabilities. What can virtual reality give them and what are you doing in this direction?

It seems to me that we are all with disabilities now. With the help of VR you can walk around the world, just travel. Everything is made in VR, and you can watch the whole world. That is, a person who cannot physically get somewhere can feel it so real that we all become not with limited, but with full-fledged capabilities.

Another example. My friends are engaged in exoskeletons for people with disabilities, these are people who have a chance to recover. They are treated with VR. They learn to walk in VR, because their brain remembers how to do it, activates the necessary neurons, then they walk with the exoskeleton, and then they walk on their own.

Or, for example, in May I was supposed to make a report at Moscow State University. I have a study
that VR is able to cure impotence and erectile dysfunction, or, in any case, reduce it if it is due
to psychological reasons. This is another VR application. VR immerses you in such an environment that you really become like
a superman. Therefore, any features that were previously unavailable to you, except, perhaps, tactile, become possible in VR.

What other features of virtual reality are in demand now? Travel, education, conferences?

One of the most sensational deals this month is the deal between Apple and Next VR. Apple bought for $100 million the most famous service of VR-broadcasts. As far as I understand, they want to VR-broadcast football matches. It has now in a great demand. I myself have recently been at a VR concert.

One of my colleagues was very interested in our application, and he wants us to organize a VR-shooting of his
event. I cannot disclose the details, only I can say it is a major event. VR filming, VR broadcasting is
on the rise now. The second thing on the rise is multiplayer games. Third – VR conferences. That is, when
you see another person, albeit in a different guise, and you interact with him: shake hands and all. Well, and
VR for adults, naturally, because this is the part that pushes any technology forward. Suffice it to say that 2
of the 5 most popular sites are dedicated to VR for adults.

This is the situation in the country now, we are all forced to isolate ourselves, we all have limited opportunities. Has VR demand increased in this situation?

When it all just started, the people began to panic, and the demand fell sharply. But then it began to
grow confidently. In the first two weeks there was a calm-down, and then there was a great rise. In addition,
and it pleases me, they finally began to actively buy our application too. And people from other countries too. Maybe
because they got their hands on it, because really, the demand for VR has soared.

How do you resolve the issue of safety when delivering helmets?

This is the most popular question. I will tell you everything. Firstly, it is all treated with chlorhexidine. Secondly, there
are those silicone linings, they are also processed with ultraviolet light, disinfected, stored in a sealed bag which are opened
before the client. That is, first the specialist shows the client how the helmet works, then opens the package, puts
on the linings and hands it to the client. Our experts, of course, wear masks and disposable gloves.

Watch the video with subtitles for the full version of the interview...

We asked participants in the Russian adult goods market to talk about how their business survives in a pandemic.

Russian version

Our questions were answered by:

Dmitry Schepin (Kazanova69, wholesale company and retail net)

Yesenia Shamonina PREZERVATIVNAYA, Spielie-Willie and the Jade Rod, retail stores)

Ivan Knyazev (Intim69 retail net in the Moscow region)

Nadezhda Frolova (online sex shop in Moscow)

Olga Kotova (LogicGroup LLC, Samara, retail store).

Alexander Sinyukov and Georg Safaryan (LUXLITE Group of Companies, manufacturer)

Igor Tikhonov (retail store net Lovestor, Moscow)

Alexander Khanzhin (sex shop “Fun for adults”, Magnitogorsk)

Elena Aksyonova (wholesale company Impacto Group LLC and online retail boutique “50 Shades”)

What has changed in your business since the beginning of the isolation regime?

Dmitry Schepin

On the one hand, a lot has changed, and on the other, the built-in systems have helped to weather all external changes quite easily. We redirected our business for online, reorienting a fairly large part of our physical retail employees for online services.

Also, we immediately started working on advancing safety requirements in retail, having converted all stores into a non-contact format, now our seller contacts the buyer only through a small window.

Yesenia Shamonina

We currently have three stores, all offline. Two condom-selling – on Myasnitskaya and Arbat, and one “Spielie-Willie and the Jade
Rod” on Belorusskaya. Naturally, we closed all three stores. We have a small online store “PRESERVATIVNAYA” (Condom store). There are
no sex toys, only cosmetics, condoms, lubricants. Initially, we did not particularly position this as an online store, it was
like an offline warehouse, so that people who are already our customers have a convenient opportunity to order without leaving
home. Accordingly, there we had an increased (doubled) the number of orders. And the offline store is completely closed now
and we are waiting for it to open.

Ivan Knyazev

We all realized that insufficient attention has been paid to online trading.

Nadezhda Frolova

In early April, I stopped making shipments to the regions, leaving only delivery within Moscow. Regional orders with me amounted
to about 60%, and as soon as the restrictions on the movement of ordinary people began to get introduced, I
had to stop regional shipments. Formally, logistics companies work, and it seems that it is possible to deliver orders. But
I predicted a very large share of returns due to restrictions, up to 50%. And I decided not to risk
it.

In addition, the Russian Post increased the shelf life of parcels to 2 months, i.e. the mail return will be
back in about 3 months. For two weeks, the parcel makes its way to the post office, there the recipient
waits for two months, and if the recipient changes his mind then after two months it will only be sent
back, plus time for the return trip, plus a double delivery tariff. And the worst thing is, if the order
is placed at the point of delivery that was open at the moment of the order and got closed while
the delivery was in progress there will be a refund. Courier regional home door-to-door delivery also began to work poorly,
and entry was closed to many settlements in general. Even if the client retained his intention to receive the order,
in many cases he would simply not be able to do it technically. And in addition to problems with restrictions,
there is also the problem of a sharp drop in incomes fr om people, normally the recipient would have got
the order, and now when people try to save money, he would highly likely change his mind.

Olga Kotova

We began to actively develop online, began to think what to improve and how, made many changes to the site, came up with ideas on how to make delivery convenient and safe for the client. Developed marketing campaigns to attract and retain customers. We focused on newsletters and social networks.

For the first two weeks of self-isolation we have worked only for delivery and procession of orders. Then, after consulting
with a lawyer, we opened points in compliance with all safety standards: masks, gloves, restrictive lines, warning posters. We organized
separate windows with antiseptics and some essential goods. We made a schedule of disinfection of the room.

Alexander Sinyukov and Georg Safaryan

Most of the employees work remotely, almost everything. This complicates communication and solving operational issues. On the other hand, such conditions helped us optimize parts of the business processes, which in the future will facilitate the work of the company when isolation stops.

Igor Tikhonov

The business did not change, but simply almost stopped.

Alexander Khanzhin

At first there was fear of working ban. Then we found a way out, wrote an ad on the door that we were working as a pick-up point, we service through a window. The administration could not object.

Elena Aksyonova

I had to make changes to almost all processes – both imports, and warehouse operations, and the sales process itself. I had to dramatically redistribute responsibilities within the team and change priorities.

It is good that our team (except for the warehouse) works remotely fr om different parts of the world – this made it easier to adapt to new conditions.

Do you notice a decline or increase in sales?

Dmitry Schepin

We do not see either. The growth is at the level of previous years, but it is clear that these are the fruits of our work, and not the state of the market.

Yesenia Shamonina

Naturally, there is recession, sometimes we have barely enough to pay our employees. Everything else is at a loss.

Ivan Knyazev

Sales fell about 4-5 times.

Nadezhda Frolova

Since the beginning of April, I have had a sharp increase in sales, despite the rejection of regional shipments. The growth is twofold compared to the traditionally festive season: December, January, February, March. If you compare the number of orders in Moscow specifically with the previous holiday months, then in April I have 4-fold growth.

But it so happened that at the end of March there was a time when our programmers finished some kind
of development that we had been working on since December. This development helps to optimize traffic. And at the end
of March I put it into practice. For example, for 300 visitors a day, I had 20 orders in April-May.
However, I cannot know now what caused this growth. It may be that retail stores closed and their visitors went
online. It may be that people were locked up in their homes instead of work, and they got a lot
of free time. I did not have the opportunity to compare sales before and after the introduction of the new
technology under the same conditions, and I don’t know which factor influenced the sales growth in April and May. I
think that combined effect of all factors gave such a result.

Olga Kotova

Due to the general decline offline revenue fell significantly. But online has grown by 40-50%.

Alexander Sinyukov and Georg Safaryan

Of course, there has been a decline in sales in some areas. Some regions work part-time, but somewhere work stopped completely. Now the regions are gradually recovering. As for sales in sex shops, the situation here is not very good. Many stores have closed, which cannot but affect the sales of our condoms in this distribution channel.

But at the same time, several our directions show an increase in sales (our online store and sales through marketplaces). In general, we sank, but not very much.

Igor Tikhonov

A 10-times recession.

Alexander Khanzhin

At first there was a recession, about 10 days, people rarely left homes. Then the situation improved.

Elena Aksyonova

Growth. For all 3 months (March, April and May) we are on the rise.

Of the three crisis months the most significant growth was recorded in April – we grew by 65% compared to last year.

What mode are you currently working in?

Dmitry Schepin

In the optimistic one!

Yesenia Shamonina

There is one online store. For a couple of hours a day, employees come here, collect orders and send them with couriers.

Ivan Knyazev

Out of 12 stores, 6 are open. Access to the trading floor is restricted, we only process orders.

Nadezhda Frolova

In time pressure mode. There were a few days of very active surges in which I realized that this was the ceiling for my structure. I simply cannot physically “eat” more orders, and for further growth it is necessary to change the architecture of the business.

Olga Kotova

We are now working in our normal mode, in compliance with safety rules.

Alexander Sinyukov and Georg Safaryan

Now 80% of employees are working remotely, 20% – in an office, as shipments come every day. Now there is no difference, whether it is Friday or Sunday, most of the employees are work not on schedule but on demand.

Igor Tikhonov

Of the 22 stores, 5 are “half-open” – they work as pick-up points of Internet orders, but we do not
have an increase in the number of orders that everyone is shouting about. Sometimes sellers try to sell something extra,
but it is risky because inspectors are everywhere now. Already me and many others have been fined. That’s how they
help small business.

Alexander Khanzhin

We work as usual.

Elena Aksyonova

We redoubled our efforts, adapting to new conditions.

I really wanted to relax a little after the season, but it happen. The changes affected mainly the warehouse –
we tightened security measures (masks, gloves, sanitizers) and the warehouse personnel work in shifts to ensure social distance between employees.
In addition, all deliveries to the warehouse are quarantined 24 hours. This slightly slowed down the process of acceptance of
goods. And for the rest, everything is as usual.

Are there any delays in supplies?

Dmitry Schepin

Of course not.

Yesenia Shamonina

We are not refilling our stocks right now. We are selling everything that is available, because we always have good leftovers. We hope that the situation will change soon.

Ivan Knyazev

So far we are managing with old stocks.

Nadezhda Frolova

No. I was very lucky with the supplier. In this difficult period, I expected a mess and problems with shipments,
or even a complete stop of shipments. It is clear that the employees have to work to get salaries, and
other partners are very dependent on supplies, and indeed we can be closed any day. In April, I was preparing
for the worst. However, the “Supplier of Happiness” is very advanced in Internet technologies, and it has focused its
entire business on working with online stores. I don’t know what they did and how they stood on their feet
at that time, but shipments for online stores went without any problems at all. There were, of course, small problems,
but nothing out of the ordinary. And given the difficult situation on the verge of a complete halt to the
work of most companies in the country, they generally did the impossible.

Olga Kotova

No, fortunately, none of the suppliers failed. On the contrary, they tried to make concessions, offered marketing support and additional training for employees.

Alexander Sinyukov and Georg Safaryan

Unfortunately, yes. But for the most part, these delays do not exceed 2 weeks, so for most items we have enough stocks to ensure smooth operation. In general, we will survive!

Igor Tikhonov

There are no delays in deliveries, as there are no purchases and deliveries themselves. And, apparently, this is for long.

Alexander Khanzhin

No.

Elena Aksyonova

Unfortunately, there is. Our goods are mainly fr om Europe and the situation has hit our European suppliers badly.

There are failures in their supply and production chains, and there are limitation of warehouse personnel. This significantly slowed down the speed of interaction and order processing.

We hope that the situation will change soon. How do you plan to return to normal?

Dmitry Schepin

We come out with a lot of new ideas that were born during the isolation period, in particular on scaling the influence of our projects – the IT Museum, COFFEE 18+ and the Kazanova69 training club. All of these worked excellently in the online format, we never stop developing!

Yesenia Shamonina

Naturally, we will go out with caution. We will not resume our previous mode, in terms of hours of work.
Convenience stores, most likely, for some time will not work around the clock. The Arbat shop is also a question,
because it was designed only for walking traffic, tourists – this is a souvenir shop. Let's see what will happen
to people, firstly. And secondly, what kind of rent there will be after the opening. We do not yet understand
what will happen to this store. We don’t want to close anything. We will reduce the number of shifts, probably.
There were 2-3 people in the store on Arbat, because there were a lot of people. Most likely we will
leave only one store.

Ivan Knyazev

We gradually open previously closed stores. With the launch of construction and industry, the number of people on the streets began to increase. In this regard, we increased the number of working stores from 4 to 8.

After long “vacations”, we resumed training for sellers. We recall the goods, sales techniques, we train on each other. We organized video conferences between employees with product presentations from each employee.

Nadezhda Frolova

When all restrictions are removed, I will resume work with the regions. But already the volume of orders has reached
the lim it, my structure simply cannot cope with a larger number, we have been working at our lim it
these months. I cannot change the structure momentarily. I will optimize some processes, strengthen weak links. But all the same,
it will be necessary to lim it the number of orders, if the regions also give 4-fold growth. Probably I
will increase prices and the minimal order amount from 900 to 1,500 rubles in order to leave the pool of
the most profitable orders. I don’t know what exactly influenced the growth of orders in Moscow in April – May,
and how many orders will be there after the restrictions are lifted, when retail stores open and people will become
poorer and leave the house in search of work.

Olga Kotova

We hope that in the near future the situation will stabilize, and this will positively affect sales

Alexander Sinyukov and Georg Safaryan

This is probably the most difficult question. It all depends on when this regime will end, and what will happen
to the epidemiological situation in Moscow. On the one hand, it is very important for us to begin full-time work
as soon as possible, on the other hand, the health of employees is important even more. There are only two
options: full access to the office, or gradual. We will make the final decision 1-2 days before the restrictions are
lifted. Now we are developing a plan for a gradual exit.

Igor Tikhonov

Planning in our country is just stupid! We will just open the stores if we can collect the dispersed sellers,
and then we will sit there miserable income. Most likely, the previous demand for the product will no longer return.
We will reduce office staff and cut salaries. We will conduct the next round of negotiations with landlords to reduce
the rents. Negotiations will not be successful everywhere, some points will have to be closed. Networks that are busy with
brand infusion will try to capture these points.

Alexander Khanzhin

It seems that this regime is even beneficial for us (sex-shoppers)! According to the 10-years statistics, May is usually the
most disastrous month! But not this year. Most likely this is due to the fact that people didn’t go anywhere,
clothing stores and shopping centers are closed. People have some money left, so we have a certain rise both online
and offline.

Elena Aksyonova

We removed all unnecessary processes, clearly defined the goals and focus of each team member. We will come out updated and transferred to a qualitatively different level.

Sexshopers.ru cordially thanks everyone who responded!

Leonid Fishman answered our questions about the newly created group of companies, which included manufacturers, wholesaler and retail stores of adult goods.

Russian version

Read our interview with Leonid Fishman.

This year has turned out to be very difficult, the organizers of events and exhibitions have either canceled or postponed them, and only a few events are still planned this year, including Thaifest. How are things going with the event at the moment? Will it take place, as announced earlier, in the autumn of 2020?

I agree, this year is exceptional. We all had to face a number of external challenges and make difficult business decisions. As you know, until recently we have planned to hold Thaifest on the scheduled dates, but, alas, the whole world lived in a lockdown in May, so we had to postpone the festival until autumn.

I can say that preparations for the festival continue, we are constantly in touch with our agent in Turkey, we follow the development of the situation in the world and keep our finger on the pulse. I think that in August it will be clear what awaits us in autumn.

For today we have announced the new dates for the Thaifest. It will take place in Turkey from October 20
to October 25, 2020 in a comfortable five-star hotel Asteria Kremlin Palace. Of course, the festival will be held in
compliance with all required sanitary standards, and special attention will be paid to this. No online conferences can completely replace
live communication and experience exchange.

The announcement of the formation of the Astkol-Dzhaga Group of Companies coincided with the beginning of the period of self-isolation in Europe and Russia. Has this influenced the business processes taking place within your new structure?

The work on the creation of the Group of Companies has been going on for a long time and by the end of 2019 it was fully formed. The official announcement was made in April 2020.

The Group of Companies was created from already actively working and developing enterprises. It includes the companies “ASTKOL-ALFA”, “FISHERO”,
“DZHAGA-DZHAGA”, “BIOMED-NUTRITION” and several individual entrepreneurs. All inner work went on and continues to follow the planned course. We plan to significantly increase
the wholesale turnover, expand the retail network, so in June 2020 we will open 4 new Dzhaga-Dzhaga stores (the
net will have 35 outlets). We are planning to strengthen production capacities and develop new product models in the range
of toys (today there are more than 1000 articles), and in the range of the cosmetic line (today there are
about 100 articles).

Active work continues on such our projects as “proSack” and “SexStudy”.

What has changed in your business during to the period of self-isolation?

A lot of things! Let's start with the fact that the work has increased many times! The new realities required
restructuring of the business, both in wholesale and retail areas. The share of shipments to online stores has increased, we
have actively begun cooperating with new (for us) marketplaces. We have also increased the matrix of goods sold in the
marketplaces with which we started cooperation before the pandemic, and expanded the geography of supplies to marketplaces. The Dzhaga-Dhzaga retail
network has also restructured most of its sales to go online.

Self-isolation also manifested itself in the fact that it revealed weaknesses in the company. A tremendous amount of work was done to correct errors, and internal warehouse and logistics processes were improved.

Everything was burdened by many restrictions on the work of not only the retail segment, but also the wholesale one. I had to introduce new categories of goods into the assortment, making it possible for the company to live and continue shipping.

I want to express my deep gratitude to all clients who have gone through this period with us! All fought
for their business, survived and showed remarkable ingenuity to continue trading. Without you, our Dear Clients, nothing would have happened
either! I can proudly say that this difficult period has shown that our market has real professionals who take care
of their work!

Have you noticed any changes in sales?

Despite all the restrictions during this period in our Group of Companies there was a noticeable increase in shipments in wholesale and production. I can say that we are coming out of this period with our heads held high, aimed at further growth and development!

Vadim Khimich, X-market’s CEO, spoke about how the company lives and works during the Coronavirus crisis.

© Vadim Khimich

Russian version

This measure, to be honest, I used. But otherwise I еhad to get out myself.

The first thing we did was writing letters to our respected landlords. Like, “Hard times are coming. Let's decide how we will live. Those who were smarter arranged a deal with us. The rest simply stopped being paid”.

At the same time, we placed a large order for antiseptics and purchased vodka in bulk. Because firstly, there were
persistent rumors about the possible introduction of Prohibition. And secondly, a very well-known alcohol-producing brand (its products are widely represented
in a high price segment) made an offer that could not be refused. Vodka in five-liter cans and without excise
tax. Nine hundred rubles for a canister. We ordered a great deal of surface wiping tissues.

The masks were donated by our partners from China. Knowing the Russian realities, they also offered toilet paper, but we politely declined. I didn't want to spoil the image of the great superpower.

On April 28, 2020, the retail trade froze. All shops had to be closed. Only offices in three cities remained working: in Moscow, in St. Petersburg and in Rostov-on-Don. And also warehouses in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Offices soon switched to "remote-mode", and warehouses for all the days of the pandemic continued to work as usual.

