HONA NEWS: Website Update & VAT Toggle

At HONA, we’re always listening, and this is another step towards making changes that reflect the way our community actually shops.

Over the past few months, we’ve been gathering feedback on how the website feels to use, what’s working well, and where things could be simpler, cleaner, and easier to navigate. From pricing display to product discovery, your comments have helped shape a number of updates that will be going live on the HONA website

The main change customers will notice is our move to VAT inclusive pricing, but alongside that, we’ve also made a number of improvements across the website to create a smoother shopping experience overall.

VAT Inclusive Pricing 

All prices on the HONA website will be displayed inclusive of VAT, and the VAT toggle will be removed.

To be clear, our pricing is not changing. Prices will simply always be shown inclusive of VAT going forward, rather than needing to switch between views.

If you do need to see prices excluding VAT, this will still be clearly broken down on your order invoice within your HONA account. You can also work out the ex-VAT price by dividing the inclusive price by 1.2.

This change has come directly from community feedback. In our poll, 99% of customers told us they already shop with prices shown inclusive of VAT, so it made sense to simplify the experience and make that the default for everyone.

A Simpler Navigation Menu

As HONA has grown and expanded into more categories, the top navigation was starting to feel cluttered.

We had several comments from customers saying they were struggling to find products like TrueBond, so we’ve made changes to create a cleaner desktop menu that feels less overwhelming and makes key products easier to find. 

Quickbuy on Collection Pages

We’ve added a new Quickbuy feature to collection pages to make shopping faster and more convenient.

Logged in Customers will now be able to click the small ‘+’ icon on a product image to quickly add items to their basket without needing to click into the product page first. A small pop-up will appear so they can adjust quantity before adding to cart.

This is especially helpful for returning customers who already know what they want, and it makes it much easier to continue browsing without losing your place.

Product Page Improvements

We’ve also made a number of updates to product pages on desktop.

Our previous layout left quite a lot of white space beneath product imagery, so we’ve improved the balance of the page by making product images slightly larger and easier to view. We’ve also moved product descriptions and information beneath the imagery on the left-hand side.

This means the page feels more balanced visually, while also improving usability. As customers scroll through product information, the add to cart section remains visible on the right-hand side rather than disappearing as it did before. We’ve also updated the Recharge block on product pages to match its new design.

Cart Updates

We received a number of responses about saved baskets causing confusion, particularly when old carts were still showing after a purchase had already been made.

To fix this, we’ve removed the saved basket feature.

We’ve also changed the add to cart journey. Previously, customers were being taken away from the page and sent straight to the cart, which interrupted browsing. We’ve now moved to a cart drawer instead, so the cart slides in and out while customers stay on the product or collection page.

We’ve also added the option for customers to leave notes in the cart drawer, moved the shipping bar into the cart area to keep things cleaner, and added HONA Essentials as quick-add options to help make add-ons feel easier and more seamless.

A New to HONA Hub

To better support new nail techs and those discovering HONA for the first time, we’ve created a New to HONA section.

This includes pages such as Converting to HONA and Becoming a Nail Tech, designed to give clearer guidance to anyone switching to HONA or starting their journey in the nail industry.

Salon Finder Fixes

We also identified an issue with the Salon Finder, where locations were not displaying or searching properly. This has now been fixed.

To help keep the information accurate moving forward, we’ll also be refreshing the Salon Finder yearly and asking techs to re-add themselves if they are still a HONA tech.

Improved Search

Search across the website has also had a refresh.

The search results will now appear in a cleaner format, showing suggested search terms, products, and collections more clearly. If customers click View all results, blogs will also be included there.

We’ve also added search bars to blog areas, so customers can now head to places like the Knowledge Hub and search within that content more easily too.

Some of them are small changes, and some are more noticeable, but all of them have been made with the same goal in mind: to make HONA easier to shop, easier to explore, and more aligned with the way our community actually uses the site.

Thank you, as always, for your feedback, your honesty, and for continuing to help us shape HONA as we grow.