We were lucky to catch up with Viktoriya Martynova recently and have shared our conversation below.

Viktoriya , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Finding those key vendors can often be make or break for a brand. Can you talk to us about how you found your key vendors?

How do we choose the brand to work with? It is not an easy process and requires a lot of thinking, analyzing, and research. Before introducing the product to our customers, we make sure that the new perfume satisfies all our requirements! There are several aspects that we pay attention to:

1. Presentation. I value every thought that is invested in presenting the product. If the product that our partner sends us is branded and I see that all the efforts are made to make sure it looks great, that’s a great plus.

2. Philosophy. There is always a story around the product. I want to know that story. It is what makes the perfume so special. What is the story, philosophy, and vision behind the product? Believe me, I want to know every single detail.

3. Terms. La Parfumerie USA started as a hobby. It was a small shark and now it has grown. I am very particular about the terms and reputation. If there is no respect, then there is no business either.

4. Inspiration. What is behind each fragrance? I am a wild fanatic in this area. My business can’t live without inspiration. I am selling art and not just a fragrant water.

5. Intuition. I know my business like no one else and I know myself. I always know whether my customers will like the brand or no. There were a few exceptions, but somehow my intuition never failed me.

6. It will take time to decide. For example, I planned to add Nicolai to our collection for a long time, while Chabaud was presented at our store in a few weeks.

Currently, there are 23 niche perfume houses presented at our store, and more will come soon.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

La Parfumerie is a small fragrance boutique in the heart of Raleigh, NC offering high-end perfume from Europe. At our store, you will find worldwide acknowledged and award-winning perfumes. I founded La Parfumerie in 2016 with a clear vision to offer a unique journey in finding a personal exclusive scent.

I grew up in Russia and moved to the USA at the age of 21. Entrepreneurship has always been my passion. I studied business administration and while at school I always dreamed about owning my businesses. By combining my two biggest passions- perfume and entrepreneurship, I started La Parfumerie.

La Parfumerie started from a search of the perfect chocolate fragrance. I love chocolate fragrances and when the mass production market failed to satisfy my desire, I turned to niche fragrances and “voila”! Endless possibilities and luxurious varieties stimulated my curiosity and determined the future path in the field of selective perfumes. I understood that I found the niche for my business. From that moment on, I continuously try to surprise my customers with carefully selected high-end fragrances, holding unusual but very beautiful notes in each bottle.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

When I started La Parfumerie, I was still working part-time at a fashion company, but all my free time was devoted to 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. It was more of a hobby which didn’t provide any income.

One thing I want to say. Some people take an aggressive approach in creating a business, I preferred to carefully cultivate it over a period of time.
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I didn’t take a bank loan (I opened credit cards with 0% APR for 18 months).
I didn’t have an investor.
I didn’t have money to invest.
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I started with what I had but with a deep faith in my vision.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

There are heaps of info about growing your social media presence from social media gurus. As a business owner, I can share five important steps.

First and the most important is not to worry about your followers’ number. I don’t have a big audience, but I have engaged followers who also convert into customers. There is really no point of having 10k followers if at the end of the day they are not going to become your customers.

Second tip is to be consistent. It is important to post regularly. We share a post (a reel or static image) every single day. I am very active in my stories, which helps to build a good connection with my followers and lets them know me better. It is not a secret that people tend to buy from those who they know well. So, if you have a good constant social media presence, people trust you more. It also is important not to make it a one-sided relationship. Genuinely engage with your audience and show them you care about them.

Speaking about trust, here is my third piece of advice. Be authentic and always be honest with your followers. I share my good and bad days; I want my followers to know that I am just an ordinary person who has the same struggles as they do. The same approach is with our perfumes. Even though they all have amazing quality, if I don’t like a particular scent, I’ll talk openly about it.

Fourth, give value as much as possible. Don’t try to sell your products all the time, as people will quickly get bored. We share lots of informative posts like how to choose the right fragrance, how to store your perfume etc. The idea is not to make your account about yourself or your business but share the information your target audience wants to read.

And the fifth and final piece of advice is hiring a Social Media Manager. As business owners, we have so much on our plates that it is very hard to do everything well. Growing your social media is time and energy consuming. I have recently hired a Social Media Manager, and it saves me so much precious time. She looks after my social presence and I do, what I do the best, work on growing the business. I am still active on Instagram, but I do so because I enjoy being there for my followers, not because it’s something I have to do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.laparfumerieusa.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laparfumerieusa/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laparfumerieusa
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAYi5cqVEqoASB9YFeZLlHQ/featured

Image Credits
Oksana Grim, Sitora Kan