The most interesting, as we expected, happened in Rostov. There, the order for a special regime came out late at
night. For a long time in the high office, the lone light of a green lamp did not go out...
And in the early morning under the doors of the shops there gathered fines-collectors. They scraped their nails against the
glass, howling with impotence. The night-shifters, mostly students, did not open the door for them. They simply overslept. In all
universities it was the time of sessions.

Always a wholesale company, we have never been strong in online retail. And in this sense, the crisis has not changed us. We decided that the best anti-crisis measure was to just do our main job well. Ensure uninterrupted supply to those who do e-commerce. Despite electronic passes and police cordons.

And here again Rostov did not disappoint. There they could not fail to perform the sacramental: “Online registration can be completed in office six.” Initially, they even planned to give electronic passes for enterprises to directors personally during a visit to the city administration house.

The scariest were the first two weeks of April with the first full payment of salaries. The income was simply equal to zero. The courts stopped working, but the tax-collectors became even more active.

It got a little better since mid-April. The wholesale turnover remained, although it decreased by about a half. Due to
this, we were able to pay salaries in retail (Russians do not abandon their own in the war) and start
paying manufacturers in equal shares. Realizing that it is not easy for them now either. From the same money, funds
were transferred to doctors through the Pravmir Foundation. Also at the expense of salaries. At that time, I appreciated
my team’s attitude – not one refused to do it, although the salaries were already cut. With such people we
can survive anything.

During that period, we abandoned only one partner. A condoms supplier. God knows how I disliked the idea of working
with this trademark. No turnover, no extra charge, only joy – the name is well-known. They persuaded me eventually. We
tell them: the shops do not work, everything is isolated, even the goods cannot be taken from the network, please
increase the delay. And in response to us – “penalties under the contract”. Well, it’s just fantastic.

We are ready to leave the isolation at any time. The whole team is sау. No one is sick. So, to go out we simply need to polish our shoes. So, this is the way we will come out – unshaved and with undyed hair. But persistent and stubborn like weeds.

With faith and hope for the best.

The Kisstoy brand hopes to find new long-term partners-distributors in different countries.

“After more than 2 years of with heart and love for sex toys, sincere care and consideration for customers, in
line with the purpose of creating profits for customers, we are currently have cooperating distributors in Taiwan, South Korea, Brazil,
Ukraine and other countries, and the process of cooperation have made both parties very satisfied! As a traditional wholesale-oriented brand,
we promise to only provide high-quality products, as well as intimate pre-sales and after-sales services. We never plan to do
retail by ourselves, because we want to leave all the profits to our customers. We sincerely hope that we can
find local distributors in more countries, establishing long-term cooperative relationships, and create benefits together!” – Davidson Yin, Global Sales Manager
of Kisstoy.

Kisstoy, is a rising star from China's adult products brand! Since its establishment in 2018, in just two years,
its products have been exported to Japan, South Korea, the United States, Ukraine, Russia and other countries, and have been
well received by customers. They actively participate in well-known exhibitions in the industry, including New York Adult Expo, Guangzhou Sex
Expo, Moscow Adult Expo, Shanghai International Adult Expo, Hong Kong Asian Adult Expo, etc..

Kisstoy has four product lines: Miss, Kiss, Young, and Men, covering men's and women's appliances, and also takes into account
the types and elements of products that consumers of different ages will like, so whether it is the product or
the outer packaging, all have their own character. This is the factor of a brand's power, which is why Kisstoy
is deeply loved by domestic and foreign customers and consumers.

“From the establishment of the KISSTOY brand, our goal always is to become a high-quality and reasonably priced sex toy
brand out from China to the world! In order to develop and produce high-quality sex toys, we are willing to
invest money and time. Just like last time our men's product line, took a full half a year from development
to production, that's why they will be favored by customers and consumers!” – Davidson Yin, Kisstoy Global Sales Manager.

KISSTOY - Can Love, Can Do!

The famous Snail Vibe from Spiritus & Co. was nominated for XBIZ Europa Awards 2020 like Innovative Sex Toy of the Year.

“It is a great honor for us! We are certain that we deserve this award for our contribution to the innovation of pleasure items. We encourage you to vote for our nomination for Innovative Sex Toy of the Year to continue growing up in the industry,” a rep enthused.

This vibrator with an unrolling shaft hits the market last year and has received positive reviews fr om bloggers,
including those that have been endorsed by Cosmopolitan. On top of the ingenious idea of having a movable clitoral stimulator,
which increases the amplitude of stimulation sevenfold, Snail Vibe boasts a whole range of other innovations.

Firstly, the clitoral stimulator is four times more powerful than the one found in most dual action vibrators. That’s right, it’s just as powerful as the one in the wand massager!

Secondly, you can control both motors separately, interchanging between five speeds for each of the five different modes. This adds up to more than 600 vibration combinations!

Thirdly, we have created an interactive online application wh ere you can experience the new product at your fingertips. Rotate and scale the 3D model as you see fit, turn on the virtual sex-toy and feel the vibrations flow through your smartphone.

Moreover, we have developed the first ever kinetic display in order to demonstrate the advantages of dual stimulation on the shelves of sex shops.

According to the press release of the company Spiritus & Co.

No, this is not a test drive or a review of a new toy. No news about adult products companies or an announcement of an upcoming event. It's just us. What we have become after 3 years.

©Sexshopers Team

Russian version

If you still do not fully understand what sexshopers.ru are and what they do then after reading this article everything will be clear.

Some statistics

During the existence of the site, we have edited, translated or written 1 167 articles (911 of them in Russian).

Every year we double in size, all this is thanks to our readers and partners who share news and novelties with us free of charge. By the way, the statistics of visits to our site is also growing!

We publish on average about 50 articles per month! Can you imagine? We also had no idea that it would be so when it all began!

We have published over 300 test drives, about the same amount of news and updates, more than 100 times we
talked about the events of the industry (and even the coronavirus pandemia did not prevent us fr om doing it!).
And we have introduced the new section recently which is called “Sexshopers approved”, wh ere we post our own
honest impressions of toys, lubricants and events.

What do we know about you?

Like any serious magazine and a popular site, we monitor the statistics and know our audience. More than 70% of our audience are from Russia, but every time we rejoice, when we see that we are read in the United States, Canada, Ukraine, Belarus, Israel, Estonia, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Ireland.

Until recently the most active readers were aged 35-44 years (we hope that you are active not only in surfing
our portal). But recently our audience has become younger and now the most active group is 24-35 years old. And
the following fact gives special pleasure to the female part of our editorial office: 70% of our site visitors are
men! 

We also compiled the top articles for the last year, and the most popular was the article about ... href="https://sexshopers.ru/news/sexblog/otkryvayu-tinder-s-nogi/">Tinder! And on the second place is an excursion to the production of the Dzhaga-Dzhaga company (we hope that
this material was so popular not only with the brand's employees, but also with its admirers).

What do you think of us?

Well, how, how can we find out what you like with us, what do you think about our work? We are kind people, but cunning. When we hold some of our draws, we ask you to write to us exactly about this and receive such warm words from you – it's worth a lot.

You have written many sincere posts, and most often thanked us for the honesty and impartiality of our reviews. You
have noted our interviews with representatives of industry and the prominent personalities, the impartiality of bloggers who write for our
papers and notes. You remember new items, unpacks, reports and event announcements. You have found a few pleasant words to
our managers and editors. You like our speed, attention to detail, structure and professionalism.

By the way, returning to the reviews: since you love them so much, we have prepared a surprise for you related to this area, and we will tell you about it very soon!

Who are we?

Some three years ago, we announced the opening of our website at the EroExpo -2017 exhibition. Then the site team
consisted of its ideological mastermind, the editor-in-chief and one programmer. However, we immediately began to fill our project with useful
and interesting materials. Now we are a close-knit friendly team of 12 people. Among us are: photographer, videographer, English translators,
transcribers, rewriters and editors. Initially, the site was published only in Russian, and since August 31, 2018, we have an
English part, now we are preparing to launch a page in German (Das ist Fantastisch! Ja, Ja!).

We also tell about everything that we publish on the site in social networks: Facebook, Telegram, VKontakte
and Twitter. The most interesting and popular of our accounts, which are developing apart from the site, and ahead
of it - are our Instagram account and the YouTube channel. There we regularly hold raffles
of cool new products (not so long ago, we made our subscribers happy with a Titan from Viotec and
a Nova2 from We-Vibe), so be sure to subscribe to stay informed!

On behalf of the editorial board, we thank every one of our readers, because it is you who inspire us to find interesting topics, shoot videos and write articles, we rejoice with your every Like and comment in social networks!

We thank all our partners – those who have been with us since the early days, and those who have joined recently for being the first to tell us about all your new products and generously present gifts for our readers.

We are looking forward to each event from the world of industry, to see our friends again. Thank you for being with us and ... don't switch off, it will be even more interesting in no time!

Very soon a new product will appear in Russia. The one that Womanizer together with the British pop-star Lili Allen has been working for several months.

Russian version

Liberty by Lily Allen is not just another novelty. Womanizer is the company whose mission is to show women
that they have a right to receive pleasure and they were the first to attract a world-famous celebrity to promote
their mission. Together with Lili Allen they created a new package and a new color scheme.

Why Lili Allen? Her relations with Womanizer started when she mentioned their products in her «My Thoughts Exactly» bestseller. Speaking of her sexual satisfaction during her Sheezus tour she wrote “and as long as you say that I should pick one toy of many I choose Womanizer”.

Lili Allen described the innovative Womanizer Pleasure Air technology as “something else”. Lili Allen and Womanizer want to challenge the
existing suggestions and stereotypes and by their campaign “IMasturbate offer people, women in particular, think of their own, very often
negative attitude towards this topic. Leading the campaign Lily Allen embodies the freedom of all women, bearing the banner of
being sex-positive and female masturbation.

Womanizer ran a survey among 7000 men and women from 14 different countries. The results showed that men who masturbate
do it 68% more than women. Just look at these figures: in general men masturbate 156 times a year against
women who do it 50 times a year. Despite the fact that female physiology is the same as male one
in this aspect and women require satisfaction as well. Stresses, depressions, dissatisfaction with life… orgasm is the best way to
handle it. It makes life more vivid.

According to the producer “the limited Liberty series, developed for women is compact, light and stylish. Thanks to the magnet cover, six level of intensity and two-buttons control, Liberty is an ideal companion wherever you go”.

“Sex-toys are still a taboo topic because they are connected with masturbation and woman sexual satisfaction.”– says Lily Allen. – “The only way to lift the cover of this taboo is to talk about them often, freely with no shame or guilt”. 

For more details about this product – address the Kazanova69 company, the exclusive representative of the brand in Russia.

Press release provided by the representative of the Wow Tech Group in Russia.

Dear colleagues, readers, friends. Sexshopers.ru sends you congratulations!

Russian version

This is the fourth year that we celebrate together! And maybe 2020 was not the especially joyful, it still brought
happiness for the adult industry. But the main thing is that life still goes on, the producers surprise us with
wonderful novelties, exhibitions (we hope it is temporary though) successfully made it to online format and the shops windows glitter
as if luring in to buy presents!

We wish you leave all your sorrows to the waning year and take along into the future only happiness! Stay
healthy and a good mood, find new ideas and get strength to realize them. May colorful events and vivid, unforgettable
days surround you. We have a lot of superinteresting things in store! And by the way… on January the 4th
we will announce a prize-drawing of three big multibrand baskets full of gifts! Stay tuned!

Watch video-congratulations from every member of our editorial team!

The image by Markéta Machová from Pixabay has been used.

At ANME 2021, Swiss Navy presented several new products and was warmly welcomed by consumers and participants.

Russian version

The new products, which the creators of the iconic brand Swiss Navy officially presented at the virtual exhibition Adult Novelty Manufacturers Expo (ANME) 2021, were greeted with delight by visitors.

According to the manufacturer, Desire from Swiss Navy is a completely new collection designed by women for women. A comprehensive product line that offers solutions to
satisfy intimate desires with innovative formulas created with the characteristics of the female body in mind. Each product in the
collection contains special ingredients and unique recipes that meet the needs of female consumers.

“Our research found that women tend to be the purchasers for their households, controlling 85% of consumer spending, and that
they want to purchase women-centered innovation that provides solutions based on the personal desires they experience in daily life. We
kept these consumers in mind during our development process,” said Briana Watkins, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for M.D.
Science Lab.

Swiss Navy also launched an assortment of multi-use flavored lubricants, Playful Flavors. The delicious new flavored lubricants capitalize on edible experiences to expand possibilities for intimate encounters.

“With Playful Flavors, we wanted to help inspire confidence and comfortability for end users,” said Watkins. “As always, we used our American-made, FDA-regulated formulas that buyers have come to trust and then created delicious flavors that encourage playfulness and exploration.”

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, ANME and XBIZ combined forces this year to create a worldwide virtual expo wh ere manufacturers and industry buyers could meet.

“Even though we weren’t able to launch our newest products in person, the responses we received from everyone was overwhelmingly
positive,” said Ralph Albrecht, M.D. Science Lab’s CEO. “I’m proud of our entire Swiss Navy family for creating these new
innovations during a trying year. When we all support each other, magic can definitely happen.”

The press release is provided by the Swiss Navy brand.

LLC “Rosparfum” is the first company on the Russian market selling cosmetics with pheromones.

Russian version

Rosparfum has been on the market since 2002. This is the first company in Russia to offer consumers an exclusive perfumery with pheromones. All brand products have the necessary certificates of conformity and meet all hygienic and sanitary-epidemiological requirements.

The company focuses on the production of perfumes for men and women, odorless pheromone concentrates, as well as cosmetic products with pheromones: shampoos, deodorants, lip glosses and massage oils. The most popular are products from the Desire collection, which includes different categories of goods from perfumes to lubricants.

It is Nadezhda Shishkina, one of the leading marketers in the adult industry.

Russian version

WOW Tech, a world leader in the design, manufacturing and marketing of premium intimate products is expanding its influence
in Russia. Leading brands of the company such as We-Vibe, Womanizer, Romp are represented in many countries
in Europe, Asia and North America.

The company considers Russia as a very important and promising market with great potential. WOW Tech provides not only the supply of products, but also its comprehensive support. A whole range of measures has already been planned to expand the introduction to the Russian market.

One of the first steps in the overall growth strategy was the signing of a contract with Nadezhda Shishkina, a leading marketer.

“We believe that Russia is a very promising market and are ready to increase our activity in its development. We
hope that Nadezhda's many years of experience and a good acquaintance with the adult products market will allow us to
promote our brands more effectively and achieve even greater success together with our distributors and retailers in the country”, said
Karen Nazaretyan, the Account Manager for Eastern Europe.

Nadezhda will be involved in marketing initiatives, as well as relations with partners, assortment planning, merchandising, training of employees working with products, preparation of all necessary materials and promotion of the company's brands in Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus.

“I am honored to be working with one of the largest companies in the adult industry in the world! I hope that my many years of experience in our field will allow us to significantly improve the representation and recognition of the company's brands”, – said Nadezhda.

You can contact Nadezhda on questions related to any of the WOW Tech brands by e-mail.

The famous Swiss Navy products and their creators are loved all over the world. The number of awards that the company receives annually is a direct proof of this.

Russian version

M.D. Science Lab, makers of the iconic Swiss Navy brand, have had a thrilling award season, capturing four prestigious awards, including three for the highest honor of “Lubricant Manufacturer of the Year”.

“I would like to thank all the publications and our entire industry for these great honors,” said M.D. Science Lab’s CEO, Ralph Albrecht. “Our M.D. Science Lab family is truly honored with these acknowledgements. 2020 was a difficult year for so many and we’re happy that our efforts were recognized in such a wonderful way.”

Award season kicked off with STOREROTICA Magazine’s annual SE Awards 2020 last November, where M.D. Science Lab took home the well-deserved top award in the lubricant category, “Lube Company of the Year”.

December’s victory catapulted M.D. Science Lab into the global award arena with their second award of the season, SIGN Magazine’s annual SIGN-Awards 2020 “Foreign Lubricant Supplier of the Year”.

January 2021 started off strong with M.D. Science Lab adding two more awards to their tally. Early January brought a 2021 “O” Award for ‘Outstanding Supplement or Enhancement of the Year’ for Swiss Navy’s Sensual Arousal Lubricant, garnering one of only thirteen exclusive awards.

Award season came to an exciting close in late January with M.D. Science Lab capturing the 2021 AVN Award for “Best Lubricant Manufacturer”.

“On behalf of all of us at Swiss Navy, I am incredibly honored to thank each publication and our industry family for all four of these meaningful honors,” said Briana Watkins, M.D. Science’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “This award season has really been a welcome surprise and tribute for our entire team.”

Swiss Navy recently expanded their offerings with two new collections, 4-in-1 Playful Flavors and Desire by Swiss Navy, that are already garnering positive attention throughout the industry. And, given the current COVID-19 situation, Swiss Navy’s focus on safety remains their top priority.

Press release provided Sunny Rodgers (M.D. Science Lab, Swiss Navy).

The Dutch company announces a name change

Russian version

After announcing the strategic partnership with Eropartner, the company now announced to have changed its name. According to EDC, the
plans were already in place to change the name, but the launch was postponed due to the COVID-pandemic. “We planned
to launch the new name during the eroFame Trade Convention last October, but when the show got canceled, we decided
to postpone the launch. By now we are not sure if this year’s show will happen, so we decided to
go ahead and launch the new name. We are ready for a new identity, eventhough we will remain the same
company, with the same values. We felt like we have outgrown the name EDC Wholesale as it doesn’t cover everything we do, we have become so much more than a wholesaler.” Commented Eric Idema, CEO of ONE-DC.

With its international expansion, the company stated that the name ONE-DC fits the overseas ambitions as the name is pronounced
similar in every country in the world. While EDC Wholesale has many different ways to be pronounced. “We were looking
for a simple name, that sticks easily and that still links to our activities. With this name we are ready
for the future, it all comes together as one. ONE-DC sounds similar to EDC, so we hope that this will
make it easy for everyone to adopt the new name.” Said Idema.

Together with the new name, the company also launched a new and modernized platform. “We are extremely proud to have
launched our new platform today.” Commented Lennard Honebecke, Head of Sales at ONE-DC. “We have been waiting for a long
time to launch our new platform and today is finally the day. Although it’s not 100% ready, behind the scenes
we will continue to improve and finalize the details. But customers can already benefit from a platform that is modernized
and updated. The new platform offers a solid base for future development with further improvements and an optimized user experience,
offering content and training which will reinforce the strategy of ONE-DC towards its customers.

Press release provided by the company EDC Wholesale (ONE DC).

The American manufacturer shares an unprecedented success, which is expressed in a record number of sales of the new universal lubricant Playful Flavors.

Banking on the increasing popularity of multi-purpose products and consumers looking to explore new experiences while being mindful of their budgets, the 4-in-1 Playful Flavors collection is fulfilling an important need in the current marketplace.

“Our customers are sharing their needs and we’re listening,” said Briana Watkins, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for M.D.
Science Lab. “I want to thank our entire Swiss Navy team for helping us set an incredible new record for
Valentine’s Day sales. We knew our Playful Flavors would be successful, but we were all surprised by its considerable popularity.”

The 4-in-1 Playful Flavors were created to inspire confidence and comfortability for end users. And as Swiss Navy formulas are
known for, this collection reflects being American-made and featuring FDA-regulated formulations. However, the M.D. Science team took their development a
step further with this must-have collection by having a Fortune 500 food company create the realistic, sugar-free flavors.

“We know consumers have come to trust Swiss Navy for our delicious flavors that encourage playfulness and exploration,” said
Watkins. “We also know that creating a product that offers four unique uses all in one formula was essential for
meeting the needs of end users. So many people are being budget conscious and also want more pleasure options at
the same time. Our 4-in-1 Playful Flavors match what consumers are looking for.”

According to McKinsey & Company’s retail insight studies, multi-purpose products are experiencing a steady 30 percent growth annually. The 4-in-1 Playful Flavors products provide consumers with four ways to enjoy them for lubrication, massage, warming temperature play, and, of course, providing a delicious edible experience.

