As the United Kingdom continues adjusting to life in lockdown, Brits are missing many things from the pre-coronavirus world.
Seeing friends, going out for a meal or having a pint in the pub are high on most people’s lists, but there’s another thing many are craving for – sex.
So it’s hardly surprising that sex toy companies have seen a spike in online orders, with many reporting sales have almost doubled since lockdown began.
Joe Silver and James Pearson, who run Olivia Ocean, and their team are working harder than ever to get the increased number of deliveries out to customers.
Joe, 27, told Mirror Online: “Sales went through the roof. I’ve had to say lots of products are out of stock, we just weren’t ready for this.
“Everybody is at home and they’ve got a lot of spare time on their hands. We’re only human, everyone is just a bit randy – let’s be honest.”
In the first week alone their sales increased by 38 per cent, and they’re expecting it to hit 50 per cent by the weekend.
They would normally send out 1,500 a day from their Harrogate office, but last week they were sending out close to 5,000.
Joe said: “Day after day we come in and we’re up on what we were before.”
However, they are taking extreme precautions to make sure their team of seven staff are safe, meaning they’ve had to change parts of their operation.
There are a number of products that have been particularly popular since lockdown, including their couples mystery box – a “naughty surprise for intense desire.”
Olivia Ocean started off in a slightly unconventional way, when James sent Joe a photo of a sex toy with no explanation.
Joe said: “I knew him quite well so I knew he was a bit of a joker, but I didn’t know what angle this was.”
At first he had some reservations, knowing that he would have to tell his family what he was doing, but he decided to give it a go and hasn’t looked back.
“When I started looking in to it I realised it was a massive market and there aren’t a lot of people to compete with.
“After some market research, we found people don’t want to spend a lot of cash to buy a sex toy because they might realise it’s not for them, and you can’t return them.”
Their main aims were to provide affordable sex toys and to work to take away the taboo surrounding the products.
They bought products directly from the suppliers in China and started selling them on eBay in January 2017, and before long their business was growing.
Joe said: “It started going really well, I couldn’t believe how well it was going. People couldn’t get enough of what we were supplying.”