In episode 234 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Ian Leslie, chief marketing officer at Industry West, a modern B-to-B and D-to-C furniture retailer. Listen in as Leslie shares the history of the brand, including its long-standing success in the B-to-B space and it's focusing on growing stronger direct-to-consumer relationships. He discusses how Industry West is focusing on customizing customers’ online shopping experiences, why personalization is imperative for the company, and the behavioral data being collected on the site that's enabling personalization.

Leslie discusses the company's use of Nosto's e-commerce personalization platform, the business benefits realized since partnering with the service provider, and why its plug-and-play model was easy to integrate internally. Furthermore, he describes how Nosto's artificial intelligence technology powers personalized homepages, product recommendations and more for Industry West's customers, as well as allowing his team to glean a real-time view of customer data such as active carts and product views. Leslie shares what marketing efforts he's focusing on this year to continue Industry West's D-to-C growth as well as the brand's strategy for expanding into brick-and-mortar in its top markets.

Ian Leslie is the chief marketing officer of Industry West, a modern furniture e-commerce company with stores in New York City and Florida. With more than 10 years of experience in integrated marketing communications, he has built highly effective campaigns within both the retail and higher education verticals, including work for the U.S. Navy. Ian’s focus is on creating data-driven campaigns across multiple channels that empower people to evangelize on a brand’s behalf, while allowing the brand to measure campaign effectiveness on a cost-per-acquisition basis.