Press release provided by Sunny Rogers (M. D. Science Lab, Swiss Navy).

On this Valentine's Day, SVAKOM took care of those who were particularly in need.

Since the end of the 5th century, Valentines has been a date marked on the Gregorian calendar as a commemoration of the good works performed by Saint Valentine of Rome, which are deeply attached to the universal concept of love and affection.

Through the years, this date has become the one where is okay to show our romantic love.

But SVAKOM – thinks as many other people – do that love can be expressed in many ways and towards all people (self-love, for our relatives, our best friends, pets, etc.). That’s why, this year, we decided to take back the real meaning of this date.

Our love found its recipient in a small Guatemalan clinic in charge of weighing and feeding more than 200 chronically
malnourished children. After having a videoconference with the representatives of the organization -which preferred to stay anonymous for security reasons-
the SVAKOM staff got down to work and think about the best way to help the cause; we also learned
that the timing couldn’t be better since the country was been hit with devastating natural disasters on top of the
COVID crisis.

SVAKOM gained access to an interview with María Claudia Santizo, Nutrition Officer at UNICEF Guatemala and got more insights about the general situation and the best way to jump in and help.

“Chronic malnutrition in Guatemala is a worrying issue. It affects one in two children under the age of five. Despite the seriousness of the matter, it is an issue that goes unnoticed by the general population, even by the relatives of those who suffer from it.”

What is the general situation of children in Guatemala? What about malnutrition?

“Our main problem is chronic malnutrition. In Guatemala, 49.8% of children suffer from it; that is, 1 in 2. Ranking first in Latin America and sixth in the world in terms of child malnutrition…

School dropout is very high and is largely not only due to the lack of opportunities, but to the consequences
of malnutrition itself: if the kids don’t have adequate nutrition in the first two years of life, they will have
many difficulties: They will be smaller than the rest, their IQ will have an uneven development, may lose up to
40% of their potential neurons, they will have many attention problems, and they will most likely drop out of school.
Reducing their future job opportunities in an already complicated environment”

A lot of information was shared and that gave us a better understanding of the current scenario and the needs
of this beautiful Central American country, all the synergy created led SVAKOM to donate enough powdered formula to this clinic
in order for them to produce over 75,000L of milk -the key source of combined nutrients and vitamins these children
need to boost their health- for a period of between 6 and 8 months.

This is, without a doubt, the best Valentine's Day SVAKOM has ever had.

Press release provided by SVAKOM.

“Menstrubation” study shows the pain-relieving effect on menstrual cramps after only three months of regular masturbation.

Russian version

Half of the world’s population get their periods each month and most of them struggle with different painful side effects.
(Not all women menstruate, and not all who menstruate are women – author's note.) Although these symptoms are common, they
are hardly researched – like so many topics around women's health. The so-called Gender Health Gap describes this gap and
shows that women have historically been neglected in medicine and research. (Slawson, Nicola. ‘Women have been woefully neglected’: does medical
science have a gender problem? The Guardian. December 2019. Hamberg, Katarina. Gender bias in medicine. Women’s Health, May 2008, p. 237-243.
Verdonk, Petra et al. From gender bias to gender awareness in medical education. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 14, 2009,
p. 135-152. Nobelius, Ann-Maree & Wainer, Jo. Gender and Medicine. A conceptual guide for medical educators. Monash University School of
Rural Health, 2004.)

In May 2020, Womanizer launched the Menstrubation Study (Menstruation + Masturbation) – the first clinical study worldwide to find out whether masturbation can help against period pain.

The result: Yes, masturbation can help against period pain.

The study design and procedure

The study was conducted in collaboration with Dr. Jones, a clinical psychologist and sex therapist. Almost 20,000 people who menstruate responded to their call for participation last May. The final study participants were selected through a randomised procedure.

Over a period of six months, a total of 486 people who menstruate took part in the study. In the
first month, the participants recorded the current status of their period pain in a questionnaire. For a period of three
months (test phase), they were asked to forego their traditional methods of pain control and to masturbate instead. Each month
they recorded their symptoms in another questionnaire. The fifth month served as a control month in which they went back
to using their usual tools. After another month, the last survey took place.

Why do women experience period pain in the first place?

Dr Naomi Sutton (NHS Sexual Health consultant and doctor on E4’s The Sex Clinic explains: “The most common pains associated
with periods are menstrual cramps. They are a result of spasmodic uterine contractions and contraction of the blood vessels which
supply the uterus, resulting in the endometrial lining, which has built up over the month to prepare for a potential
pregnancy, to be shed as a bleed. These contractions are stimulated by hormones known as prostaglandins and levels of these
hormone have been found to be higher in women who suffer with severe menstrual cramps”.

Dr Sutton continues, “Other common period symptoms include headaches, back pain, diarrhoea and nausea. It has been shown that psychological
factors, such as stress and anxiety, can have a significant impact on the intensity of these symptoms. There is not
just one explanation as to why some women will experience stronger pain or more symptoms than others do. Pain is
a complex and multidimensional perception affected by our genetic, developmental, psychological, social and cultural variables”.

90 per cent recommend masturbation

When asked whether masturbation or medication worked better for period pain, equal numbers favoured each method: 43 per cent chose
medication, 42 per cent masturbation. The most common answers from the remaining 15 per cent were: A mix of both
(23 percent of the remaining 15 percent said so – author's note), heat, CBD (oil), sleep and exercise. A full
90 per cent would recommend masturbation for pain relief and 85 per cent plan to maintain their (new) masturbation routine
after the study.

Pain intensity demonstrably decreases

Participants recorded both the intensity and frequency of their pain each month on a standardised 10-point scale. The results show that both parameters decreased noticeably over the course of the test phase. And even more remarkable: even after the control month, the values were still lower than at the beginning of the test phase.

The average intensity in the initial survey was 6.7 points (on a scale from 1 – not intensive to 10
– extremely intensive – author's note), after the end of the test phase only 5.4. This corresponds to a decrease
of 1.3 points. Particularly striking: Already in the first month of the test phase, the value dropped by 0.8 points,
which shows an almost immediate effect of orgasms on pain intensity. After the control month, this value was 5.9 and
thus still 0.8 points below the initial value.

Furthermore, when asked directly whether regular masturbation had an effect on pain intensity, 70% answered “yes”. Of these 70% (341 participants), 31% confirmed that masturbation reduced the intensity a lot. For 62% there was at least a slight decrease in pain (the remaining 7% did not specify – author's note).

Frequency of pain decreases

The same effect was also visible in the frequency of period pain. On average, the score was 7.4 points at
baseline (on a scale from 1 – every couple of months to 10 – each cycle for several days –
author's note), but after the test phase the score decreased by 2.8 points and stood at 4.6. Already at the
end of the first test month, the score was only 5.1 (-2.3 points). After the control month, the value was
6.7, which still corresponds to a decrease of 0.7 points.

Overall, 42% (206 participants) of the participants said that regular masturbation had an effect on the frequency of their pain. Of these, as many as 22% reported that the pain was much less frequent than before, while most (64%) perceived a slight reduction in frequency (the remaining 14% did not specify – author's note).

Why can orgasms help against period pains?

Dr Naomi Sutton explains “We know that masturbation can have positive effects on health and general well-being for several reasons. Following orgasm, the hormone dopamine is released which activates an inner bliss. This, combined with the increase in blood flow resulting from climax, are both ways orgasm may alleviate period pains”.

Dr. Jones, head of the study: “It is remarkable how quickly the participants felt an improvement in their symptoms. After
only one month of conscious masturbation the values already dropped significantly. In addition, my assumption that masturbation also has a
long-term, positive effect on well-being was confirmed. Even after the participants returned to their usual methods of pain relief, the
values for intensity and frequency remained lower than at the beginning. It is likely that both parameters would have improved
even further with an even longer test phase.”

All results and the full report are available at www.menstrubation.com

About Womanizer

Womanizer develops high-quality pleasure products for your love life. Founded in 2014 with the invention of the patented Pleasure Air
Technology, Womanizer is now an internationally recognized brand with offices in Berlin, Hong Kong, Ottawa and Shanghai. More than 4
million people in over 60 countries have already purchased a Womanizer. With the global #IMasturbate campaign, the brand is committed
to destigmatizing masturbation and sexuality, and thrives for an open, shame-free dialogue about sex, because every person deserves a sexually
fulfilled life. Womanizer is, like Arcwave and We-Vibe, a brand of the WOW Tech Group.

Press release provided Nadezhda Shishkina, a representative of WOW Tech Group in Russia.

As part of the Australia's Sydney Mardi Gras festival, the famous parade of sexual minorities in Sydney was held with the support of M. D. Science (the creators of the Swiss Navy brand).

Russian version

“We realize that the pandemic is still affecting so many of us around the world,” said Briana Watkins, M.D. Science’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Our entire team knew it was important to support events that we’ve stood behind for years.”

Sydney Mardi Gras began in 1978 and traditionally chooses themes each year. This year’s theme was RISE and was chosen to inspire and aimed to encapsulate the challenge and hardship that 2020 presented, while calling on members of the LGBTIQ+ community to rise again through love, compassion, respect and understanding.

And, remarkably, the parade, which Sydney Mardi Gras has long been known for, occurred in a different, unique format. Instead of the traditional parade making its way down a route, more than 30,000 people gathered at the Sydney Cricket Ground to celebrate.

Many of this year’s attendees were given samples of products from the Swiss Navy collection.

“We weren’t sure how this year’s festivities would go,” said Penny Clifford, Swiss Navy’s Social Media Manager and Sponsorship Specialist.
“But we were pleasantly surprised with the incredible turn out for all of the week-long events. We were able to
sponsor and support with gifting Swiss Navy lubricants and sanitizers for hundreds of happy and appreciative party-goers.”

In the spirit of spreading health and wellness, M.D. Science Lab supports several events all over the globe each year and are hoping to continue to do so as communities adjust to the new normal of life within a pandemic.

Press release provided by Sunny Rogers (M. D. Science Lab, Swiss Navy). 

The inventors of the fun game CUM FACE have once again proved that their toy is still a top seller!

By cementing a worldwide, exclusive partnership deal with Play Wiv Me, inventors of the hilarious CUMFACE-game, SHOTS has shown once again that they are at the novelty forefront!

Since its introduction, this hysterically funny game has gone “viral” with more than 15 million YouTube views and counting. In addition to that, SHOTS have developed a fantastic influencer scheme in cooperation with CUMFACE, to “bombard” the social media platforms even more!

SHOTS has recently started taking pre-orders and can now state that more than 95% of the first massive batch, due to be ready end of March, has sold already! Second and third batch will be ready in April.

Hein Schouten, SHOTS’ sales director, advises all clients to stock up NOW as orders will be delivered on a FIRST CUM, FIRST SERVED (pun intended) schedule!

The press release is provided by the Shots brand.

The Russian brand Lola Games took part in the international exhibition in Shanghai.

Russian version

Quarantine and self-isolation have made their own adjustments to the modern agenda and business.

While America is hosting major events online and Europe is counting down the days until the end of the lockdown, major Asian exhibitions are reopening their doors after a long quarantine lull.

The exhibition season started with two major exhibitions at once - the world famous ADC and the young API EXPO.
The Shanghai International API Adult Industry Show was scheduled to take place last spring but had to reschedule due to
a worldwide pandemic. And exactly one year later, they already welcomed guests in their exhibition spaces, while becoming one of
the largest exhibitions in the industry. The total area of ​​API EXPO surpassed ADC almost three times over, occupying two
spacious floors with pavilions. And the participants there were 224 companies, both from China and Europe. If it were not
for the security measures associated with COVID-19, for example, masks on the faces of visitors and brand representatives, then one
could imagine that everything was just like before. And of course, such an event could not ignore the Lola brand.
Games. During the lockdown, the brand's team did not sit still and prepared two stunning collections, Party Hard and Burlesque, to be shown to foreign colleagues. At the stand of the brand, one could get acquainted with accessories
that are suitable for use both in BDSM sessions and as an addition to extravagant party outfits. Also, each of
the presented accessories is able to decorate and brighten any everyday look.

Usually, in pre-CoVid times, among the visitors of the Lola Games stand were mainly representatives of the EU and America.
However, this time, the brand mainly interacted with a new, Asian audience, for the reason that China's borders are still
closed and it is not possible to enter the country. And it is worth noting the enthusiasm with which the
Asian colleagues reacted to the products of Lola Games, noting the high quality of workmanship and scattering in compliments
to the models shown on the boxes. Bright and bold female and male images could not be ignored.

API EXPO gives hope for an early end to the pandemic and a return to the usual way of life. And the Lola Games brand continues to make plans to participate in other industry exhibitions in 2021 and is preparing even more interesting collections for presentations to colleagues.

The press release is the courtesy of Lola Games.

The company decided to provide their customers with an image bank.

Writer: Inge Arissen (Shots)
Images are provided by Shots’ image bank

Not only is your text more appealing, visual content can be very informative as well. Us humans process visual information 60.000 times faster than text. Next to this, with an attention span of only eight seconds, we like to see as much information as possible in just one glance.

Along with this, there are options to ask for front page banners that can be custom-made with your own logo.
There are various studios at SHOTS’s office, and they do shoots on site as well. Anything to make sure their
content is as informative as possible, but also visually attractive. As a client of SHOTS, you get full access to
all of this, so you don’t have to think about any of this yourself anymore. Next to this, SHOTS delivers
all forms of written content as well in 6 different languages. 

The list of partners of the Picanto company continues to grow adding German brands.

Russian version

In September 2020 the company announced about making a partnership with the Satisfyer brand. The Satisfyer company is known to
the general consumer as a manufacturer of quality and affordable toys. It is from the acquaintance with Satisfyer that many
leading sex bloggers recommend diving into the world of adult goods.

The assortment is incredibly wide – from fun devices for light foreplay to elegant, yet powerful vibrators. But undoubtedly, the face of the brand is the legendary vacuum-wave stimulators which provided the company with worldwide recognition and love of consumers.

This year, in addition to the presentation of new toys, the brand updated the packaging design and also launched the long-awaited smartphone control function using the Satisfyer Connect app.

Now Satisfyer has come even closer as Picanto has added it to the pool of brand distributors. Piсanto provides its partners with the opportunity to be the first to gain access to all new products and a regularly updated assortment, as well as to training courses.

The company is positioned as the Ambassador of Pjur brand and an official distributor of well-known European brands of
products for adult premium, such as Mystim. In addition, Picanto owns and manufactures products under its own brand href="https://sexshopers.ru/industry/vendors/glavseksmag/">Glavsexmag.

You can contact Picanto by email, and all the latest information can be found on the official website of the company.

So much depends on condoms: safety, comfort, and mood. The LUXLITE company has been providing the barrier protection for many years and regularly pleases fans of the brand with interesting novelties.

Russian version

For many years now, you can find LUXLITE products in stores both online and offline. Thanks to its own design and technological developments, the manufacturer produces a wide range of condoms in various price categories and is famous for its play condoms, so beloved by consumers.

The design changes were made to the LUXE exclusive series. The new packaging is laconic and more restrained, the design
is focused on demonstrating the product and its features. A wide range of play condoms offer a wide variety of
forms to stimulate men, women or both. Each condom has special tendrils or beads on the head to enhance the
sensation and pleasure of use.

The new Domino Classic collection of ten different products is already available for purchase. Smooth, textured, ribbed, extra strong, ultra-thin
– a wide selection will allow you to find exactly what meets the desires of each specific buyer. In the
series there are oversized condoms, condoms with anesthetics, with more lubricant, ribbed and textured at the same time, and also
colored: black, purple and gold. Each branded pack contains 6 lubricated latex condoms 180 mm long, 54 mm wide and
0.06 mm thick. The design is made according to the latest trends: a flat pack with multi-colored gradient colors and
high-quality printing.

The LUXE ROYAL line of condoms has also expanded the wide range of LUXLITE products on the adult market. There
are 10 different types in this collection: smooth, ribbed, textured, oversized. There are condoms that prolong sexual intercourse with anesthetic
and condoms with lots of silicone lubricant. Lovers of aromas and visual effects will not stay deprived: they added black
condoms to the line, and also flavored ones with strawberry and cherry flavor. Each branded pack contains 3 lubricated latex
condoms 180 mm long, 54 mm wide and 0.06 mm thick.

But this is not all. The already famous and popular collection of LUXE condoms in envelopes has changed. Now there
are not 15 types, but only 10. The packaging design has also changed: funny, simple and bright, it attracts attention
and evokes pleasant emotions. The flashy names are invented with humor, sex is no longer a taboo topic, but a
fun experiment, and condoms with different tastes and textures will be great helpers and protectors in the quest for new
experiences.

The company said that the previous product was also rethought and revised: more lubricant was added, flavors became richer and brighter, and the overall quality of condoms increased.

2020 was a difficult year for most of us and especially difficult for doing business, but, as it always happens in life, difficult moments will surely give way to positive events!

Russian version

There have been changes in the product range of System JO and DONA.

Products such as Daily Maximizer Penis Enlargement Cream and DONA Scented Massage Candle and DONA Kissable Massage Candle have been discontinued. This decision was influenced by economic factors.

Since August 1, 2020, the company does not import JO Prolonger spray with lidocaine in the composition of the Russian Federation due to the ban of the Federal Customs Service on the import of products with this component.

Also, DONA Perfume and DONA Roll-on Perfume are no longer sold in Russia due to the mandatory labeling of perfumery products.

2 new Gelato flavors came out in the summer: double chocolate and white chocolate raspberry truffle. Sweet, bright,
ideal for oral sex and foreplay, no stickiness, safe for mucous membranes and toys.

Also, the formula and packaging of the 2 to Tango set for couples has been updated , now thanks to it couples can experience completely new sensations every time!

Towards the end of the year, the all-new Xtra Silky silicone-based extra-light lubricant was released, delivering incredibly thin coverage and silky water-resistant glide.

Also, in the past year, the packaging for all warming and cooling lubricants was updated.

We are of course planning to launch a number of new products in 2021. Details of the new products will be announced as they are released.

The press release is provided by Irina Tenyaeva ( System JO).

Shots company has conducted its own research on the evolution of BDSM culture and its reflection in cinema, fashion and art.

Russian version

Only a year later, E. L. James released her novel Fifty Shades of Grey. It has sold over 125 million copies worldwide. In just a year, it turned out that the public didn’t deem BDSM as too provocative anymore. Actually, there are a lot of housewives who like to get a little freaky at times, or at least like the fantasy of it.

BDSM has become more mainstream and this is partly due to the music industry and the book series. Hein Schouten,
sales director at SHOTS, still remembers when the first novel was released: “I had some clients in our showroom. They
asked for some BDSM items, such as the ben-wa balls. Normally they would do small orders, but now they wanted
to buy items in quantities that were ten times as big!” And now, ten years later, SHOTS’s BDSM line
Ouch! has grown out to be one of their best-sellers.

Nevertheless, BDSM is something that has been around for years, centuries even. As a starter for international BDSM day on July 24, it’s interesting to dive deeper into the origin of BDSM and how it went mainstream.

The origin of BDSM

That the four letters stand for Bondage, Dominance/Discipline, Sadism/Submissiveness and Masochism is probably quite well-known. However, the origin of the
words “sadism” and “masochism” are way less known. Their background is rather literary. The French Marquis de Sade gave his
name to the word “sadism”. He wrote the novel Justine, or The Misfortunes of Virtue in 1791. The story is
about a virtuous young woman named Justine who ends up in various unfortunate events in which she is raped, subjected
to orgies and other violent sexual acts. She ends up in court, where she is humiliated by the crowd. The
story was so explicit and violent, that De Sade was imprisoned at the Bastille by Napoleon.

