Behemoth: Kings Ov Merch
It’s unlikely that you’ve heard of a small underground band named Behemoth but besides putting out some truly great classics, they also have an assortment of tasty merch. Beyond the obvious of just the album art on a shirt, you can guzzle several kinds of Behemoth coffee down your gullet, light candles for your nightly rituals, and purchase unique collaborations with Polish artisans. in order to let the band put in 100% of dedication to their art, a hero had to rise to manage Behemoth’s array of Satanic goods and deliver to the people. That man is Maciej Gruszka, the CEO and Owner of Behemoth Webstore. To shine the spotlight on those that make magic happen behind the scenes, we caught up with him at the Citadel to discuss everything that goes behind making probably the best merch store out there - combining great designs and ideas, high quality products, and amazing customer service.
This is what he had to say:
Thanks for joining us today! We don't usually stray from interviewing bands but we were fascinated to learn more about a great example of how a band store should be run. You are the owner and CEO of Behemoth Webstore, can you tell us a little bit more of your day to day work?
Well, first of all, thank you very much for your words about what we are doing here in the Webstore. It means a lot, and it also shows we’re doing our part right. :) Yes, I established this company over ten years ago when my friend Nergal said ‘yes’ to this initiative. Throughout that time, my day at work was constantly evolving.
At the beginning (and for the next eight years or so), I’ve been doing [sic] all things alone. I mean, obviously, Nergal was and is always there when it comes to designers, important decisions and so on. Also, I’ve been using the help of graphics designers who made the store design, AND of course, I am using a professional accounting office, but the rest was pretty much on my side.
Starting from configuring the store, adding products, making product pictures, taking care of all legal stuff of the company, through managing the warehouse, searching for proper producers, introducing new products, ordering them, checking the quality, and all the marketing stuff like posts on social media, making banners, ending on replying to customers emails in the customer service, taking the orders, packing them and giving to couriers who take them to the fans.
And all of that was done in my little flat first; then we moved out to the suburbs, where I established the store in my garage and part of the house. And then, the day of Behemoth’s I Loved You At Your Darkest album premiere came. The band was constantly growing, and so was my store, so when the time came to ship the ILYAYD orders, I ended up with cardboard boxes and records literally filling up 80% of my house, from the floor to the ceiling. And I was like, still alone with all of this. Thousands of records to pack, nearly 700 BOX editions to assemble etc.
We managed to do this with my wife and friends, who came to help me with it. It lasted for two months or so. Obviously, we had a delay, and it all almost drove me insane ;) and that was the day when I said: enough, this thing became definitely too big for one person and his garage :) We’ve found a proper warehouse, hired a guy who took from me packing the orders and managing the warehouse, and that was it.
Thanks to this, the store could further evolve and properly grow. Now, I have yet another warehouse and two more people working with me. So, my day at work now looks a bit different than it has been at the beginning; it’s rather computer work, phone work etc. - I am working on the store, defining and adding new features so that it would work best for the fans, thinking about new products, organizing production, restocks, still looking for new producers, managing social media, doing the whole marketing stuff, newsletters, more complex issues from the customer service are also done by me, and a new addition, managing my team.
To sum it up - when you run your own business, you’re always at work. But to be honest, I really do not complain. I simply love what I am doing. I do not even consider this as work. I am just enjoying doing all that stuff and earning some money from that. Could it be any better? Not really!
Sounds like the good life! In your eyes, what makes or breaks a band store/merch?
I can obviously speak only for myself. So, I’ve known Nergal since 1996, when we started studying history at the University of Gdansk. It was more or less when Behemoth released the Pandemonic Incantations record. Since my hobby was music and computers at that time, Nergal proposed that I could create a Behemoth webpage. And so I became Behemoth’s webmaster and later the admin of their message board (yes, in times before, Facebook message boards and forums were huge!). But I just wanted to say with all of this that, being so close to the band throughout that time, I witnessed all the hard work, perfectionism, passion and heart they were putting in all that they were doing.
And when it came to opening the merch store, I knew that the merchandise must be in line with that. It must be the top quality, like Behemoth’s art is. And it takes not only the product quality but the customer service as well, both pre-and post-sales, obviously. So, I think the fans quickly saw it all, that they are serviced here in a really good way, they are not left alone if they have any problem with the stuff they bought, and also, they are getting really cool stuff when buying at the webstore. They feel and know we are being sincere in what we do.
And last, but definitely not least, we have the most important ambassador of Behemoth on board, I mean, Nergal himself. He loves to invent stuff, obviously is totally creative, he has no problems with his presence on social media where he often shows our stuff, he is very involved and enthusiastic in all we do here, and finally, because we are close to the band, we can very often sell stuff totally of the highest value for the collectors. So, in my case, these are the factors which make such a successful band store like ours.
What breaks the band store or merch? In general, I think it is obviously; shitty service. Starting from mass-produced low-quality merchandise, through bad customer service not informing their customers or even not replying to their queries, ending on huge delays in shipping which constantly is happening… What else? I don’t really know. I’m the guy who constantly wants to improve everything, so thoughts about how to make it worse are non-existent in my head :D
My Behemoth shirt has been stained with beer, blood, and post-gig kebabs yet it still looks great every wash. How do you make such quality shirts?
Thank you!! Well, in contrast to almost the whole merchandise industry, we do not print on ready-made cheap t-shirts produced somewhere in the far east. We use local sewing houses in Poland, who purchase for our production the best cotton which is on the market here. And they cut the fabrics, and then send these cuts and pieces to the printing house, which makes the prints (also with the highest attention to details and materials used). Then they send it back to the sewing house who are putting all the cuts together, attaching our tags etc, and that’s it.
