It has been another eventful year of Lockdowns and Lockups, Pandemonium and Pandemics, Evergiven and Brexit Madness, Online Shopping and Offline Panic. Sad thing is 2022 is beginning to look like more of the same.
It has been a year of change again at PlayBlue and as we get to the end of the year as usual I like to review where we were, where we are and where we are going.
PlayBlue Range has Exploded - Our range of sex toys has grown by over 30% with loads more products in every niche. The appetite for the erotic from the Irish public seems to be getting kinkier and more diverse and long may it last.
PlayBlue SexCoach - Viktoria - Starting last April Viktoria our in-house qualified SexCoach has been creating incredible content on improving all our sex lifes. Hundreds of videos and blogs and questions answered and we look forward to helping hundreds more next year.
PlayBlue Charities - It is one of the changes we made that we are most proud of this year. Starting our PlayBlue Charities program giving away €1 from every order to our charity partners. We only have a single Charity so far but hopefully next year more charities will join up so we can share the love.
PlayBlue Videos - We have been creating our PlayBlue product videos all year and now have over 650 product videos on our website, Vimeo and YouTube channels. We love them as they are the absolutely truest representation of what the sex toys we sell are actually like - without any of the marketing BS.
PlayBlue Deliveries - Even with all the Suez Canal, supply chain and Brexit madness we have ended the year still dispatching over 98% of orders same or next day. As we stock everything and actively track orders once dispatched we are delighted to have a delivery process we can be proud of - even in the chaos.
Free Sex Toy for Students - We started giving away a Free Sex Toy to Students as a thank you for their sacrifices this year. No purchase required and no quibbles. Call in-store to any of our shops to claim yours, all you need is a valid student card.
Independent Reviews with TrustPilot - We still get reviewed on TrustPilot all the time and are delighted to still have a 4.5 out of 5 rating and coming up on 1,000 independent reviews.
PlayBlue DeadlyDeals Gets Bigger - We have run 34 PlayBlue Deadly Deals this year so far which is by far the most ever. Our plan is to run about 75 in 2022. They tend to be a bestselling product we sell for half price for one day only. You need to be signed up to catch them as when they are done they are done. Sign up for loads more next year.
PlayBlue was 10 - Last July we had our 10th Birthday and celebrated with a week of amazing offers that became one of our biggest sales weeks ever, it might just become an annual tradition - PlayBlue Week!
New Brands Coming out of our Ears - Irish people are sick of settling for generic and yellow pack brands. Every new brand we launched this year has been gobbled up - Penthouse, Lelo, Orgie, Vush, Pjur, Blush, Sinner, Boners, Blaze, Rosy Gold, Hueman, JoyRings, ROMP, MyMagicWand and loads more. The Irish sex toy punter has become much more discerning and we are delighted.
Sponsorships - We have continued to Sponsor the Partners Under Pressure Quiz on the Jennifer Zamparelli Show on 2FM for over 2 years now. We also sponsored the LoveZone on Q102 and Room 104 on FM104 over the summer months. Then we sponsored the Let’s Talk About Sex segment on KCLR in the Autumn and of course we have sponsored countless College Sex Toy Bingo’s throughout the country and are happy to continue to do it too.
It takes a lot of hard work and drive to get to be the number one sex shop in Ireland but even more dedication to stay there. Our staff have been brilliant through very difficult times in lockdown this year and seem to see every obstacle as a challenge. We also invested constantly in our backend systems to optimise the PlayBlue experience as best we can with a host of under the hood changes that make PlayBlue just work.
I must also thank all our suppliers, I know I can be an absolutely Bastard to deal with (I know I can admit it) but we see it as our challenge to get the best sex toys in the world at the lowest prices to our Irish customers and I look for to pushing just as hard in 2022 - no apologies. Saying that I know all our suppliers appreciate we are honest and fair in everything we do and we would never dream of being any other way.
Finally of course we want to thank all our thousands of customers. It has been our pleasure to make a difficult year for many that little bit brighter. Whether you have been in-store or online I hope your PlayBlue experience was a good one and we look forward to making 2022 that little bit more fun.
Merry Christmas Everyone and Roll On 2022!!!!