Masochism sprouts from Austrian writer Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch who wrote Venus in Furs in 1870. It’s a story about
a man, Severin, who is so in love with a woman, that he asks her whether he can become her
slave. She gives in and dominates him in various ways until she falls in love with another man. She submits
to her new lover, and Severin swears to never submit to a woman again. He even calls them cruel and
state that women can never be a man’s companion but can only serve them. Juicy detail: Sacher-Masoch found his own
life so boring that he forced his wife to live out the plot of the book. They eventually got divorced
and he remarried his assistance…

BDSM in fashion

It took a long time before BDSM became more well-known in popular culture. The actual start of recognition for the
subculture can be found in fashion. These first features of BDSM fashion are related to the late 1970’s punk culture.
Part of the punk aesthetics are safety pins, fishnets, chains, and of course, latex and leather. This aesthetics are still
connected with today’s BDSM styles. This doesn’t mean that the style, nor the subculture, was mainstream at all. Punk was
a form of anti-movement. The subculture didn’t want to follow the masses. The first collision of BDSM style and popular
culture is probably Jean Paul Guiltier who made corsets that stormed the runways in the 1980’s. His idea wasn’t something
new. He was just the first one the make it popular. But he didn’t do that on his own. He
had some help from Madonna who would wear the corset on stage. She further sexualised the corset and her own
style in the 1990’s when her album Erotica and book Sex came out. Versace took his turn on bondage fashion
at the same time and came up with a collection that was called Miss S&M.

And now, thirty years later, the style that best describes itself as bondage chic is again found in today’s fashion
scene. Most people will recall Kim Kardashian’s latex dress. Every self-respected shoe brand has their own version of the thigh-high
boots. And even Madonna has gone back in time. She is wearing a Gaultier corset once again. This time, it’s
made of black straps.

For BDSM fetishists, black leather, strapped corsets and latex never went out of style. That’s why, despite the fact the Ouch! items come in various colours and styles, the black ones are still the best-sellers.

BDSM on screen

It was also the 1980’s when BDSM lifestyle became more visible on screen. However, wh ere Gaultier was lauded for
his creations on the runway, the on screen BDSM practitioners wh ere not. The BDSM features on characters were mostly
a sign to: “Run away!” Especially 80’s horror movies used a lot of black leather and latex. A specific movie
franchise that’s worth mentioning is Hellraiser. The main character Pinhead has a head full of, what’s in the name, needles.
He wears a black leather rope and he is particularly fond of beautiful women who he can skin alive. The
film contains a lot of blood, violence and sex. But it has nothing to do with real BDSM lifestyle.

Halfway through the 90’s, characters with BDSM features would be a little less horrific. Bond Girl Xenia Onatopp is beautiful,
sexual, but nevertheless still very deathly committing her sadistic murders. Later in the 2000’s and 2010’s, the chain and leather
wearing characters could be found in any popular television show, such as Crime Scene Investigation, Law & Order and House
MD. Can you state that this is the turning point for BDSM on screen then? Not really. The characters were
always the odd ones out. They represent the “underworld”, the one with mental health issues or just the weird ones;
not very likeable characteristics you want to be compared with.

Now, in the 2020’s we can carefully start saying that BDSM characters are becoming more mainstream. A lot of these
credits go to producer Ryan Murphy who puts several BDSM features in his productions such as American Horror Story and
Nip/Tuck. Viewers aren’t shocked by it anymore and the characters are a little less crazy than they used to be.

BDSM in the mainstream

And this journey brings us back to the present. We can see that it wasn’t before the last decade that
BDSM went more mainstream. Being visible in popular culture has finally led to BDSM being more accepted than it was
before. We fear the unknown, that’s probably why sadomasochistic expressions were kept in the basement, both literally and figuratively. But
in modern day times, you have to live with blinders and earplugs to not be exposed to any form of
BDSM. It’s almost ironic how things have come full circle: De Sade was imprisoned for his novels whereas E.L. James’s
trilogy was received with open arms.

Whether these developments are positive or not, is a point of discussion for a lot of BDSM practitioners. Some are
happy that they are not being labelled as “freaky” anymore. Others don’t mind staying in the shadows. Still others believe
that BDSM is falsely portrait in popular culture. Most of the time, the depiction of sub/dom relationships is quite toxic,
while it should be all about power dynamics and respect. Next to this, one might describe the sexual acts as
“BDSM – lite” and therefore not “real” enough.

No matter what your opinion is, the outcome still is that the selling of ropes, hand cuffs, paddles and all
those sorts of things has gone up. And as with any form of sex, it’s all about what you and
your partner(s) want and whether there’s mutual consent. It doesn’t matter if this means you want to try a fluffy
handcuff or you want to be flogged with heavy whips. “There’s a market for everything,” knows Leoni, head of the
design studio at Shots from experience. “And we want to supply our customers with anything they want. For our Ouch!
line, this means that we keep designing new items so we always keep or customers satisfied.”

The press release is provided by Shots.

ANME / XBIZ online adult goods industry exhibition was held on July 12-16.

Russian version

For the second year in a row, the ANME / XBIZ virtual exhibition brings together over 100 industry representatives through its own video conferencing platform, with a schedule of face-to-face meetings and interactive stands where distributors from different parts of the world can interact with each other.

This year, the event was attended by the Russian brand Lola Games. In the framework of 21 online meetings, the
company representatives managed to share their experience with the largest market players from the USA, Canada, Australia, Mexico, and Latin
America, as well as acquaint foreign audiences with such original toy collections as Wand, Universe, Marshmallow, Pure passion, MiMi Animals,
as well as Natural – winner of the MUSE Creative Awards 2021.

As a result, the event participants noted the individuality and differences of Lola Games products from the established American market, and showed interest in cooperation. According to brand representatives, the ANME / XBIZ exhibition became the starting point for the growth and expansion of the brand's geography.

This press release is the courtesy of the Lola Games brand.

Training the art of blowjob in virtual reality? Why not!

Russian version

Mutual sympathy stimulates partners to create a couple. Relationships require constant interaction, the best of which is a joint adventure, mastering something new that brings both people pleasure. You work on yourself to be better...

A beautiful body is the result of exercise, a proper diet, a sensible lifestyle. A developed mind, good manners are the result of absorbing knowledge. The ability to cook delicious meals is the result of practice.

One of the qualities and skills that attract people is the ability to have sex. Among Evora we created a game “Evora O”, dedicated to the art of oral sex.

The story of its creation is quite funny.

Boguslav Koledinsky, the CEO of Evora, says: “When Google cardboard virtual reality glasses, available to everyone, appeared on the market,
various games began to appear for them. One of them was about as free fall from a high-rise building, the
essence of the game was to dodge obstacles during the free fall. Looking my friend play, I saw an amazing
similarity with the movements of the head during oral sex. It was a moment of insight. I realized that with
the help of the game you can make the process of training the art of blowjob interesting and fun. This
is how the history of the development of the game ´Evora O´ began.”

The company's specialists turned to several large training centers and began collecting materials, poses, techniques, tips, and recommendations.

For several years, a beta version was being created and demonstrated at exhibitions for sex shops in Moscow, Tyumen and Prague. The stand was one of the most visited at the exhibitions and a report was even filmed about it for the “Russia” TV channel.

During the crowdfunding campaign, a lot of useful tips were collected to finalize the game and a major upd ate was implemented for the game “Evora O”.

The game will be useful for those who are just planning to try oral sex in order to see with their own eyes what will happen in real conditions of a blowjob in a comfortable environment alone with a virtual partner.

The game will also be useful for girls who are sophisticated in matters of blowjob in order to enrich their arsenal, the game contains 26 positions for a blowjob, it may be curious to visit at least virtually in each of them.

The game provides two types of exercises

1) Rhythm holding training mode. A choice of training in one of three rhythms. The tempo is set by the virtual partner, and the player's task is to be led, to perform the corresponding forward-reverse movements of the head.

2) Perfect movement training mode. In this case, the pace is se t by the player, making a wave-like movement of his head, the player makes the next friction at a convenient speed.

The game also implements the options for choosing the degree of erection of the partner's penis (this is the choice
of the size of the penis, respectively), plus pleasant additions in the form of turning on / off an audio
guide that tells in detail possible options for tricks and secret chips during the execution of a blowjob, compliments from
a virtual partner during correctly the exercises performed and the background music during the workout.

The essence of the game is simple – an interesting pose is chosen, followed by the process of training by virtual partners, and then the corresponding pose is chosen in reality.

The manufacturer recommends, first of all, to master the game with a virtual partner, in a comfortable environment. The next
step may be to use something that mimics the partner's penis – a dildo, a banana, a carrot, etc. Most
of the poses can be played with a real partner. In this case, the virtual reality glasses and the game
are a kind of techno fetish and involve the couple in a joint adventure to master each new pose.

Press release provided by World Wide Soft.

Watch the meeting of sexperts from the USA and Russia on our Instagram account next Tuesday. We will talk about similarities and differences of approach to sex in these countries.

Russian version

In the epoch past this event would be called “a telebridge” over the ocean. Nowadays all is much easier. Instagram, live broadcast, two sexperts, real talk. All talks will be translated real-time for all to be comfortable.

Who are the sexperts?

Fr om Russian side there will be Tatiana Zagorovskaya, a sex psychologist, the author of the book “Sweet Life” (how to live happily with a diabetes), 6 years of working experience.

From the USA there will be Lulu Batista, a qualified sexpert and the owner of “The Lulu’s CherryBox” shop in Brooklin, New York.

What are the talks about?

We will talk about sex of course, discuss differences and similarities in culture, education, attitude towards sex. In particular we will try to touch upon sexual education, taboos and typical problems that people come by.

When and wh ere?

August 10 2021 (Tuesday), 12:00 (Noon, EST) live broadcast at Instagram @sexshopers.

Do you want to peep over the ocean?

The company "Egida” (Aegis) has been on the market for the production of consumer goods since 2006, and since 2018 it has entered the 18+ market.

Russian version

The company aims to meet the needs of customers in that part of the assortment that will go beyond the boundaries of ideas about sex and pleasure.

Not sex toys, but consumer goods

The second large federal retail chain has already announced its entry into the 18+ market. Now DNS and the Golden Apple will sell everything from lubricants and oils to dildos and smart gadgets for pleasure and intimate health care.

There is no doubt, in the 21st century, sex no longer surprises anyone, on the Internet you can find any
information about a product and immediately pick it up in a suitable store. But if there is a demand, there
is also a supply. Now it's up to the manufacturers to give out the goods that people will buy not
only in sex shops, but also in these stores.

Director of the company Natalya Volkova tells in more detail how she sees such development of the industry.

Why 18+?

We have a large group of like-minded people and opportunities across the country, and this helps to understand the directions
in which we want (or can) develop. It all started with the fact that fellow guys offered leather goods, showed
the production, we analyzed the market – and then the idea arose with accessories in the style of BDSM. Precisely
“in style” – they are more likely for the entourage and creation of a female image, rather than for usage
directly in the process.

How did you find a sales market?

In Russia, the idea of sex as something shameful is still quite strong, so until recently our goods were exported to the United States and Europe. This is an understandable market with stable demand and the ability to implement ideas. We just threw offers on thematic sites and that's it – the process started.

Why Russia now?

We ourselves are from Russia, our business lives here. We see the market growing. In the last couple of years,
it has become possible in our country to develop a culture of love for yourself, your body and your partner.
Our BDSM accessories have already gone beyond bedrooms – they are the icing on the cake for the casual image
of modern women. As Vyacheslav Zaitsev (a famous Russian cloth designer) said: “I want Russian women to wear my clothes”.
So, we want Russian women to look stylish and not be shy about their sexuality. We analyzed supply and demand
– including at large marketplaces and sex shops. And we are ready to offer new products that will buy. The
18+ niche in Russia is almost vacant.

What are your plans for this year?

Our mission is to take 18+ products out of a straightforward understanding of their use. Massage oils and candles, erotic
lingerie and role-playing costumes, romantic games for two or sets of accessories for foreplay – it's high time to apply
everything in life without fear of judgment. Oil makes the skin soft, lingerie gives confidence, and a game with accessories
is a pleasure to present to friends for a wedding, who will only say thank you.

Is this the kind of assortment you are ready to present to the consumer in Russia?

Taking into account our capabilities for today – we offer what we are sure of. These are new sensations in
the form of oral lubricants, romance in the form of oils and candles with fashionable aromas. Games and possible scenarios
already invented by someone for implementation are a very popular category. As practice has shown, it is easier for a
person to buy a game with a toy than just a toy. It's not so embarrassing, it turns out. In
addition, scenarios in each game provide an opportunity to use the toy more than once. Each new plot is a
plus in the creation of trust in a couple. This is how culture is created.

What brand are you entering the market with?

There are 2 brands in our stash so far. These are Avanture and Scenario. The first is for expanding the
boundaries of sexual life, the second is for the fulfillment of desires. Each has its own line of products from
intimate cosmetics to lingerie and toys. The buyer will have plenty to choose from. Brands are already represented on marketplaces.
People vote with their money.

What do you think about federal chains entering the adult product niche?

We are very glad that the giants of the market, far from 18+, are included in our topic. This means
that we have a lot of work ahead of us to meet the growing demand. People will start wanting more,
they will understand that there are no more stereotypes – it's time to enjoy life. And we will offer an
assortment that will give them new emotions. It's so nice!

Press release and answers to questions provided by Egida company.

In 2010, the World Association of Sexual Health declared September as such a month.

Russian version

This year, the theme for this month is “Love, Bonding, and Intimacy” – all of which are needed during these tumultuous times.

“Historically, we find our sales pick up every year during September,” said Briana Watkins, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for M.D. Science Lab. “We knew the cause had to be something more than just kids going back to school. It’s looking like our September spike in sales may be something more.”

Sexual health goes beyond simple birth control and safer sex, it includes experiencing pleasure and intimacy in a healthy manner. The use of lubricant, both water-based and silicone, has been shown to increase sexual pleasure and satisfaction, according to research published in the National Library of Medicine.

In preparation for the sales surge anticipated for this month, Swiss Navy is increasing their already robust production schedule. The company is ramping up manufacturing and have stocked up on raw materials in order to better serve their customer’s needs.

“Nine out of ten women have reported sex is more comfortable, pleasurable, and feels better when using lubrication,” said Dr.
Sunny Rodgers, M.D. Science Lab’s Intimate Health Advisor and Ambassador for the American Sexual Health Association. “Swiss Navy offers several
types of lubricants, allowing consumers more options that meet their unique preferences. And I’m sure there will be many people
celebrating their sexual health this September.”

As always, Swiss Navy pays careful attention to their historic sales trends in order to stay focused on their company vision and to be able to better help their retail partners. It’s important to the entire Swiss Navy team that September be a major success for their customers and for the celebration of Sexual Health Month.

Press release courtesy of Swiss Navy.

The new Telegram channel allows you to read reviews of ordinary people (not bloggers) on products 18+.

R

ussian version

Any person, before making a purchase, needs information about the product. This can be articles, blogger’s review, manufacturer’s data, advice
from store consultants. However, the most valuable thing is the feedback from real users! And there is a shortage of
such reviews in the adult goods industry. (There is an abundance of reviews from real users on the sexshopers.ru portal
– Ed.)

The owners of the online store Titterburg have solved this problem. With the support of one of the founders of the SEKS.RF training centers, Maxim Demidov, they launched a unique and free carts channel SweetToyAdviser.

The channel regularly publishes honest reviews of testers of sex toys, intimate cosmetics and BDSM accessories. The service now has
about 50 testers, these are ordinary people from different cities of Russia. For example, athlete Natasha from Volgograd talks about
the experience of using menstrual cups, accountant Irina from Kamchatka trains with Kegel balls after childbirth, and programmer Pavel from
Murmansk tries to use masturbators for the first time.

Don't expect marketing suggestions, professional consultants, and paid reviews.

Channel users can learn about the pros and cons of sex devices, what desires and requests a particular toy helps to realize.

There is an opportunity to ask any question to the testers, discuss with them the products that they really like, share your own opinion in the comments. The chat works around the clock, as the participants live in different parts of Russia.

Testers compare toys and share feedback.

The main task of the service is to help in the selection of quality products for adults based on the experience of real users, honest advice and feedback from testers , as well as to create a positive attitude towards modern products for adults.

Press release courtesy of Titerburg online store.

Editorial opinion. Getting to know the impressions of ordinary users is useful. But before using their advice, you should still double-check the information, since everything is individual and depends on many parameters - age, health status and others.

You wish to support our project, but you don't know how? We’ll tell you!

Russian version

Over the past year, the portal's audience has grown significantly thanks to the active work of our team. We want you to grow with us, and therefore we have come up with a convenient way that will allow any company to support our project.

Recently sexshopers.ru has got a price list. We will continue to contribute to the development of the industry, so a lot remains free.

Why did we come up with this?

Our portal sexshopers.ru has been and remains non-profit, since our main goal is to provide honest and comprehensive information about the adult goods industry.

Why then did we come up with tariffs and began to offer companies paid services? Exclusively so that you,
our dear colleagues in the industry, can help us in this important and necessary work. We will not make a
profit, but will spend this money on the development of the site, search for interesting and necessary materials, tell about
Russian business in foreign publications, and much more. We have a lot of plans and ideas!

Always free

You can continue to post your content with us for free. For this we have put together a package of
services with the self-explanatory name FREE. We will not only publish your materials, but also pre-process the text and
pictures in the style of Sexshopers, and then duplicate it on our Instagram and telegram, as well as provide links
to it in other social networks. So, we increase the audience of the material several times.

We continue to cooperate for free with all companies in the industry: both with the largest toy manufacturers and small
stores. We translate news fr om Russian into English, publish news fr om foreign publications in Russian, take interviews –
we do everything to keep our readers as informed as possible. In addition, we maintain large directories of companies and
industry products, and if you still have not submitted information – write to us.

If your company is of interest to the editors, we will offer to do an interview, ask for an excursion to the production facility or invite you to the store, and release joint material. Any publications initiated by Sexshopers are free.

Another part of our work, which was, is and remains free of charge, is interaction with bloggers and publication of
test drives. If you see a lim it on the number of publications in the paid plan, then be aware
that reviews of your products are not included in this lim it and will be published according to the editorial
plan. It's free. And always will be.

So what is paid?

We have divided paid services into two large blocks: regular and one-time.

One-time services allow you to be more active in a targeted manner, for example, when preparing an event or
when new products appear. We have a great team, and we can do a lot: write an article, draw a
banner, shoot a photo and video, translate your materials from / into Russian, English, German, make translations of videos. We
can guarantee quality and understanding of the essence of the work, as we are well versed in our industry.

We offer two tariffs for regular paid services: FRIEND and BROTHER. The first one expresses your support for
the project. In the second, we have laid the optimal number of publications and banners so that you can simply
transmit information to us, and we will do the rest: process, subtract, publish.

We have an interesting offer for advertisers – Newsgroup Partner. According to statistics, the banner placed in the Russian
“Bloggers’ page” received more than 30,000 impressions and about 2,000 clicks in 1 month. In other newsgroups, the number
of impressions is slightly lower, but the number of clicks is not lagging behind!

Note that views of the “Bloggers’ page” section, the “SEXSHOPERS approved” section and the recently opened “Books” section exceed the total views of other sections of the site, so we offer discounts on paid services to companies that provide products for testing.

We would like to express our gratitude to all companies that are already cooperating with us and are looking forward to new partners, everyone who is important to cover the industry of adult goods as fully as possible.

Together we will make this world a better place!

Your editor-in-chief Marina Chicheva and the Sexshopers team

Thanks to you and together with you!

Text: Marina Chicheva, Ekaterina Nikolaeva, Aliona Ryne
Photo: Vladislav Kolodyuk, Oksana Kudzhaeva, Aliona Ryne

Russian version

In October, our portal turned 4 years. This means 1460 days or more than 2000 articles for you during this time. We can say with confidence that we have become a full-fledged player in the 18+ industry. We always strive to be the first to report the news, test new products and take part in industry events.

