53 min
This sofa is different. Find out why. Actionable Insights
-
- Imprenditorialità
TL;DR
Industry West sells furniture—online. Few furniture companies are digitally native, let alone bootstrapped.Photography is a critical tool to helping the customer understand what they are getting.Product descriptions are written by someone who lives and breathes furniture—and that’s obvious. Actually, the entire company is comprised of this type of person.
Meet Ian Leslie
CMO at Industry West (connect on LinkedIn and Twitter).Industry West is now 10 years old. However, they run the business like a startup.Ian does pretty much everything when it comes to marketing: digital marketing, owned media, working with the PR team (and the website fits in there too).You know what’s inspiring? It’s seeing your furniture in public. Industry West’s furniture is everywhere. Oh, and he gets to work with some really cool people every day.He’s guided the marketing arm of a company through a global pandemic (COVID-19, as we are all-to-familiar with). He did a great post about this on Medium. At the time of recording, Industry West was working with a group in Buffalo to make masks.
What sets Industry West apart?
In the furniture vertical, there are a literal bazillion brands. From manufacturers like Thomasville to retailers like Nebraska Furniture Mart all the way to the small-town furniture dealers, finding furniture is not a difficult task.
Industry West is different. Yes, it sounds cliche to say. Most of the participants in this category are focused on brick and mortar. Industry West is digitally native and just recently opened a store in SoHo. They are one of the first (if not the first) in this category to start online.
We are so meticulous about how pieces are presented to the customer.Ian Leslie
Online furniture retailing is unique in that you have pay close attention to how products are presented. Photography takes center stage. Industry West has been meticulous showing products in a way that resonate with their customers.
Industry West also carries a large selection of inventory. This means that they can fulfill rush orders faster. If a restaurant needs new chairs quickly—they won’t have to wait for weeks. Yet, this carries the problem that inventory is money (but not in the bank). This is possible because Industry West is bootstrapped. Those that take venture capital are beholden to the investors and investors usually want quick profitable turn-arounds. Inventory on the shelf is not liquidity.
Industry West lives out a long-term vision for their company—and that is one reason they continue to see steady growth after 10 years in business.
The founders, Jordan and Anne, curate the Industry West catalog. Each piece has an incredible story.
It’s safe to agree that Industry West is different, so we are able to get an inside look as to how they approach marketing, their website and content development in a different way.
May I introduce to you… the furniture:
This furniture is for a specific segment of the market (we talked about this in Episode #10, regarding who is this product for?). Oftentimes, a number of furniture brands will co-exist under the same roof. Industry West has fortified their position with how the product is presented. They also describe the product in intricate detail: type of wood, finish, fabric, etc.
It’s hard to understate how important the photography is.Ian Leslie
They also work to get the pieces into their applicable context. This represents more money as locations need to be scouted, product shipped, photographers scheduled, etc. One thing that Industry West has been successful with is crowdsourcing pictures. This allows them to make use of the value that others are generating.
This is why they launched a store in SoHo so that customers can come and touch and feel the product.
How COVID-19 is affecting the furniture market.
Ian quotes an influencer: “a successful startup in 2019 is all about
TL;DR
Industry West sells furniture—online. Few furniture companies are digitally native, let alone bootstrapped.Photography is a critical tool to helping the customer understand what they are getting.Product descriptions are written by someone who lives and breathes furniture—and that’s obvious. Actually, the entire company is comprised of this type of person.
Meet Ian Leslie
CMO at Industry West (connect on LinkedIn and Twitter).Industry West is now 10 years old. However, they run the business like a startup.Ian does pretty much everything when it comes to marketing: digital marketing, owned media, working with the PR team (and the website fits in there too).You know what’s inspiring? It’s seeing your furniture in public. Industry West’s furniture is everywhere. Oh, and he gets to work with some really cool people every day.He’s guided the marketing arm of a company through a global pandemic (COVID-19, as we are all-to-familiar with). He did a great post about this on Medium. At the time of recording, Industry West was working with a group in Buffalo to make masks.
What sets Industry West apart?
In the furniture vertical, there are a literal bazillion brands. From manufacturers like Thomasville to retailers like Nebraska Furniture Mart all the way to the small-town furniture dealers, finding furniture is not a difficult task.
Industry West is different. Yes, it sounds cliche to say. Most of the participants in this category are focused on brick and mortar. Industry West is digitally native and just recently opened a store in SoHo. They are one of the first (if not the first) in this category to start online.
We are so meticulous about how pieces are presented to the customer.Ian Leslie
Online furniture retailing is unique in that you have pay close attention to how products are presented. Photography takes center stage. Industry West has been meticulous showing products in a way that resonate with their customers.
Industry West also carries a large selection of inventory. This means that they can fulfill rush orders faster. If a restaurant needs new chairs quickly—they won’t have to wait for weeks. Yet, this carries the problem that inventory is money (but not in the bank). This is possible because Industry West is bootstrapped. Those that take venture capital are beholden to the investors and investors usually want quick profitable turn-arounds. Inventory on the shelf is not liquidity.
Industry West lives out a long-term vision for their company—and that is one reason they continue to see steady growth after 10 years in business.
The founders, Jordan and Anne, curate the Industry West catalog. Each piece has an incredible story.
It’s safe to agree that Industry West is different, so we are able to get an inside look as to how they approach marketing, their website and content development in a different way.
May I introduce to you… the furniture:
This furniture is for a specific segment of the market (we talked about this in Episode #10, regarding who is this product for?). Oftentimes, a number of furniture brands will co-exist under the same roof. Industry West has fortified their position with how the product is presented. They also describe the product in intricate detail: type of wood, finish, fabric, etc.
It’s hard to understate how important the photography is.Ian Leslie
They also work to get the pieces into their applicable context. This represents more money as locations need to be scouted, product shipped, photographers scheduled, etc. One thing that Industry West has been successful with is crowdsourcing pictures. This allows them to make use of the value that others are generating.
This is why they launched a store in SoHo so that customers can come and touch and feel the product.
How COVID-19 is affecting the furniture market.
Ian quotes an influencer: “a successful startup in 2019 is all about
53 min