“Online economy is becoming more geared towards millennials”
Miami, March 20th, 2018
In business since 1999, Absolute Web Services is a thriving web development and E-Commerce solutions company based in Miami. The agency has grown to a team of more than 60 professionals, seeking to create success for them and for their clients through services such as creative design, ecommerce and search engine optimizations.
The agency, a Magento Certified Partner, has worked for a wide array of companies such as IATA, ISRAM, Spirited Gifts, Rubber B and TigerDirect, under the leadership of Roman Yoffe, its CEO. In an interview with TIA, Yoffe gives an insight on the agency’s daily life and its company culture, while describing its approach to E-Commerce.
Can you describe your agency in a few words?
When describing Absolute Web Services, I would say that we’re efficient, dedicated, reliable, innovative, passionate, and trustworthy.
What are you passionate about and why did you choose this career path?
I am very passionate about innovation. I chose this career path because when I started this venture 20 years ago, I knew the Internet was going in a direction beyond our imagination and I wanted to be a part of that evolution.
Who would have thought that Google, Amazon, and social media would take off the way it has? As the digital world continues to evolve, who knows what new technology will emerge. I just know I plan to be a part of whatever comes next.
If you had to choose the top most successful projects you have worked on, which ones would they be?
If I had to choose the most successful projects to date they would be with Spirited Gifts, Pop Your Pup, and Mig Vapor. Within three years of working with Spirited Gifts their revenue increased 30 times.
Pop Your Pup’s newly improved, custom developed customer service portal eliminated the need for data entry and allowed the company to scale their sales by 800% in 12 months.
MigVapor’s new website attributed to a 250% increase in sales. Alone, their rewards program attributed to 20% sales increase month to month.
How do you organize your daily work at the agency?
Previously we used Wrike for Project Management and Slack for internal communication. We recently switched to Meister Task and we’re already seeing the benefits of the program. Things are more streamlined, and we get things done faster.
How do you distribute responsibilities amongst your team?
When your entire business revolves around the creative and technical work of your staff, it’s imperative to not only understand their strengths and weaknesses, but also their work preferences and styles. This way, you can effectively delegate responsibilities for specific tasks and projects. Over time, we get into a natural rhythm of distributing responsibilities amongst each other.
How would you describe the creativity culture at your agency and how is that culture maintained every day?
Our team is diverse and so are our ideas. We seek the opinion of our creative and non-creative members because it takes both to get the job done. We’re able to maintain this culture by always offering constructive criticism to one another and not putting down anyone’s ideas. We’ve all built good relationships and that makes it easier to not take things personally.
How do you know if a person has what it takes to fit into your company’s culture?
I can tell if someone will “fit in” as early as the interview process. If the candidate is knowledgeable, passionate, and has a friendly yet professional demeanor, then they’ll fit in with the team. If they seem to be distracted, uninterested, or easily confused when we get into the technical details of our business, they probably aren’t a good fit.
What skills and experiences would make an ideal candidate?
The skills and experience that make an ideal candidate depends on the position, of course. Having a team with diverse skill sets ranging from technical, administrative, creative, and social cover the full spectrum of what it is that we do at Absolute Web Services.
What components should online stores consider when trying to offer their customers a comfortable, familiar shopping experience?
When developing an online store one of the biggest determining factors is the size of the company’s inventory. Stores with massive inventories need to be very strategic. How they’ll categorize, combine, and display products with color or size variations are all very important factors to consider. Otherwise, it would be like walking into Walmart and the store isn’t separated by departments.
On the other hand, stores with small inventories should use components like videos and professional photography to ensure that the website doesn’t look sparse or as if it doesn’t have much to offer.
Conversion rates vary by business and industry, but when approached by a potential client who is having conversion problems what are your typical recommendations?
My first recommendation would be a simple audit to make sure they’re following E-Commerce best practices. We’d analyze their web traffic, the sources of the traffic, the user’s behavior while on the website, and their security. If they have low marks in any of these areas, that’s what we’d tackle first.
Brick and mortar retail stores spend a fortune on their storefront window displays to assure that their merchandise will attract customers.
What is the E-Commerce approach and equivalent to the storefront window?
It’s very simple: your homepage is essentially your storefront window. Your homepage must entice users to “come in” and explore the rest of the website. A poorly designed homepage will cause your website to have a 100% bounce rate. So, you must be sure that your homepage design captivates consumers instantly.
What do you think is the next frontier for E-Commerce?
The online economy is becoming more geared towards the current market with the greatest buying power: millennials who are searching for products that are unique and luxurious, but still affordable. They also want to be entertained while they’re shopping. Amazon has the largest market share, but when a consumer logs into Amazon, they know exactly what they’re looking for, so they’re usually in and out.
The shopping experience isn’t necessarily entertaining or curated for their tastes, and this gives e-tailers a huge advantage over the Amazon and Alibaba’s of the world. Simply stated, the next frontier is curation.
Tell us one thing you love the most about your role and what don’t you like.
One thing that I love is growth. I love being able to grow and progress with the people around me. I do not like dealing with paperwork. Personally, I would rather start building and watching projects develop than sit down and read a 40-page contract.
Thanks Roman!
Learn more about Absolute Web Services
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