Traditionally – numbers

For four years, 2273 articles in Russian and English have been published on our portal. Of these, in Russian for
this year (hereinafter – according to data for January-October 2021), we published 683 articles in Russian and 334 articles in
English. In 2021, we opened a new section “Books”, in which 30 reviews have already been published, and recently
launched the “Sex education” section, where (so far!) there are ten articles.

At the same time, this year alone we have published about 700 posts in each of our social networks accounts.
Almost two thousand stories were published on Instagram since the beginning of the year. Now reels appeared and there are
only 18 of them so far, but the our video champion has already gained almost 250,000 views! During this time,
we have published 47 videos on our YouTube channel. Every time we see a like under our post, or an
increase in views on the YouTube channel, or your mentions of us – we are sincerely happy with the whole
editorial staff and want to try even more for you! And for our English-speaking audience, we started an Instagram account
in English.

We now place banners not only on the main page, but also above news articles. According to our calculations, such a banner receives fr om 50,000 to 300,000 impressions per month, depending on the selected newsgroups, and about 8,000 clicks for every 50,000 views.

By the way, about you. During this year, the audience of our social networks has grown on average one and a half times, and the site has been visited by over 700,000 people during the year, and these are not only industry participants, but also the b2c audience, the contact with which we are very proud of!

The number of articles in Russian and English, published during this time.

How we grew up

2017 year. The idea of the site is discussed, the first articles appear, headings are selected. We immediately begin to
cover the events of the adult goods industry, translate articles fr om foreign sites. In the first year we visit
EroExpo, where we announce the creation of Sexshopers, talk about the events in Hanover and Tyumen. By the end of the year, realizing that what we are doing is valuable and interesting to you, we launch social network accounts: Instagram, Telegram, VKontakte, Twitter, Facebook.

2018 year. We are launching the English version of the site, we more than double the number of publications in
Russian! We visit Thaifest, Forus, EroExpo. We launch the “EroExpo Faces” project at the exhibition. Since
then, we have been constant participants in these events! At the same time, we regularly translate for you news about
the largest events overseas, such as ANME, XBIZ or ADULTEX.

2019 year. The most popular and fastest growing section “Bloggers Page” appears on the site. The editorial office is
expanding fr om 2 to 5 people. And also in time for the second anniversary, we are creating the section
“Interview”, and in four months of 2019 there are 12 publications there! By the way, this year we continue
to expand the geography of events by visiting the ETO-Show in London, eroFame in Hanover and making a series of reports from the CHINA ADULT-CARE EXPO in Shanghai.

2020 year. Despite COVID-19, this year has become even more successful for us. First, we quickly tell how manufacturers
and suppliers are mentally and physically experiencing lockdowns. Secondly, together with you we hope and wait (first) that all restrictions
will be removed and the planned events will take place. And then we just start broadcasting online, filming a
series of reports under the general title "Instead of the exhibition", wh ere we show new items. The team is
growing, there are already ten of us, and the geography of the editorial office includes not only Moscow and St.
Petersburg, but also Samara and Yekaterinburg.

2021 year. Finally, FORUS, Thaifest and EroExpo are taking place, wh ere we are telling you about
right from the scene. New interesting sections appear on the site. In addition, we thought hard and began to massively
publish articles on Instagram and Telegram. Read us wh ere it suits you! For the new year of 2021, we
raffled off three multi-brand baskets, and at the exhibition we gave out more than 60 bags with gifts, thanks to
the companies that support our site! International cooperation is expanding: we now receive news from many brands directly. And here's
what's surprising: the more we work for you, the more interesting things appear for publications. At a rate of two
or three publications in Russian and one or two in English every day, the publication plan is fulfilled several weeks
in advance! And it is only the beginning!

Stay tuned, dear readers, all the fun is yet to come!

The company presented its collection at an international design competition.

Russian version

Design contests, one of which is Red Dot 2021, is not only the best way to escape from the pandemic,
whose influence is more and more tangible in business and modern life, but also a wide foothold for interaction with
new partners, and an opportunity to declare oneself and demonstrate long-term experience, their achievements and the results of the work
of the brand team.

Lola Games won the Muse Creative Awards, one of the largest and most prestigious design awards, capturing the attention and hearts of jury members, influencers and creative professionals.

And in August, the brand received an award from the largest and most famous Red Dot Design Awards – an
international design competition held annually by the Nordrhein Westfalen design center in Germany. The Red Dot Design Award is the
most coveted quality mark. And in order to assess the candidates for victory as objectively as possible, the award is
divided into 3 disciplines in 37 areas. Every year more than 10,000 companies and design professionals from one hundred countries
take part to be judged by competent professionals and expert juries in the fields of product design, communication design and
design concept. And only the winners have a chance to be presented at the Red Dot Design Museum in Essen.

Taking part in the Packaging Design category, the Lola Games team had no doubts that the collection of unrealistic href="https://sexshopers.ru/news/novelty/kollektsiya-marshmallow-ot-lola-games/">Marshmallow mini-masturbators made from soft and velvety TPE material, which looks like a real dessert, will win. Lola Games has
focused on the detail of self-love in product development, which is why Marshmallow packages offer the perfect blend of visual
aesthetics and functionality.

Each toy is carefully packed in stylish cardboard tubes for convenient and safe storage. In addition, the biodegradable tubes are
made in soft pastel colors, echoing the delicate color palette of Marshmallow, and all the basic information about masturbators is
put on the packaging in the form of minimalistic icons. One glance is enough to make sure: sweet fantasies and
gentle touches are not just a turn of speech! What else amazed professional critics and jury members can be read
in the Red Dot Yearbook, which will be released before the end of 2021.

Winning the Red Dot Design Award means Lola Games is one of the best talent. And if the Muse Creative
Awards gave a huge impetus to the brand's movement forward, then winning such a prestigious award as the Red Dot
Design Awards cemented Lola Games' status as a guarantor of quality in the sexual wellness products market, which has won
international attention and trust.

Press release courtesy of the Lola Games brand.

Our editorial office has been in a remote format for four years now. How we do it – read the article.

Text: Aliona Ryne
Photo: Andrey Zikeev

Russian version

Sexshopers.ru is not just an editorial board, we are a real team! How to achieve this, living in different cities? It's just a matter of organizing your work.

We do not have micromanagement, each team member knows their tasks and performs them according to their own plan, that
is, we utilize self-control. This allows “larks” not to disturb others in the morning, “owls” to be productive in the
dark, and both to live peacefully side by side. We share joys and sorrows and are constantly in touch, but
we do not make work the center of life, while actively integrate it into our daily plan in a convenient
way.

Of course, we have standards and regulations for all occasions: banner sizes, information for companies, rules for publishing articles, and
so on. At some point in the existence of the site, a decision was made to standardize the size of
illustrations, for example. Then we determined the rules for writing the most common words. Thus, over time, we have come
to a single style of publications, which is familiar to our regular readers. Standards help us not to get buried
in a landslide of daily decisions and save us time and effort. In addition, it is much more convenient to
give a new author a memo than to explain that we use the middle dash and the letter “ё” and
do not use feminitives.

We know about the existence of trackers and task schedulers. However, a rather archaic method has taken root in our
team – a bunch of Yandex-disk (YD), Google-sheets and a working chat in Telegram. This format turned out to be
the most viable, as it is convenient for all team members. The translator does not need to learn the planner,
the editor does not need to be integrated into the complex process of control and decision-making. We don't make content
for the sake of content, and we don't use sophisticated tools to brag about our advancement.

Let's see how it works for us.

Yandex Disk is one of our main working tools. How do publications get on the poison? In different ways. There is a technical editor who “pulls out” texts in English fr om foreign resources. Our authors send test drives and articles by email. There are other ways, but we will not reveal all the secrets.

Among the various tables that we need for work, there is a separate, most important “Working file”. The lead editor
creates a publication plan for the month ahead and keeps the file up to date daily. The editor-in-chief approves the
current plan, makes changes and additions to it. Each publication has its own numbered folder on Yandex Disk, wh ere
materials for publication are located. The entire team has access to Yandex Disk.

Each of us lives in our own time zone and works at our own pace. Since high self-organization is the
main skill of the remote worker, the work goes like this: the editor looks at the plan, opens the desired
folder on the Yandex Disk, proofreads the text and makes a copy of the revisited text. After that, an icon
appears in the plan, which informs the lead editor that the text for the desired date has been proofread. The
visual artist works in the same way, preparing illustrations and photos for publication.

The lead editor not only proofreads the texts and draws up a plan, he also checks the stages of completion
of different materials. The editor-in-chief, opening the Working file, immediately sees the state of each element of the plan: where
the proofreading is not ready, where the pictures are not made, and where both are completed. Thus, at any time
you can tell where you can find a window for urgent publication, and where you need to request additional information.
As a rule, all publications are ready by the given date.

The work chat helps us to coordinate those works that do not have strict regulations: for example, preparing an interview
or discussing a new idea. In addition, we have a casual chat where we share life stories, humor and everything
that comes to mind. We are friends and discuss a variety of topics outside the working framework. This allows us
to be a team not in words, but in deeds.

Of course, within the framework of one article it is impossible to touch upon all the tools that we use.
There are still a lot of processes that remained behind the scenes. However, we hope that now the expression “the
Sexshopers team” has become a little more clear to readers. And, although we still have a lot to do, we
can already proudly say that we have achieved well-coordinated and effective work, despite the difference in time zones.

Why does advertising on sexshopers work? Where and how can it be placed?

Text: Marina Chicheva
 Illustration: NuArt Studio

Why advertising on sexshopers works: its hitting the target audience

Our site targets a mixed b2b and b2c audience.

Six years after the opening of the site, we can proudly say that we are read by almost 100% of
the participants in the Russian adult industry, as well as representatives of many foreign companies. It is difficult to find
an online or offline store, a supplier company or a manufacturer who would not know who sexshopers.ru is. And this
means that if you need to contact market participants, then you simply cannot find a more suitable platform. This also
applies to foreign companies. If you want the entire Russian market to know about you and your products, come to
sexshopers!

If you are focused on end customers, then at least half of our readers are not random people, but those who are really interested in information about market innovations.

Where and how to advertise: types of advertising materials, placement, features, newsletters

You can place banners, articles, short announcements on our website and in our existing social networks. You can make a company card with an individual design (photo, direct contacts) or place a link to your product in articles.

Banners. We place advertising banners with a link to the site you specified:
 – on the main page (in the slider, up to 10 banners at the same time or exclusively one);
 – over all articles of the selected sections, regardless of the time of their publication;
 – in product cards;
 – on pages with lists of companies.

How it looks, check the screenshots in the slider at the beginning of the text.

Newsletter advertising: text, banner, direct link to your website. Our mailing list is published monthly and has about 3000 subscribers.

Articles. You can tell about your company, product, event, share your impressions, invite to cooperation. Everything that is related to
the adult industry (and does not contradict the legislation of the Russian Federation), we will publish, and our audience will
read it. The announcement of the article will definitely get into the sexshopers social networks , as well as into
our weekly newsletter, adding views to your material. (By the way, if you haven't subscribed yet, give it a try.
Digest in your mail is handy.)

Short announcements. Perhaps you are expecting a small event, a promotion, or new items in new colors have arrived. There may not be enough material for a whole article, but for social networks - just right!

Direct link in articles. Do you want our reader to immediately receive an answer to the frequently asked question: "Where to buy it" after reading a review on a toy, lubricant or erotic costume? Then this is your option. We will place in the article a link to your store or a product card on the marketplace .

Approximate prices are on a special page of the site. Write us and we'll discuss your needs.

Sincerely yours, editor-in-chief.

The "Inspirit Company" has shared their opinion about the use of videos.

The company's representatives believe, that the work on increasing loyalty and recognition of an item has gained serious support in the form of videomarketing.

Anna Diomina, the brand manager of the "Inspirit Company", the brand "Lola toys"

A-few-second watch of a video makes a good impression of both the product and the brand. The statistics of an
American company, DMB Adobe, confirms that online customers, watching the sales videos, make purchases twice more often, compared to those
who never watch them. And an investigation, made by the Invodo company, proved that after having watched the videos, it
takes them less time to make their decision on the acquisition of an advertised item for more than 50% of
the customers.

When we were thinking of creating promotion videos for a Russian intimate toys' brand, Lola toys, we decided to vote
for those videos that raise the clients' awareness. Such videos let our customers see the toys "in operation", and get
familiar to their basic characteristics. It allows people to assimilate the maximum of a product's functionality and virtues. Just let's
take as an example those videos for a range of male masturbators, Satisfaction. One can clearly see such details as
the inner relief and the installed rings, that create a feeling of a "narrow way in". In this video, we
intended to show the precision the human anatomy is represented with, and thanks to this, the customer will enjoy the
most realistic sensations while using the toy.

A certain type of our products needs another approach at the moment of making demo videos. For example, for advertising
a collection of leather belts by Re-belts, and a bondage from the Bondage collection, we found a model who tested
the accessory fixing it on her body. For this sort of pieces, we agreed to make two types of videos:
the artistic and the introductory ones.

Every consumer will be able to find those videos that are the most appropriate and the most interesting for him or her. How to predict what sort of videos will be watched with more probability? It depends on a number of things, the customer's sex and age, for instance.

We are planning to make some videos for all ranges of the brand in future. 

The market players are unanimous in their opinion - the need to make videos is real! So, what is the customers' view?

We have started an inquiry among the active adult goods' consumers, people who show interest in novelties, buy sex toys and use them. The opinions do not coincide, sometimes, to the point of being opposite. Below, we are publishing the most typical ones.

So, the target group was shown some videos: a discussion on "Why do we need sex shops?" from intimshop.ru, an educational video "How to satisfy a man with your hands?" from the Center of Sexual Education, Secrets, a video from the manufacturer of the G-Vibe vibrator and other similar videos. 

As a result, about 57% of the respondents said that watching such video is interesting, yet, in the majority of
cases, it won't induce people to participate in a training course nor to buy anything in a sex shop. And
about a half of the interviewees recognized that they had seen something new and were ready to use this knowledge
in practice, or are, at least, likely to do it.

Below, you can see the opinions of those who took part in the inquiry.

*The actual attitude towards such videos, with no doubt, depends on the information supply. I would not seek for any such videos deliberately.

*Of no interest to me. They are always discussing some damn dull things. We go to a sex shop, my wife and me, only if there is a specific idea, and it is nonsense to go to training courses. Not much of the news in the videos, as we are aware of all this staff.

*The review videos of a particular product are not very interesting, but a training is where we sometimes take part. There is some new information, and something may be useful. The videos where the goods are imposed on the customer are not worth confidence, while those that "educate" are more trustworthy.

*A video, in general, is a good way to show a product in motion, so to speak. Well, in relative motion. As for the videos about the techniques of any sort, I don't trust them, neither like them.

*This sort of presentation seems rather strange to me, I mean, sometimes one can pick up useful fact, no more
than that. As for me, the best solution for sex toys, would be similar to one I can't remember well
much of, there was a series of videos, being a local artistic project, where girls were masturbating in front of
the camera, with a single detail-the action was not shown (I can't remember the exact presentation). I mean, one can
see a girl, her face, can hear her moаning and feeling hot, yet the scene looks decent, I mean, there
is no classical pornography, in its common sense. Such kind of review would be of interest, the decency is not
disrupted, but one can witness both the process and the result, at first hand. When we come for sex toys,
the opinion of the girl at the counter, about a certain item, adds ten points to the probability of that
item to be bought. And don't forget that, curiously, this opinion helps to decide whether this or that toy is
suitable or nor.

*It is interesting at least. Every grown-up person understands, that an all-purpose solution cannot be found. Still, it does not
mean that there is no use suggesting some working solutions to, at least, some people. You are to try, to
test, if it works, so you are free to use it, if it doesn't, ok, let's continue searching. The sense
of humour adds greately to a video's quality. Summarizing the above, I can say that making videos is ok, the
videos should not be ignored. Their optimal duration is of about 2 or 3 minutes. For longer videos, there must
be a "zest", some sort of humour or a certain story, if not, the spectator will not watch them.

*The videos are of great need. For showing the goods, there is no doubt. They allow to estimate the size
and the way of usage faster than before. For me, for example, is essential to hear how loud the device
is, the video can't show it clearly, yet, to a certain extent, it does. It is an important parameter, by
the way! For training centres, a teaser video, a magnet can be made, to serve as the first part of
the answer, and the complete information is only available at the training course.

*The opinion is the following. A generation, that is joining, or will join the big sex, is growing. This generation
likes watching videos. They prefer this way of getting information. That is why such videos should be made, focusing on
this young generation. As for me, I don't see them, neither will I in future. It is because I am
used to getting information through reading or looking at pictures. For me, it is a faster way, with no idle
talking.

We thank everybody who took part in the conversation on the videos!

The brand's owner, Andrej Nikolayenko, has answered our questions.

What type of videos does your company make?

To date, we have only made a Backstage for the photo session introducing the collections of the brand Le Frivole that we produce.

To what extent does the video making help or impede the working process in your shops?

We've got no shops, yet we supply lingerie to many shops across Russia and the CIS. It is there where
we place the videos. Such videos are able to draw the retail customers' attention towards the products of our brand,
they also make people aware of the fact that such goods are present at this shop, they make the customers'
imagination start to begin "trying on" our lingerie to fit themselves and their partner.

Are sales going up?

I haven't got any trustworthy evidence, but I am sure such videos contribute to sales growth.

Is it much work to make a video like this?

As a matter of fact, the video making implies certain costs, as it is not like filming a photosession-the additional lighting, the operator and the following cut are all needed.

The following piece of news can cause a significant effect on the delivery logistics to the remote purchasers.

In the last five months, in the capital's nine offices of Russian Post, a new service has been tested: the delivery
of the pieces of mail, requiring the electronic signature only, without the necessity to fill any receipt. 'The measurements have
shown the work is done up to five times faster', said Sergey Malyshev, the deputy Director-General for the mailing service
business. To date, this kind of new practice has been introduced in all post offices of Moscow.

To use this new service, a client needs to go through a registration procedure in the post office only once,
showing his or her passport and filling in a form, indicating their passport data and the mobile telephone number. After
this, once the registered letters or packages come to the post office, the addressee will receive a short text message,
containing the code, he or she has to use for obtaining the mail. In the second quarter of 2018, the
new service coverage will include the rest of Russia's regions.

At the moment, the largest share of all the mail is comprised of the deliveries of goods from several online
shops. They are often small packages, received several ones at the same time. The lack of necessity for filling paper
forms for every mail makes the client service simplier, while the delivery is faster. The Russian Post's representatives consider the
service to be of high demand in future, nowadays, it is common practice for the clients to follow the delivery
stages on their smart phone and to use it at the moment of asking for information about the shipments' delivery.
Note, that those people who feel more confortable following the traditional practice, can receive their deliveries the way they used
to do-with paper notifications.

On evidence from Kommersant newspaper.

In April, the company is planning to modify the bet-forming interface and the pricing data in the API of Direct.

The system Yandex.Direct, a service for contextual ads' placement, whether search or topic-based, has announced a shift from managing the
ad's positions on search to managing data transfer traffic. The company believes, every visitor should be shown what he or
she is exactly interested in, and this is the most effective way to reach the advertising productivity. A significant rise
of design layout options, ads placement and other settings of showing ads are planned. Once the advertising options are multiple,
the interface change will be launched, that will make the process of participation in bidding more transparent and handy.

Alexey Ivanov, the Yandex' partner for advertising technique training, thinks that "such concepts as "specific
placement" and "guaranteed showing" will become obsolete. You can already see different numbers of ads above the search results and
advertising blocks in the middle of the seach delivery. At the beginning of the new year, Yandex will test and
introduce dozens of advertising formats into the search".

With the updated interface, the customer will be able to see the price for the predicted volume of traffic instead
of the price for the position, and instead of the showing's average position, the average volume of purchased traffic will
be indicated. It will help to estimate the potential sales growth. The statistics, shown to a customer, will be also
modified. Yandex promises to set prices based on the rule: "the better your advetising works, the cheaper it proves to
attract audience".