The secret lies in a top quality of material used and being far from mass produced stuff. We must remember that cotton can be really different. If something is 100% cotton, it does not automatically mean it is of high quality. There is a lot of shitty, cheap, low-quality cotton on the market. And unfortunately, lots of producers are using that, paying several times less for production than we do and selling almost at the same price as we do.
Well, for them, profit is the most important thing. For us, in the first place, there is always quality and customer satisfaction. Profit is also important because we live from what we do, but our business is NOT profit-driven. It’s quality-driven.
Was it tough at the beginning to get fans to pay more money, even if they were getting better quality clothing?
Well, obviously, the beginnings of the webstore were not really impressive, although Behemoth already had a very strong position in the market. We started when Evangelion came out. And it took lots of time and lots of hard work to become a store which is recognized among people. Obviously, the Band’s involvement was extremely important here. So it was a rather slow development. But eventually, we got really huge recognition, and at this point, people simply know - if I want something unique from Behemoth, something of the highest quality, I go to the Webstore. It might cost a bit more, but in return, I’ll get stuff I will wear/use for years. It’s a fair deal, I suppose.
How much does Nergal and the band contribute to design ideas or even merch ideas (like coffee or candles)?
They contribute a lot, especially Nergal does. He has contacts with various designers who are creating the designs. He is very involved and enthusiastic about all we do here in the Webstore. He sees something inspiring elsewhere, often in non-metal-related places at all and says: let’s do this or that! And we try. We are a bit of pioneers in the metal merch market, so we never know which stuff sells and which will not. But we must try at least :) And yes, candles were Nergal’s idea from what I remember : ) but with coffee, there is a funny story behind that.
I always read peoples’ comments in Socials when we premiere some stuff. And I remember one time when I premiered a product which was not a hoodie or a t-shirt but something like hip flask or stuff, and as usual, on such occasions, it triggered those who are TRVE and tolerate the TRVE band merchandise only, so, the mentioned t-shirts and hoodies. And one of them wrote something like “WTF?? What will be next? A Behemoth coffee??”. Eureka! I thought immediately.
This is actually a totally great idea! Talked about this with the guys, and they said YES, and it happened. Now, we will be introducing our 5th or 6th blend, related to the new record, and it will also be selling like hell. And you know why? Because it is fucking delicious! Totally speciality coffee, freshly roasted here in Poland, green beans imported from some best plantations in the world… The whole band loves the coffee, especially the red one, which is also my fav. But each of them has something unique in the taste. Oh, sorry, again, I’m off topic hahaha. Well, I could talk about our stuff for hours!
How do you decide on the next piece of merch? Is it profitability, band's wishes, requests from Polish Artisans?
Well, we are definitely not profit-driven. Very often, the margin is minimal, but we just want to introduce some stuff in the offer, just to show something amazing to the fans, like artistic jewellery. It’s handmade by the artists here in Poland; they put lots of their talent into sculpting them and then hard work to finish them. It must cost lots of money. Again, because it’s the quality which stands behind it and the top-class artists we work with. Their time is precious.
And then, when it comes to setting the price in the store, we cannot have a high margin here as it would cost totally too much to be accessible at least for a dozen people ;) So no, it’s not profitability, and it’s never been. It’s always about the WOW-effect. We are looking for something stunning which will stand out from the other merch.
It must be neat and aesthetically orgasmic if you know what I mean ;) I mean, these are certain types of products which will always be made, like t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, patches, hats etc. Let’s call it a standard offer with different designs. But we simply love to search for some exclusive stuff, not-so-obvious products. It’s very hard to be original these days, but we can still show something new as long as the metal music merch market is concerned.
Agreed! Being innovative is important, but many people on social media complain that any band merch besides a black t-shirt with the album art is “selling out”. What do you have to say to them?
Some people didn’t make any effort to think harder about the subject they are complaining about. Some others are just having fun posting all that hate speech over the internet. If they are Behemoth fans and they are bitching about the coffee and so on, I can say to them that also, because of the store, the band does not have to go to 8 hours of regular work for a living. They can focus on their art and deliver the best they can. After all, we are not selling shit, we still sell quality stuff, and it gives your idols the comfort to create more music you admire. If they are just regular haters, all I have to say to them is: Yeah, fuck you too. Whatever.
Image credit: Oskar Szramka
For Behemoth, which product has had an unexpected success, and why do you think that is?
This is a difficult question, honestly. I rather could easily tell which products have suffered an epic failure :D Okay, the masks. We have introduced the Behemoth face masks, and we were adding them free to orders above a certain value. And people were buying everything to get the masks. It was really unexpected and totally awesome :)
If possible, should bands be offering signed versions of merch?
I think this always adds to the collectable value of the product. There are people who could hardly ever get something signed by their idols, like; I will surely never get And Justice For All signed by James Hetfield : ) And in this way, they can buy the signed stuff for themselves. For sure, it’s an added value. And we are really fortunate that Nergal, Inferno and Orion still want to sign those thousands of records. I can tell you, the logistics for that are totally crazy. It takes A LOT of effort, both for the band and for us, to make it happen. For example, for the newest records, the guys will come to our warehouse all the way from Warsaw (over 400 km) and spend several days here to sign all of the stuff. To me, this is totally awesome.
What advice would you give to bands looking to create new products? What were your biggest learnings?
They can come to me and then we'll talk :)
How about tips for first-time merch store owners?
Do everything at 110%. Be sincere, transparent, involved and remember, earnings and profits are not the most important things. The most important thing is to keep your customers satisfied with your stuff and service, if you achieve this, the money will be there. And obviously, you must have a successful band behind your back! :)
That’s all folks! Thanks to Maciej for taking the time and of course, make sure to follow Behemoth Webstore across social and check out the webstore itself, they’ve just overhauled the site and it looks slicker than Nergal’s boots. In addition, merch for Behemoth’s new album is live on there now!
