We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Matty Parson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Matty below.
Matty, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?
There are a lot of challenges for a small business, but the biggest one is keeping up with big brands and changing consumer habits. In the past decade (and especially after Covid-19) consumers have changed how they shop. Most of the buying process is online, fast, and most importantly, convenient. For example, big brands offering same-day shipping has really put pressure on smaller retailers to meet the same standard, since consumers are used to it now.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of fast shipping as well. Who doesn’t love to shop online and receive what they’ve ordered the next day?
We try our best to ship the same or the next day, but with a team of two, it definitely gets stressful sometimes. Big brands tend to have large teams and automated processes that make it easier to meet demands.
Another challenge is keeping up with stock and seasonal items. Again, big brands have the resources to add to / change their existing stock regularly. Small businesses deal with meeting minimum order amounts and the fact that some products sell faster than others. It’s a learning curve and you just have to be okay with not being on the same level as large corporations (yet).
Matty, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Matty, I’m originally from Germany and came to the U.S. in 2013. Back in Germany, I worked at an alternative clothing store, which was very popular in the local punk and alternative scene. The store itself was great and carried brands like Converse, Vans, Dr. Martens, Sourpuss Clothing, and more. The leadership, however, sucked and I left after three years.
After coming to the U.S. and working as a photographer, I realized one day that all the cool and spooky places to shop are either hundreds of miles away or strictly online. I did lots of research and found that we didn’t have a goth / alternative store anywhere close to Clarksville, Tennessee. So, I just decided to go for it. My husband, Dustin, has always been super supportive and is now co-owner of the boutique.
Velvet Ghost Boutique is Clarksville’s first goth and alternative clothing, accessories, and home decor boutique. We carry sizes ranging from XS – 5XL, all for the same price. We don’t have a women’s or men’s section, because we believe that you should be able to wear whatever you want and not what society tells you is the standard.
Contrary to popular belief we aren’t associated with any religion or belief system, including satanism. I know some people think we’re out here sacrificing chickens to appease some entity, but we just like the color black and spooky things. We welcome everybody regardless of sex, religion, color, sexual orientation, and identity. We believe everyone has the right to live their life as they want to, as long as they don’t harm anyone.
As a small business, we also believe in promoting and helping other small businesses. That’s why most of our products are small brands based in the U.S. and Europe. We also have a few local makers and artists who sell their spooky products in our store. The “biggest” brands we carry are Killstar and Sourpuss Clothing. We’ve also added our own candle line, exclusively sold in our store and on our website.
Something I’m most proud of is the fact that the store has become a place for goths, emos, punks, etc. to come together at. We organize classes such as our very popular Animal Bone Art Class. In this class, participants get to be creative and make their own animal bone sculptures. We also organize Clarksville’s yearly Halloween Market where visitors can shop all things strange, unusual, and spooky from over 50 vendors. It’s a blast!
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Being different and authentic. We are the first and only alternative clothing store in our area and that definitely gives us an advantage. Plus, we truly try to be inclusive with our products. I think what also helped in building our reputation is being welcoming and open to everyone who comes to the store. We love chatting with customers and have made some great connections.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Luckily, I had already a good following on Instagram and Facebook from working as a photographer. The people who liked my dark & moody photography style, also like all things spooky. That’s why I decided to change our social media pages instead of making a brand new one. Which I’ve read is frowned upon because it might confuse customers, but it has worked well for us.
Honestly, social media is tough to keep up with. If you have the budget I would definitely recommend hiring a social media manager who can post for you daily (or more) across all of your platforms. I have a digital marketing degree and like having control over what is posted, that’s why I do it myself. It’s a lot of work though. My advice is to structure your posts and automate them as much as possible. Take a day out of your month and schedule posts ahead of time. That way you don’t have to worry about posting. Another piece of advice would be to post A LOT. Don’t worry about “spamming” your followers with your posts. The various algorithms only show a handful of posts from you anyways, so if you want to grab someone’s attention, you gotta post like hell. It’s a full-time job and you should only do it yourself if you have the time, mental capacity, and enjoy it. Otherwise, I’d outsource it for sure.
Contact Info:
- Website: velvetghostboutique.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/velvetghostshop
- Facebook: facebook.com/velvetghostshop
- Other: TikTok: @mattyvelvetghost