For advertising purchasers who focuse on coverage and branding, the access threshold to such showings is to be set. The
concept of template is being introduced, meaning a search result option. Its choice depends on the user and on the
advertising topic. The system will show the most effective option. Some template options are now available to users.

Alexey Ivanov recommends that one should supply the ad with the maximum of optional elements which are already available at Direct. He also stresses that "search advertising management is becoming similar to network showing administration-the more formats and elements you use, the more your ads' potential coverage is".

Based on the news evidence of Yandex and the blog of Alexey Ivanov.

An updated version of the postal service regulation came into force.

Two months ago, our website reported on an experiment held in Moscow's nine post offices of Russian Post. The test implied the possibility of receiving postal mailings without the necessity to show the passport, with the electronic signature only.

The results proved successful, so it is now officially stated in the postal service regulation that a client can refuse
to receive paper notifications, using any of those modern notification services instead, such as sms, the mobile application's push notifications
or e-mails. Besides, at present, there is no necessity for an addressee to either show an identity paper in order
to confirm their identity or to fill a typical form. To avoid it, new ways have emerged. However, all comers
are in their right to follow the former ways of getting notifications and confirming their identity, both will be valid.

At the offices of Russian Post in Moscow and the Moscow region, those mailings that are not to be paid
can be received by the clients using the electronic signature only. It allows to reduce the term of getting the
postal mailings at the post office by five times. It also allows to give up filling paper forms. The new
service is free and is provided on the basis of the registration form to be filled in the post office.
Once the client creates this form, he or she never needs to fill any paper notice.

Another important change in the work of the post offices is that the storage term of the packages is reduced
down to 15 days. This innovation does not refer to postal orders and written correspondence, including small packages. They will
be still held for 30 days. The storage time reduction of the big postal mailings will allow to improve the
storage zone' usage, while the time spent on receiving mailings will be reduced.

On the evidence of the website shopolog.

A popular way of goods delivery is in progress.

Many online stores offer delivery through postmates to their customers. This type of delivery is popular since it is as handy as home delivery, and its price is comparable to post mailing.

Yet in 2015 the first postmates appeared in Moscow City and in the Moscow Region, under two brands at once: QIWI and PickPoint. Their small size makes them different from the usual postmates. The usual postmate normally has the average of 80 deposit boxes and requires rather big space, which not every shop is able to provide. 

Small-size postmates have just about 30 boxes, the fact that allows to establish them with much more frecuency, literally, within walking distance from every client.

Alexey Rasskazov, the Business Development Director of QIWI postmate solutions, reported that at the time small-size postmates have already been
established in one thousand sellpoints, while the network expansion is the priority task; by the end of 2018 the number
of such kind of postmates is expected to double. He also pointed out that the two companies within their cooperation
strategy are planning to "offer the market a really multi-service model of the end customer's attendance".

Evgeny Pliakhin, the PickPoint Business Development Director said, in his turn, that the volume of online orders' delivery through PickPoint
network is increasing 1.8-2 times annually. In this regard, the issue of the network expansion is a very big deal.
"We can still satisfy the online sellers and the customers' ever-growing needs due to the format of small-size postmates that
has become one of the ways of rapid and high-quality Federal scaling", he commented.

At present, one can find the QIWI-PickPoint postmates in 70 constituent units of the Russian Federation. To date, the greatest network capacity is seen in Moscow, St.Petersburg, the Republic of Tatarstan, the Krasnodar Region, the Novosibirsk and Kemerovo Regions.

Based on riamoda.ru and shopolog.ru.

Dmitry Korobitsyn, the founder and the Director-General of the company "Postavschik schastya" (Supplier of happiness), shared his experience of using online cash devices and offered three ways of operation.

D.Korobitsyn: Since July, 1st, all online shop are obliged to use online cashbox while processing payments made with credit cards or other types of electronic money.

The general scheme of operation is the following: a customer makes an order on the online shop's website. After having
introduced the delivery data, the client is to choose the way of payment. If a credit card is chosen, the
client is usually sent to some aggregator's gateway. The client puts the credit card's data on the aggregator's site. The
latter brings this transaction through authorization and carries out the payment. After that, the aggregator's system sends to the online
shop's database some information saying the payment is successfully authorized. Now, the online shop is to establish a contact with
the online cash box to provide it with the data. The online cash device is to make a receipt, bring
it through fiscalization and send these data to the fiscal data operator (FDO). There the data are verified and an
electronic receipt is sent to the client by e-mail or in form of a text message, also posting the data
to the Tax Inspectorate.

This scheme used to be finished at the point of sending the data from the payment system to the shop.
The shop was not supposed to do nothing else. From now on, the shop is to send some information to
the cash device about the order, including the its composition, the payment sum and the client's personal information (the e-mail
address and the telephone number) to provide him or her with an electronic receipt.

Three ways of solving this problem are possible, it is important to understand their difference.

The first way implies renting a cash box. At the moment, there are about ten options within this range. The
most popular is Atol-online. I can name others, Orange Data, Check-online, for example.
It is easy to find a variety of options on the Internet. Their prices are basically the same, two or
three thousand robles a month. You have to additionally buy a fiscal drive, it is obligatory no matter which option
you choose from those listed above. The reason is that a fiscal drive is to be a property of the
legal entity that is carrying out the transactions. The very cashbox that makes the transactions, may not be the legal
entity's property, it can be rented.

Thus, the shop has the right to rent a cashbox. Once again, the rental cost depends on a particular operator
and can vary from 2 to 3.5 thousand rubles a month. I came across an offer of 1900, and even
1500 rubles, but, here, these operators' safety is in doubt, as these are not among the popular ones. Still, on
market you can find similar offers.

In our work we use Atol-online at the moment. This option was the first to appear on market (about a
year ago), since then, we have been working with it. The security and the simplicity are this option's advantages in
comparison to other alternatives. The down side is the high cost. Monthly payments of 3000 rubles may seem burdensome for
some shops.

The working scheme is the following: the information network of the shop gets the data from the payment system, saying
the payment has been carried out automatically, through API, or a specific module. Then, the network is connected to the
rented online cashbox, which is located at the operator's data center (at the data center of Atol-online, in our case)
and sends there the data that are necessary for creating a receipt, making fiscalization of the latter and sending it
first to a fiscal data operator and then-to the Tax Inspectorate and the client. The process in completely automatic, it
is easy and handy. If you are using a content management system (CMS), 1C Bitrix, for example, note that there
are modules which were drafted by Bitrix and Atol-online, being a joint project. These modules support all the existing protocols.
So, this proves to be a simple and handy solution also. We can calculate this option's costs. They include a
monthly rental payment of 3000 rubles (being 36000 rubles for 12 months), added a fiscal drive of 6200 rubles for
a three-year period. That's the price of using this solution.

The second way is a bit cheaper, yet more difficult to fulfil. Such scheme can be advised for online shops, having offline outlets or pickup points. The latter have already got online cash desk, used at the moment of distributing orders at their office. In this case, it is possible to use the following options:
– Modul Kassa;
– DREAMKAS;
– KKMSERVER
etc.

The key point is the following: the online shop, having received the data from the payment system, sends this information
to the cash device for creating a receipt. The cash device is located at a pickup point, for example. In
this case, the cash device must be connected to a computer, being switched on round the clock and having Internet
access. Such scheme usually implies a sort of a subscription fee for using software that provides the system's operability.

That's the way it works. You have to install an application on the computer the online cash box is connected
to. This application serves as a local web server. The online shop is further connected to the application and provides
the latter with the data. The application, in its turn, is connected to the online cash device, plugged into the
computer with the application already installed. Then, this cash box is where the receipt is formed, passed through fiscalization and
sent to the fiscal data operator, the Tax Inspectorate and the client.

The lower cost is this option's strength, this software is 500-1000 rubles a month. If you have already got a
cash device, you needn't buy anything else. The disadvantage has to do with the integrational problems. A significant disadvantage implies
the necessity of providing non-stop operation of the computer where the application is installed, as payments on the website can
be made at any time. Both the computer and the cash box are to be switched on and provided with
Internet access night and day. This is an additional point to be taken into account. Leaving for home from any
of the pickup points, the employees must not switch off the computer. The alternative is to have an independent computer
for the payments to be made. But, as the online cashbox is connected to it, it is no more an
independent computer but the main operating computer at the pickup point.

The third option seems to be the best one as for the costs, but more difficult to accomplish. You can
buy an automatic cashbox. Such devices are usually used for e-commerce, or are installed into the vending machines, where no
vendor appears, no human being is involved. Such device looks like two cigarette packs joint together. Its cost is from
6000 to 9000 rubles. To date, I have found four types of such terminals. Umka Terminal and FF Terminal  are among the renowned ones. 

Третий вариант пожалуй, оптимален с точки зрения денег, но более трудоёмок в реализации. Вы можете приобрести автоматизированный кассовый аппарат. Обычно такие устройства
используются для интернет-торговли, а также в вендинговых аппаратах, другими словами, в местах, где нет кассира, где не участвует человек. Это
устройство выглядит, как коробочка размером с две пачки сигарет. Стоимость этого устройства составляет 6000-9000 рублей. На сегодняшний день я нашел четыре
разновидности таких терминалов. Более-менее распространенные устройства – это Umka Terminal и FF Terminal.

The working principle is the following: you need to buy this device, and a fiscal drive that you are going to need whatever scheme you choose. You are to get them interconnected and guarantee both continuous power supply and Internet access.

After that, you will have to make some specific setting for your online shop to make it send a request
to the automatic cash device after having received the data about a successful transaction from the payment system. Under this
request, the receipt is automatically created by the cash box, passed through fiscalization, and sent to the FDO, the client
and the Tax Inspectorate. This solution proves to be the cheapest. However, it requires the participation of high-qualified specialists, responsible
for this kind of work. 

Trainings in the format of webinars for sellers, online conferences with business representatives, workshops and free spicy thematic trainings, and even Kinky Party online – the adult industry is trying to adapt to the current conditions.

© Ekaterina Nikolaeva

Russian version

The first to redirect their efforts online as much as possible were stores. In part, it’s a little easier for
them, since some generally work only on the net, and those who had offline stores are now actively attracting the
audience to their sites or social network pages. Some went even further. For example, “Kazanova 69” company launched the
project “Shop at home”: sellers during a personal video conference show the products, answer all questions of customers, help
navigate among many brands and devices. In general, all the same communication as in the store, only you can’t touch
the toy you like.

The company “Andrei – Business for Adults” launched the #intimatequarantine campaign, in which their specialists regularly post reviews
on products, photos and videos on the brand’s website and social networks and also answer questions. Adult market players may
use this information to promote their stores. This informational support is organized in order to help our colleagues in difficult
times.

By the way, to the development of online trading in the 18+ segment was the subject a separate online
conference “Ecom: here and now. Products for adults” which was organized as the part of the project “UPGRADE – events
for growth”, where the representatives of the “Supplier of Happiness” as well as those of Ozon.ru and goods.ru talked
about how things are in the market and how players are preparing for possible scenarios.

“Offline activities have now stopped completely, and I want to help this industry, as many people are involved in this
area. The online it's pretty stable, and market-places has been a steady growth in relation to seasonal demand. Our plans
are aimed at maximum stabilization of the company’s work in the event of the introduction of even stronger restrictions: we
are actively expanding our stocks, if they suddenly introduce full quarantine, we even rented several rooms in the hotel near
the warehouse – we provide complete infrastructure so that we can work with any situation”, said Dmitry Korobitsyn, the General
Manager of the “Supplier of Happiness” company, at the conference.

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To support business owners and sellers, many companies conduct regular webinars fr om manufacturers of adult products, where they talk not only about the advantages of brands and their new products, but also about how best to sell certain devices online.

Thus, the FORUS-online project, the goal of which is for business owners and store employees to gain new knowledge
even during self-isolation, plans to hold a series of training webinars for retail partners. For those who cannot join, videos
will be available later on the project’s website.

"Astkol Alpha" on its YouTube-channel holds weekly webinars with representatives of various brands. In addition to product reviews
and advice on working with objections during sales, the guests also answer questions from viewers. By the way, the author
of the best question receives a gift. You can follow the announcements in the Instagram account of the company.

The company “Kazanova 69” conducts live broadcasts on the YouTube channel (a Google account is required to confirm the
age of 18+ on YouTube), during which the b2b audience can receive valuable information about new products and features of
sales online either from the hosts themselves or from the guests – representatives of manufacturers. You can follow the announcements
in the Instagram story of our account.

& qt;& qt;& qt; & qt;& qt; slide to picture 4

Training centers also began to actively develop during self-isolation and in order to attract customers or retain existing ones, as
a rule, they all organize various actions. The training center "Kazanova 69" gives a tangible discount for the wholesale
purchase of webinars. Also the company's trainers organized a private club, wh ere for a certain price a month you
can undergo training on any topic you want.

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The training center “СЕКС.РФ” regularly arranges discounts on existing webinars, as well as organizes relevant trainings, for example, href="https://sexrf.online/trainings/quarantine">“Quarantine as a honeymoon”, “Sexual boredom”, “Acquaintance online” or “Sex against panic”. According to the trainers, these
and many other webinars of the center will help not only to survive quarantine, but also to discover new facets
of pleasure in general.

By the way, the “Museum about IT” began to conduct online workshops. Previously, they organized regular face-to-face classes, href="https://sexshopers.ru/news/events/svyazhi-menya-nezhno/">for example, in shibari, but they also reorganized their activity according to the reality and conducted a similar online masterclass.
Online tours of the museum for adults now also take place.

& qt;& qt;& qt; & qt;& qt; slide to pictures 6-7

Coffee18+, the adult coffee shop, went online: in addition to selling takeaway coffee (disposable masks and sanitizers are sold right there along with coffee), coffee with aphrodisiacs is available for online ordering with home delivery.

Even Kinky Party has gone online. The first online party was announced in 4K format with broadcast from different
cameras, but the next one was announced in a simpler Zoom format. “For the first time, you will not have
to bother with filling out an application and preparing a costume in order to get a life-changing experience. You can
participate in the Kinky Party without getting off the couch!" – say the organizers. How this format will differ from
watching adult films is not yet clear.

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Those who previously worked online, for example, the famous adult films portal, went even further. They unexpectedly released a project
that needs to be watched by the whole family, as the creators assure. Scrubhub.tv shows how to wash and
handle your hands properly in order to protect against the coronavirus. Truly, the video captions are made in the style
of the original site, however, well-known adult film actors wash their hands on the camer.

Sexshopers.ru will continue to monitor how the market for adult products is changing during self-isolation in order to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus infection COVID-19.

And we turn to market companies: if you have planned online events, write to us, we will tell everybody about it on our website and in our social network pages.

The manufacturer of the famous «snail» has developed a viewer that allows to demonstrate online toys from all sides, as well as the vibration of their motors.

Russian version

According to the developers, online sales are increasingly dependent on modern technologies, and conversion directly depends on the presentability of
the product page, its visualization and interactivity. In offline sales, the buyer has the opportunity to pick up the product,
carefully examine it, turn it on, and photos, even high-resolution, do not give such an opportunity. Modern technologies allow to
demonstrate the product in a 3D pseudo-viewer or a real 3D viewer. The first one is based on a set
of pre-taken photos, basically it's a 360-degree rotation around one point. The more frames, the “heavier” the page. The second
option is based on a three-dimensional model of the product with an overlay of surface texture. And if you add
interactivity to all this: the product can not only be rotated, but also moved, as if it is in the
hands of the buyer!

The Snail Vibe brand together with the French digital designer César Vonc have developed a 4D viewer (3+1D) that allows to turn on the
vibration of both motors, switch their speed and patterns, and also get an idea of how you can use a
sex toy, and how many options for the game you can come up with right now! Visualization is implemented based
on the work of the sex toy from Snail Vibe.

The 4D viewer is embedded on the site page by analogy with a YouTube video: it is enough to get the code by clicking the “Embed” icon at the bottom of the viewer. The viewer version loads in a few seconds, and its engine uses an external resource and does not increase the load on the server.

Especially for Halloween, to demonstrate the capabilities of the new technology, a cute pink Snail was given the appearance of a perky pumpkin. In November, the theme will return to standard colors, and the viewer built into the product page will display the real appearance in the colors of the product.

Do the videos help your shops in their working routine? Are the sales going up? Are these videos difficult to make? Questions like this were addressed to a number of wholesale and retail companies.

Today we are sharing examples of such videos and the first opinions about whether the companies should take up such video practice, what the videos' content should be, who is their target audience, whether it is better to hire professional actors or common people.

Vadim, Khimitch, ero boutique, Х-Маркет

We make product reviews exclusively. It helpful a big deal in the working process, and what is important is not
the result, but the very person who has to do with this area. During the recording of a video, at
least one person who has really taken the product into his or her hands, is present. It is not the
same to just picking up some information about an item through reading it on a website, or having heard of
it in a training session. Such person can run this video on his or her computer of any type, provided
the Internet connection, of course, and comment upon it. That is what really helps in our work. 

Can it attract customers? I can't remember of any real case. We haven't got direct statistics. Many companies have their
videos made and posted, still, you can never know whether people will seek for you after having watched your videos
or similar ones. So, the goal here is not just attracting customers, but making them aware of a product, as
well as educating the staff. 

To make a video like this is not so difficult. Still, there are some peculiarities, as they are in every area. Our videos have no specific target audience. The audience is defined by the very product: the we-vibe has one sort of followers, and the anal plug' audience is different. 

We are planning to continue making and posting new videos about a variety of goods, including their properties and characteristics.
Our customers are never shown in our videos, still the videos are real, and this is their specific value. As
usual, you can see a product in a woman's beautiful hands. However, if the girls feel like testing something behind
the scene, they are allowed to. (The product is just written off afterwards). That is how the voice-over narration appear.
After such test drive, this text sounds more true to life.

We also make another kind of videos, real and regularly posted, with the Comedy Club's residents, along with photo sessions at our shops if the idea has been approved. 

Alex Wise, Orgasmix pleasure boutique 

We are not filming anything at present. At this stage, we have got plenty of video staff from the intimate
goods' manufacturers, we are currently working on it. Every video of this sort needs additional development-we supply the video with
a preview cover in a specific style, with subtitles, and translation for videos in a foreign language, and with the
final shot with our contact information for people to know where to buy a particular product.

As we are selling online, a video presentation of an item helps the customer to take a decision. For example,
many clients report they have been surprised by the big size of the stimulator Satisfier Pro2, while in our videos
it is shown against a palm size, so its dimension is quite clear. The video on the Satisfier has been
shared by its manufacturer. I myself find it pretty strange that shops are not using their opportunity to post such
videos on their website.

The sales of goods represented in a video are higher, in comparison with the pieces within the same price range,
but never shown nor commented upon. Besides, the videos are attracting the web site's visitors. In future, we plan to
make reviews on highly demanded goods, telling people how to use them, take care of them and sharing a personal
opinion on these goods' quality compared to similar products.

We are making videos for our customers, so there is no homogenic audience-each video has its target audience, that will
probably use this product. A video can be addressing the intimate games' newcomers, the ordinary housewives, or the experienced users.
It is important to let the customer decide whether this item is suitable for him or her. In case the
video proves bad, or the item is shown as an eyesore, we don't post it.

Actual customers are unlikely to leave such feedback. I think, most reviews are made with the participation of sex shops' employees, sex bloggers and actors. 

The robbery' loss is not much, still we can't leave any criminal case of such type unattended.

A video with a case of theft appeared in the web on the basis of the surveillance camera's footage. We asked offline shops to comment upon the video.

They were made the following questions:
- Is there a need to get cams installed in the shop?
- How many cams should be installed?
- Which particular zones the cams are to film?
- Is there a need to obscure outside cams?
- Was it possible to avoid the theft by having stopped the thief?

Here are the answers.

Ivan Kniazev ("Intim69", Noginsk)

Cameras are of great need, the more the better. It depends on the owner's financial resources. It is desirable that
filming should cover the whole area of the shop. What needs obligatory filming is the vendor’s working place (the desk,
the strong box, the area where he or she deals with a client- this particular camera must have a microphone
(at least one inside the shop). There is also a necessity of installing an outside camera, especially if the shop
has a direct exit to the street. The outside cam should be located in a remote place.

In case the cam is obscured, the offender feels free of punishment, and the only thing the cam can detect is the committed crime. But if the cam is not hidden, this fact can rather scare the offender into giving up his plan.

The street retail zone is permanently at risk. My experience says no one will look into such a small theft.
Even if the offender is found, he or she is not likely to be jailed and the damage will not
be paid. In order to avoid such cases, it is desirable that shops should be located inside the shopping malls.
The salesperson should be provided with the alarm button. I demand that the vendor should hold the button permanently at
hand. My vendors are strictly prohibited to interfere with a robbery. You can never know whether you deal with a
schoolboy acting on a bet, or an armed junkie. No item in the shop is worth the life of an
employee!

Gala Vavilova (Sex shop "Crazy love", Perm')

Of course cams are needed!

Their number depends on the shop's area, all zones must be supervised. There is no need to obscure anything, while stickers at the entrance, saying the area is under surveillance, are imperative. An outside cam is essential. 

In this particular case, the possibility of a theft could not have been excluded as the entrance zone is pretty small. At the shop's exit it is better to install closed showcases.

I recommend the owners should hire two shop assistants, it proves very effective for the employees' security, as well as for decreasing thefts and also for the sake of customer service quality. And, with such policy, the sales are increasing too, while the cost-effectiveness is not affected.

Alexey Zatulin (sexshop "Intime house", Moscow, retail chain "Vandersex", Kaluga, Obninsk

Cameras in a shop must be installed in an imperative way, but they must also have a sound recording function.
It is vital to know how the vendor serves the clients, what he or she talks about with them. In
my shop we have got cameras oriented to the cash register zone. This is an important aspect, since there have
been cases of bank note fraud. The minor reason cameras are needed is for detecting a theft. Such video recordings
are rarely used to engage the participation of the police, they are basically necessary to avoid blaming an employee unfairly
for a shortfall, to establish whether it is his or her fault. If the recording shows the employee could not
have prevented the crime, so he or she is not to blame. As for the number of cameras... In my
shop we have got one online camera, I can manage it remotely, focusing it on the shop's entrance or on
the cash register zone. The entrance is under surveillance. This allows to scan the offenders' faces and to report them
to the police.

Both outside cameras and fakes are needed to protect expensive signboards from vandals. 

It was impossible either to stop or to impede this particular crime. I am against chasing the thief. If the
employee managed to prevent the theft in the sales floor, it is good. However, the employees are given instructions to
follow, saying that in case they cannot stop the affray, what they should do is to save their life. A
human life is valued much more that any item. So, the reaction of a girl who rushed to chase the
criminals is pretty natural, but still, she was at a risk.

Sergey Prudnik (sexshop "L'amour", Murmansk)

Security cams against thefts are hardly necessary, one can install fakes as well. When cameras are really useful is for improving the working processes. It is possible to avoid cases similar to what happened through raising the shops up to another level, and instead of opening marginal stores, one can make a shop looking bright and nice.

The website administration is thankful to "Inspirit Company" for sharing this video on their Instagram.

We published a story about how a girl came to work in a sex shop, and what came of it.

Anonymously

Russian version

I'm speechless. Not that my English was zero, not at all. But there is still a barrier, and speaking a
foreign language in an area where I am still very lost and very stressful. The mentor saw my round eyes
and came up to talk to us. Within minutes it became clear to me that her knowledge of a foreign
language was even worse than mine, so I had to become a translator. The mentor says, I translate to young
people, and vice versa. I don't remember if they made a purchase, but the experience, I must confess, was worthwhile.
It was as if I was thrown into the water and told to swim, although I did not know how
to do this at all.

Then there were boring and complicated tables. You know, I was not afraid of the amount of information that I was given. I perfectly understand why it was needed! The meaning is different:

1. It seems to me that knowledge should fit in the head. The point is not in quantity, but in how long it takes to learn to understand all this.

2. To enter a sex shop, some people need a lot of energy. They take courage and take this step, and then... I, with the same round eyes, not sure what I am saying. Stress for the visitor (he may then decide never to enter a store of this kind again), stress for me (what if I do some harm?). And what will come of this is also not very clear.

However, you can be indignant for a long time, and the rules are the rules.

My practice was successful, for all three days I was given an "excellent" mark, and a couple of days later
I was assigned an exam. Did I prepare for it? Oh yeah! And how! It seems to me that I
have reviewed all possible videos about companies, products and more. I re-read the rules for filling out the tables 13
times (I just remembered the number!) And I went to some of the points where our manager was supposed to
come.

Opening the shop door, I saw a cute girl behind the counter. She already wanted to ask me how she could help (standard question), but I interrupted her. Hearing the information that I had come to take the exam, the girl smiled and offered to make a mock-test for me. And I am still grateful to her for that!

The manager was an hour late. I confess I don't like non-punctual people, but in this situation, her delay was
in my favor. Meanwhile the sales girl and I managed to go over all the products, she told me a
lot of tricks and wished me luck. Was I worried? Very. When the manager came to the store, my heart
sank and all the information disappeared fr om my head. However, I passed the exam very quickly, in about an
hour. They say this is one of the record results – I don't know how true this is.

In the description or this vacancy, it was said that you can work near your home. Ha! It was naive
to think so. All stores are divided not only by location, but also by revenue. Of course, where there are
more profits, there are more wages. Therefore, you will not be able to “get up” on the desired store, unless
you are very lucky. At that moment I lived in the west of the city, and they put me on
the most eastern point, because newcomers are put wh ere there is a place. That shop was rotten, no one
wanted to work there, and they didn't ask me. So, the trip to the place took me almost 2 hours
(I had to be there by 10 am), but getting back was a separate adventure. The point worked until midnight,
and metro crossings close at 1 a.m. You close the cash-desk at exactly 00:00, collect everything, close the store, walk
to the metro, get to the desired crossing... A couple of times I couldn’t manage to get in time for
my train, and I had to go outside and sometimes walk home in the night. I didn’t complain, I listened
to music in my headphones and smiled. Fortunately, it was summer and it was warm. I needed to show what
I was capable of in the first month, so that later I would be transferred to another, more profitable point.
Spoiler: in two months I was already working in one of the coolest stores in the chain.

The very first working day began a couple of hours later, because the manager had the keys from the store, and she was late as usual. I stood at the door of the store and looked sadly at people coming, pulling the door handle, looking at the opening hours sign, then at their clock and leaving. “This is how my wages go away,” I thought.

Then, when the door to the sex shop was open, the first thing I did was to go looking for
a toilet. It was there, fortunately. The manager was with me for three hours, and then she left. On the
very first working day, there were only 3 entries and one purchase. The first was a girl who wanted a
male role-playing suit. Wow! Wow! And so openly and calmly she talked about it that I got relaxed: well, what
if all the visitors are like that, and the it is all not so scary?

When it got dark outside, the door opened and a nice middle-aged man entered the sex shop. He wore glasses with large diopters, and behind his shoulders was an old but neat backpack. I offered to help him, but he asked for a little time to look around. “Sure!” – I said and continued to watch him in silence.

And the man, with one quick and easy movement of his hand, unzipped his trousers and began to push his pants aside.

To be continued…

We put on masks and went to a shopping mall in Krasnogorsk, Moscow region. Here, the store “Shtuchki-druchki” (Ed. – “Whatsits and whosits”) is located. This store is different from others due to its specific concept.

Interviewer: Marina Chichiova
Interviewee and guide: Inessa, a shop assistant
Photos and video by: NuArt Studio

Russian version

The first thought after stepping into the store was: “There are no sex toys!” Instead, there were plenty of fancy merchandise.

Right, our store is not a standard-looking place, but a fancy and delicate space. After entering, the client can see perfumes with pheromones, some lingerie, body care products and massage oils. The 18+ zone is located behind.

I can see some massage oils in solid format with the logo Shtuchki-Druchki. Tell me about them, please.

These are bath bombs. They fizz, have a lovely smell and hydrate your skin intensely. We also have bombs with gliding effect meant for couple bathing.

We have changed our location off the entrance and we can see some curious boxes with a sign saying “Territory of temptation”.

These are playing cards for two. The packaging also includes some accessories, they vary from box to box. For example, here we have handcuffs made of silicone and a small and soft plug.

Next to them, we can see the BDSM zone called “Punish me softly”. There are strings, handcuffs, gags, tickling sticks. The range is so wide that every client is sure to select something she or he needs.

Ok, here we are, in the back of the store. It showcases goods for advanced users. What is there, in the corner of anal joy?

You can see the zone called “Taboos allowed”. It displays plugs, with or without vibration. They are made of medical
silicone, tested, certified by dermatologists and gynecologists. Pay attention to those devices made of metal. They offer additional stimulation due
to natural properties of metal-it is cold but can be warmed up when in contact with your body. These toys
are very beautiful, they look different, they can be a good gift.

We reached the section called “A girl's best friend” and “Strong and free”.

Here we have vibrators that can be warmed up to 40°C. Besides, there are vacuum stimulators, clitoral and G-spot stimulators.

And this one seems to be a brand that has to do with electrical stimulation, right?

Right. The toys have 10 patterns of vibration. One of the devices is equipped with heating function, for maximum pleasure.

Well, now we are going to explore the lingerie and playsuit section.

Its residents are knickers, models with opening and other types of underwear. The fabrics we sell are thin chiffon and lace.

Oh, it looks like the boy's section, doesn't it?

Yes. Here we have products for men only...

Feel like having a look at this unusual peppery store with specific vision of adult trade? Run the video or just come to see it is real!

The video is available only in Russian.

Are you tired of waiting? We continue to publish a story about how a girl came to work in a sexshop and what came of it. Part five.

Text: anonymous
Pattern: Hell Winter
Special for sexshopers.ru

Russian version

The young man fr om the fourth part followed the girl, and I remained in the store. Such stories then, I must confess, happened to me more than once. Sad situation: lack of communication and the ability to tactfully talk about what worries a person.

Sad stories in a sex shop are not uncommon, but today I want to tell you about my first Top buyer. It was impressively cool, intensely scary, and pretty lucrative at the same time.

I have already moved to work in a million-store (this was the name of the shops where the monthly profit
was more than a million rubles). It happened 2 months after the start of my work and, I must say,
it was very fast. Working at such a sex shop is the dream of every sales assistant, since, as you
know, more profit means more bonus and, accordingly, higher wages. However, getting there was not an easy task, it was
important to show good results and prospects. With the second thing I had no problems, but success in monetary terms
in a sex shop where there are two and a half buyers a day, was given to me with difficulty.

I was dragged there by a senior salesman from a “millioner” (thanks, Lena). And the work began.

It was a warm sunny September day. I had just finished lunch and was emotionally preparing for the evening rush
of visitors. The door opened quietly enough, and a middle-aged man appeared on the threshold. He was well-built and quite
tall. Looking at him I saw some nice branded sneakers, denim shorts and a Hawaiian-style shirt. His hair was pitch
black, clean and perfectly styled, his eyes were covered with dark glasses, and in his hands threw was a thick
wallet. He immediately came up to me from the doorway, with a slight movement of his hand lowered the frame
from his nose and showed me his eyes. Surely, he somehow greeted me at that moment, but, I must confess,
I do not remember at all. And I didn't remember it even after half an hour. His eyes were yellow-green,
like an eagle's. He pierced me with a look and in a low velvet voice absolutely calmly, but in a
rather commanding tone he said:

– Show me wh ere your whips are.

In an instant I felt my knees begin to give way. I do not like it when strangers “poke me”, and then I was also outraged, but as if under hypnosis I silently went to the shelves.

Was I nervous? Oh yeah! And so much! He collected goods with incredible ease, asking me to take them to
the checkout. A whip, then shackles, then a strap-on, then some other toys. He very clearly asked me questions about
what interested him. And these were not about the price, but mainly about the quality of the products, as well
as about whether I tried any of them.

There were really a lot of questions. I didn’t know the answers to everything, because I didn’t work for long and didn’t have time to learn some little things. But he answered quite harshly, and at the same time softly:

– You work here. And she must know everything about each position.

Fortunately, I had a chat with other sellers open on my computer, it helped out every time I got into a difficult situation. And it he helped that day as well.

The check came out for a little more than 25,000 rubles. At that time, it was the largest check I had ever done. Before leaving, he took the packages of goods in his hands, looked at me intently and said:

– Your eyes are incredible. I would look at you from above.

And then he left. I never saw him again.

It took me about 10 to recover from that client. I even closed the door to the store and put up a “lunch” sign because something strange was happening to me. I just sat at the counter and couldn't get to work. As if at that moment I simply forgot how to think and independently make decisions about what to do.

It was necessary to somehow get out of this situation and open a sex shop, so I called my colleague.

– Congratulations on your first big check and an illiterate Top! – she said.

Talking on the phone helped me to come to my senses and continue to work. Since then, however, my attitude
towards the BDSM had become extremely cautious. Maybe from the outside it looks like entertainment in the style of “50
Shades of Gray”, but in reality, everything is much more serious. It is possible to “take away” the will from
a person only with permission and carefully, and then it is important to correctly “return” it. Otherwise, it is not
unclear how it all could end. In my case, it turned out a large bonus.

To be continued…

For the first time in Russia, online pharmacy's couriers were imposed a fine.

We want to draw your attention towards the fact that tthe Law regulating the sales of pharmaceutical drugs on the Internet, drafted by the Ministry of Health, is still under the State Duma's consideration.

Roszdravnadzor's employees and the law enforcement officers made a controlled buy on a website, e-pepper.ru reports. The revision implied ordering some drugs containing botulinum toxin, named "OTESALY BTXA" and " NEURONOX", that are used in cosmetology.
They are not registered in Russia. At the delivery address, the couriers were waited for and arrested by the case
officers. The criminal proceedings on an administrative offence were instituted, and the company, that delivers the drugs, got liable to
a fine.

This is the first case of such sort in the trial practice. More than 60% of the phamaceutical drugs, bought on the non-official websites of online manufacturers or suppliers, prove to be counterfeit, Roszdravnadzor claims.

If the proposal for regulating pharmaceutical drug sales via the Internet gains the approval of the Duma's members, it will be possible to sell non-prescription medicines at distance through the courier delivery service. Still, online sales of the drugs that need a medical prescription, will remain prohibited.

It's curious that, on the one hand, the pharmacy chains are going online, opening e-commerce drugstores, thinking it can boost
the sales volume. On the other hand, discussions on whether such way of selling is necessary and whether it will
be demanded further. The experts consider some problems that may occur in case the Duma's decision on the law's approval
is positive. Among the supposed difficulties, some points are stated: the lack of trained personnel (a courier making the delivery
is supposed to have a degree in Pharmacy); high cost delivery; the people's unwillingness to betray their habbits, changing offline
purchasing for online buying. As for the latter, there is another point of view, saying that today's generation has been
chosen online purchases, and the further, the more goods will be bought online.

However, to date, online drug sales, including the BAAs, remain illegal.

Two retail shops, Erosklad.ru and Nasoloda.ru, with more than fifty-four million roubles in turnover-the point reached in 2017, are put up for sale, as well as two offline shops in the centre of Moscow, together with the wholesale business directed by Evgeniy Yurchenko.

His personal appeal for public is stated below.

I, Evgeniy Yurchenko, the owner of the companies Erosklad and Eroshop, am selling my wholesale and retail business in the
Russian Federation and Kazakhstan. The story begins in 2009, with an office of 20 square metres and a single employee.
During the company's history, there were rises and falls. My online business has grown from being a small shop to
become the market leader with the staff of 25 people in 2013.

To date, I estimate the company's rate on Russia's market as solid average, while in Kazakhstan we are surely the leading company. Now we've got established business processes for constant work to be guaranteed, and a team with no staff turnover.

However, currently, I hardly manage to combine both manufacturing and running a wholesale-retail company. As for manufacturing, we have recently opened the second office in Europe, and we are currently moving to a new warehouse in the USA, increasing the staffing complement of salesmen. All this is taking a lot of time.

For sure, I wish I could cover all the "hot buttons", but without an MBA degree,

it takes me unmeasurable efforts to combine wholesale and retail business in the Russian Federation with my brands on the foreign markets. To tell the truth, I am rather tired of working with such a timetable. It seems, it is worth waiting a bit to take a sigh of relief, but still it never happens.

Besides, I am so short of free time that certain dispersion of efforts and loss of focus are inevitable. Despite the fact, in 2017, our market share in the wholesale unit grew by 50%, and in the retail one-by 70%. It is all about lyrics, though.

The crucial point is that I have decided to focus on developing both production and distribution of my own brands, thus, the wholesale and the retail companies are put up for sale.

What is exactly put up for sale?

1. The online shop Eroshop.ru and Nasoloda.ru
2. Two retail shops in Moscow
3. The wholesale company Erosklad with a stock of goods equivalent to 120 thousand euros.
4. A branch in Kazakhstan

Here are the details for every point mentioned above.

1. The online shop, Erosklad.ru and Nasoloda.ru. Open since 2009. The turnover in 2017 reached 54.302.188 roubles. The growth in
   2017 was of 67%. We deliver 1.200 orders monthly. The average purchase is of 3.800 roubles (including the items' price
   only, without charges for delivery). The average check across Moscow is of 4.250 roubles. The amount of goods on the
   website is of 25.222. The third-party suppliers are: Costume Shop, Inspirit, Kema, Kazanova, Skamata. The amount of the website's authorized
   users is of more than 51 thousand (e-mail accounts, telephone numbers, 30-35 thousand of them are active). Since 2009, more
   than 120 thousand people have made orders without any authorization, yet indicating their contact information. We've got a large number
   of lively and sociable audience in social media. Among the achievements during 2017, I can state the launch of the
   website's mobile version and the extensions httpS and http2, the take over of our rival SEXO.RU, enjoying good traffic from
   social media. The personnel will be ready to stay if the new owner wants them to. Moreover, within 3 moths,
   I am ready to personally instruct the new owner on the peculiarities and introduce him or her into the business
   processes to enable a flawless handover. It is not only a nice, well-established website with years of history, but a
   business machine on the run, with regular income. Its price is of 11.000.000 million roubles, the remaining goods are not
   included.
2. Two shops in Moscow: one of them is near the metro station Pushkinskaya, the other-near Taganskaya metro station. http://www.eroshop.ru/ero shops/. The monthly earnings for the fourth quarter of 2017 reached the point of 1.100.000 roubles at Pushkinkaya office and of
   820.000 roubles at Taganskaya shop. The two shops' total revenue of the fourth quarter of 2017 was of 5.761.468 roubles.
   The rent expenses are of 120.000 roubles at Pushkinskaya office and of 140.000 roubles at Taganskaya shop. There are four
   employees, working for the two shops. The two shops' price is of 4.000.000 roubles, the remaining goods are not included.


3. The wholesale business

       At present, the amount of the remaining goods is equal to 120.000 euros (according to our input
prices from the foreign suppliers). The figure is constantly changing due to the new inputs and shipping. The wholesale unit
includes the following brands: Scala, Inverma, Leg Avenue, LELO, Eropartner, We-Vibe, Chilirose, ABS Holdings, Womanizer, Mister B, Sense Max, Lovense
(Lush). As for the price... If we are talking exclusively about the buy-out of the remaining goods at their cost
price, the sum will be defined by their cost price for the given day (to this day, it is of
120.000 euros). In other words, you can buy the goods at the same price the European distributors offer, with no
mark-up from the Russian mediator. If you are interested in a full-value wholesale branch, including the contracts with suppliers, logistics,
the client base, the managers, than the indicated price is added 50.000 euro. The client base, shaped year-by-year, along with
established relations, a great number of foreign contracts for the exclusive distribution (as in the case of LELO), the maximum
discount and the payment delay for the term from two to four months, both adreed with the other distributors-all this
could be of your specific interest. Naturally, the new owner will enjoy the same working conditions.

1. The branch in Kazakhstan (Almaty). It follows the same business model as the Moscow unit: an online shop, a wholesale shop
   and a retail one. Here the earnings are of lower scale, due to a more modest market size. The turnover
   in 2017 was of 12.000.000 roubles. The remaining goods' value is of 45.000 euros. If we are talking about the
   goods only, the selling price will be of 45.000 euros. In case you want a well-functioning business (the client base,
   the shop, the office and the staff), the price will be of 60.000 euros.

This is a brief description of what is now for sale. The price range is also stated. The complete set of business units and each point separately are available for buying. 

The more detailed information is shared upon request by Evgeniy Yurchenko, +7(967) 0522198, ey@nasoloda.ru

Recently, the story of both sex dolls and sex robots has been exciting people's minds. They have become a point of controversy. They are discussed on TV and turned to be issues for innumerable articles. People try to understand, whether they are good or evil.

The story began thanks to the fantastic development of technologies used in the dolls. They've got lively faces and due to
the artificial intelligence they are able to hold a conversation, their bodies are warm and sensitive to touch. Besides, the
robot's appearance and "personality" can be easily changed within minutes, as it was shown at CES-2018, the exhibition of cutting-edge
technologies. Matt McMullen, the representative of the company Abyss Creations and the author of the most notorious doll, Harmony, let
the audience watch him changing the doll's face and modifying its settings. 

So, how should be take the idea of sex dolls? Are they a blessing for those humans unsatisfied with their love life, or a Devil's trick able to destroy the humanity?

The investigations, held at Sheffield University, show that one quarter of young men are ready to meet a robot instead
of woman. The Sun newspaper states that the spreading of sex robots will contribute to the rise of such digital
sexuals. However, some believe that, on the one hand, the interest in robots is based on the desire of getting
unusual sensations and, on the other hand, it is motivated by the easiness of engaging a sexual partner, in comparison
to what happens in the real life. Our editorial is convinced that sex dolls will never replace a live contact
and a sex full of emotions with their purely mechanic exercise, just the way that television has not displaced the
theatre, the radio, and the Internet has not substituted books, newspapers nor television itself.

Meanwhile, the web is being crowded by declarations, saying the scientists are alerted and require that sex dolls should be prohibited. In their opinion, such an easy way to get sex can be dangerous for the humanity in general, by changing its membership, cutting the birth rates and finally leading to a number of fatal consequences.

The other point of view tells us about some entrepreneurs who decided to make benefit out of sex dolls. They
are getting everything ready for opening a sex dolls brothel in Moscow city district. The businessmen are going to guarantee
a thorough desinfection of the dolls after each visitor. They are also planning to establish similar facilities in several big
cities of Russia, the CIS and within spa zones.

Dmitry Alexandrov, the founder of Dolls Hotel, underlined that the creation of adult leisure centres in Russia is a legal and secure way of making one's sex life more varied, apart from being a priceless help for people with mental disabilities.

It is worth mentioning that many agents of the adult goods industry see this initiative differently, they are not so
optimistic. Some of them are concerned that a high-quality after-use cleaning of sex dolls is difficult to fulfil. Don't forget
that sex toys are supposed to be articles of individual use. No matter how many fine mechanisms the dolls get
installed, in such a context, they remain to be sex toys. Another fear is about the fact that with frequent
use the dolls will probably loose their presentation, so, the expenses for their purchasing will turn almost equal to the
expected amount of benefit.

What's your opinion? Is it just curiosity that motivates people trying sex with a robot? Is there anything else involved here? Can robots completely substitute female humans? How popular could male robots be? Will the humanity dissapear, lost in the game with dolls? Share your vision on our social media.

On the evidence of websites incrussia.ru, anews.com, fishki.net and hi-tech.mail.ru.

Can a robot prevent family breakdown? Is sex with a robot safe? Should people visit those doll brothels? What are the dolls’ skills and how much do they cost?

A turbulent development of technologies and the creation of human-like dolls is arising a lot of questions. The opinions about
the impact such progress can have for the humanity may be completely opposite, there is no definite answer found to
date. Physicians, legal experts, the adult industry players and the consumers, naturally, are discussing a lot of topics, from the
ethical side of sex with a robot to the harm and benefit it can cause to people’s health. Meanwhile, the
market is being filled with more and more advanced pieces that serve not only for a sexual discharge, but they
are also able to hold a conversation, they are looking more and more human-like. This is not an ancient doll
with a round mouth, but a cutting-edge device, supplied with artificial intelligence and appearance to every  taste.

Many advocates of sex robots claim the latter are beneficial for people’s sexual health. However, this assumption needs a number
of additional trials to finally prove true of false. In 2012, Science Direct published a study, boldly predicting that, by
the beginning of 2050, the world’s oldest profession will be completely undertaken by robots, and the red light district in
Amsterdam will be packed with androids, regularly disinfected to avoid the expansion of STDs.

A new research has been recently published in “BMJ Sexual and Reproductive Health”. It is dedicated to the impact that
having sex with robots can cause to human health. Its authors, Susan Bewly and Chantal Cox-George, noted that they had
failed to find any sustainable relation between the sex robots’ usage and the health aspects. Thus, the claims about the
benefits of such sex seem to be not more than a marketing push, until this assumption is tested and proved
on practice. On the other hand, the article says that such kind of sex can actually benefit those who have
no real partner. A potential decrease of crimes on the sexual basis is also reported. The authors are raising the
issues of the ethical side of selling sex robots to rapists; the legal affairs: who is to blame in case
a sex robot’s client gets an STD? However, this question is relevant in both Amsterdam and Russia, where a sex
doll brothel is open nowadays. Dmitry Alexandrov, its founder, claims that the demand for the dolls is beyond expectations, the
company is ready to expand the target audience through adding male dolls, in particular. He is sure that, in future,
people are going to substitute their real partners by robots. He also assigns the sex awareness-raising mission to the robots.

Again, a simple search at the online sex shops shows that the price for the dolls with rather human-like appearance starts at 70 thousand rubles, while the price for those supplied with artificial intelligence, is estimated to be millions.

Despite the facts above, the manufacturers plan to go further, developing this business line, and they go on saying that,
as for the satisfaction of unusual sexual desires, a robot is a safer partner in comparison to a random human.
Besides, the artificial intelligence’ development allows us to consider the robots not only as a device for sex, but also
as a partner. They are able to support a talk, to remember the meaning of the previous conversations, to express
some emotions.

David Levy, the author of the book “Love and Sex with Robots” (2007), in his speech given on the II
conference with the same title, held in London, indicated the following: ‘The robots-assistants already exist, that’s why the idea of
a robot-partner seems to be a consecutive step forward. Within next ten years, it would be possible to create a
robot-mate, who will have everything that people wish their partner had-patience, kindness, affection, confidence, respect and trouble-free sexual involvement’.

Those people who have already had a close experience with sex robots also give different opinions. Thus, the wife of
the Samantha sex doll’s founder, said the invention had not contributed to their marriage’s survival. According to her words, a
sex robot with artificial intelligence could be of great use at the moment of solving family problems. Marina Adshade, from
the University of British Columbia, believes that sex robots will help those families where one of the partners feels uneasy
about the conjugal duty. ‘Nowadays, when we are searching for the marriage partner, we are looking for someone to build
an amazing sexual relation with, someone able to become our friend and, undoubtedly, a nice parent for our children. This
is something unattainable for one and the same person. We can rarely find someone who meets all these requirements. In
future, people will have the possibility of separating these obligations: to find a friend for living together, exchanging opinions and
bringing up children, and for the rest-they can buy a modern mechanical partner.’

However, to date, things are not so positive, as the already worldwide known robots, Samantha, Harmony, Ken, Henry and others,
can actually do little in comparison to what their manufacturers once promised. For example, the robot Henry, made by the
company Realbotix, is able to suggest taking the garbage out, but it is unable to do it. Still, the creators
claim that the robot can perfectly fulfill its basic function-that of a sexual partner.

One thing is clear: while the opinions are so controversial, the topic is of interest. What happens next? We are going to eagerly follow the robotic technology’s news!

On the evidence from the websites venus-adult-news, wisethinks, gizbot, thesun, bbc, kommersant, 5-tv, lenta, lifehacker.

The first and the only showroom of sex machines in Russia has been recently opened in the capital. Sergey Ivanov, the Director of "Amatus" group, has answered our questions.

You are representing a group of companies, aren't you? What sort of companies is it comprised of?

First of all, this is the company LoveMachines, with eleven-year-old history of manufacturing sex machines. Besides, there is a wholesale line, a number of both online and offline stores, a training center for intimate practice. For the moment, the opening of the showroom has proved to be the hottest piece of news, among others.

What type of items is exhibited in the showroom? Are they products of your own manufacturing?

The complete range of wholesale products is represented in the showroom. First, there are thirteen models of LoveMachines, such as
Slider 2.0, a popular model among our clients, a powerful sex machine Double Slider Power, equipped with two dildos that
can be managed independently, and others. They are products of the following companies: ORION, Myworld Diva, Pipedream, Sybian, Shockspot, Topco
Sales and others.

The total number of the models represented in the showroom is more than forty, the price range is from 4.000 to 121 thousand rubles. All the exhibited models are well-functioning, they can be switched on to see the adjustment options, estimate the size and the way of fixing them.

Whom is this showroom meant for? Who can be a visitor?

It is meant mostly for the wholesale and retail customers, they can see the machines, but they can also make
their order and pay it, here and now. The clients who have made an online purchase can use the showroom
as a pick-up point. However, any person willing to have a look at our products can come to visit the
place. This visit often helps to make a decision. So, even if you have never been our client, you have
never made any order nor have you bought anything from our products, you can come to see the items. For
example, the other day, we made a video about a premium-class sex machine, Shockspot, equipped with the items having raised
its cost up to 226 thousand rubles. We posted the video in our social network group, inviting everybody to come
and see this technical wonder. Within three days, more than 20 people came to the showroom just to see this
expensive toy. This wonder machine had been brought for one of our clients, however, thanks to such promotion campaign, another
customer showed up, the other two expressed their wish to get it, they are still in doubt, though. We plan
to make fresh reviews of those expensive models the clients want to see in person before making their order.

The classical image of a sex machine is a dildo moving back and forth that is put on a mechanical structure. Is there anything completely different from this among the models exhibited in the showroom?

Of course, there is. First of all, the advanced sex machines, even those of the construction mentioned above, are enabled
with a great number of adjustments which let everyone select the perfect mode for themselves. Such machines can have two
dildos moving independently, but can also be added some devices for stimulating the clitoris or the nipples. Moreover, nowadays, the
male versions of sex machines are being actively developed, those that imitate both oral and vaginal sex. There are models
for couples, equipped with a dildo and a vagina that can operate simultaneously or independently. There are sex machines of
radically different type, those that make no frictions. They are called Sybian and Saddle Deluxe. They produce an enormous vibration
and make the cap rotate and the clitoris and the anal zone stimulators move.

Apart from the sex machines, actually, what can be seen and bought in the showroom?

There is a variety of associated products: a wide range of harness dildos by Doc Johnson and other brands, the Fleshlight vaginas to be installed on the sex machines, some lubes, cleaners and accessories.

Come to have a look and make your choice!

The information about the location and the contact data are available on the show room's website.

Especially for our readers, we have prepared a review of publications in the media on the topic of sex and coronavirus: our correspondent spent a week reading the theory and tips on this topic.

© Ekaterina Nikolaeva

Russian version

Since the announcement of the coronavirus pandemic and the start of universal quarantine and self-isolation, the media has been filled with
various articles on the topics: “coronavirus and sex”, “sex a coronavirus”, “sex for coronavirus”. Social networks also do not avoid
the theme of coronavirus , quarantine and self-isolation, and support this with various “memes” such as coronasutra, the predicted surge
in divorces at the end of self-isolation or the execution of the President’s plan to increase the birth rate by
December. While sellers and manufacturers of adult goods, on the contrary, are seeing an increase in demand for their products,
some have even stated that there are definitely enough sex toys for everyone.

Sex at coronavirus?

One of the first on this subject was the director of the regional laboratory center of the Ministry of Health of Zaporozhye, Roman Terekhov, who recommended having sex as a preventive measure of the COVID-19 disease.

Partially, sexologists also echo him, though, according to them, sex during the quarantine period will not cure the virus, but it will help relieve anxiety and spend time in self-isolation.

“With today's employment, residents of large cities often do not have enough time and energy for sex. When people are
at home, the first thing they will do is sex. For almost all people, sex is a way to get
rid of fears, depression and anxiety in the first place. But by sex you will not be cured of the
flu or of any other viral disease. You only remove the alarm,” – said a sexologist, candidate of medical
sciences, professor Alexander Poleev.

Eugene Komarovsky also echoes the sexologist, stating that “quarantine is a convenient time to organize a rise in the
birth rate for the New Year.” At the same time, the doctor notes that if one of the partners is
infected with another virus, then he or she can transmit it through kisses upon contact.

Adult goods sales go up during the pandemic

Apparently, citizens are listening to the advice of doctors, because, according to retailers, the demand for sex products has grown significantly.

For example, the Ozon online store notes an increase in sales of lubricants and condoms, the latter are bought by
3-5 packs for future use, erotic costumes of a nurse are also popular during the quarantine period, apparently, the topic
of health care sets the tone for Russian sex games. According to network analysts, sales of 18+ products increased by
300% compared to the same period last year, and sales of erotic lingerie and costumes for games grew by 110%,
sales of erotic games increased by 80%, and most often customers order "Kama Sutra" in the card game format. By
the way, if your stocks have already run out, we recall that neither the pandemic, nor the falling of the
ruble did not stop the work of wholesale companies.

If you run out of ideas, then in this article you can find a selection of those for the period of quarantine.

During the pandemic, sales of hand antiseptics have skyrocketed, but doctors strongly warn that sanitizers should not be used
instead of lubricants. It turns out that such cases have already been recorded, in some they even ended up in
hospitalization. The editors of sexshopers.ru are also surprised by the fact of using antiseptics, when there is a the
huge selection of lubricants.

Coronavirus and adult films

The situation around COVID-19 was reflected in the video industry.

The first to respond were Porhub, which provided free premium access to residents of Italy, where the pandemic is most acute now. We sincerely hope that this helped the Italians not to lose their spirit.

The theme of coronavirus has already been reflected in commercials for adults: on the thematic portals you can find more than a hundred videos on this request, some of them even advocate ways to protect against a new infection.

However, adult film studios are still sounding the alarm: the pandemic threatened to close the studio in the United States and Canada, where actors were asked to suspend filming until the end of March. As a result, about two thousand actors were forced to go on unpaid leave.

At the same time, Russian adult film actress Lola Taylor was so tired of quarantine that she promised “free sex for the vaccine”.

In the meantime, Russians continue to enter the regime of self-isolation and home-office, but some have already shown that working
at home can be very boring. Yekaterinburg photographer Dmitry Emelyanov made a very erotic photo project on the topic
of self-isolation. We hope that these photos will also cheer you up. (Editor’s note – We also selected a photo
to illustrate this article from a project by Dmitry Emelyanov.)

We continue to monitor news about how the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic affected the adult goods market.

© Ekaterina Nikolaeva

As we wrote earlier, the situation with coronavirus infection around the world has affected the adult goods industry.

Demand for sex products is still growing in many countries, for example, in Denmark after the announcement of the
self-isolation sales of erotic goods doubled compared with the same period last year. Every day retailers send more than one
and a half thousand orders to customers throughout Scandinavia. At the same time, according to sellers, on the contrary, in
the first week of the quarantine sales fell sharply as people rushed to buy essential goods and only then people
began to think about entertainment in this difficult period.

Just because of the boom in sales of sex products, analysts believe that a baby boom should not be expected: the availability of a variety of sex toys, as well as barrier contraceptives, will allow people to spend time in isolation with a partner or alone.

However, the lonely might not be very lucky during the quarantine: the coronavirus provoked a shortage of sex dolls
in the United States and Great Britain. Due to the situation in China, where the main factories for the production
of these goods are located, there was a significant slowdown in production, which in turn led to a disruption in
the supply of sex dolls, where the demand has increased.

At the same time, not only sex doll factories were limited due to the coronavirus pandemic, but also condom factories.
So, Karex Industries Sdn.Bhd (they produce goods for the Durex brand), whose facilities are located in Malaysia, were forced
to stop all production for ten days. After the decision of the government, the factories were reopened, but only at
half the strength. “We continue to pay full salaries to all our employees, but people now work only half the
time, so the costs will generally increase,” the company said. At the same time, stocks in warehouses have only a
two-months supply.

By the way, isolation in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic also led to a surge in activity on dating sites.
According to statistics from Dating.com, 82% of single people are looking for relationships on the Internet, while almost 5%
of those polled said they were not going to meet with anyone in real life until the virus disappeared. href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/coronavirus-pandemic-sex-toys">The Tinder is also seeing an increase in the volume of communication by 12% since the beginning of the isolation
regime as compared to the same period last year.

According to sociologists and psychologists, this interest in sex products and online dating is present due to two factors: people have more time and are bored, so sex and communication help to fight this.

Who are webcam models and how do they become what they are? Is it really easy money? What is their arsenal of sex toys? We talked to a webcam model who asked not to reveal her nickname and a real name.

Russian version

First things first: in connection with the situation in the world, have webcam models become more in demand?

Chaturbate100.com has statistics. It is not reliable, since there are nuances: earnings in private are not taken into account, it
is impossible to establish what amounts are fictitious (models pay themselves from other accounts for promotion), and it is also
impossible to determine the share of money-laundering through models. However, the overall picture of the largest site at the moment
is visible. It is curious that the richest girls of the site according to statistics keep earnings at the same
level in this situation.

How do they become models?

This happens in every way: through deception, through advertising on social networks, through inspiration of someone else's example. I once gave an interview, and then I found out that after watching it, some girls went into this business.

Through deception?

In 2011, I was deceived: a girl invited me to work part-time with those “in need of communication”. Like, “pensioners and lonely people all over the world dream of communicating with someone and we help them”.

I suspected something was wrong on the spot, but I had to check: I didn’t understand what they wanted from
me, but I realized that clearly I was not here to talk. I was frightened and left immediately. Then I
still did not know much about it. In fact, if I had been told honestly in detail and with all
the risks, now think I would have been getting good money, but they scared me off. Somewhere deep in me
this information dwelt for many years in the form of doubts and questions. So by 2017, I realized that I
would try again with understanding. Then there were changes in life, and in the spring of 2018 I bought a
laptop, the future husband brought the camera, and I started working.

That is, the husband is in the know and even helps? Does he have anything to do with this business?

I somehow dropped a word that there is such a job and we began to discuss the matter. He said that this is better than grinding away for a small salary, for example, in a store. I would sit at home, do chores, cook dinner, and earn money all in one. My husband helps me: we discuss it, exchange ideas, but he does not participate in streaming.

 Do you work from home? You are not offered a “roof”?

 I work from home. The roof was often offered, and they still do sometimes, but Russian roofs are leaking. Not only
will you give from 10 to 50% of the earnings, but there’s no guarantee they will support you, they can
cheat, they can flood your “room” with bots (the site bans for this forever without paying any money). I don’t
know how abroad, but I have not heard of a reliable roof for models in Russia.

Once I tried a virtual studio (a site that unites a group of models – editor’s note). Things went well,
as I was a newbie there. An account was registered for me, and a week later the whole studio became
banned. As the owner says: one of the girls did not look legal. Well, she had to be registered separately!
The site banned everyone, including me, simply because I had something to do with them. It was very disappointing, and
I decided that it was my last time.