Manchester-based e-commerce and digital agency, Visualsoft, is celebrating 20 years in business this October, having grown from an innovative web developer to market-leading online retail platform with a roster of over 1,000 clients.
The company, which is still headquartered in Teesside and opened its current office in 2015, has grown rapidly over the past two decades – now counting nearly 300 staff of digital specialists, with plans to grow this by at least 25% in the next 12 months.
Latest financial figures show impressive year-on-year growth, with the business doubling its profit before tax to £2million and increasing turnover by 18%.
Visualsoft is soon to open a brand new office in central Newcastle and a new wing of its Stockton office, having just completed a renovation of its Manchester Peter Street base.
The business has continually invested in both its people and new strategic marketing services to help grow its clients’ online sales.
In 2014, the company introduced unlimited holidays and flexible working for its employees, which it credits with creating a culture with trustworthy and hard-working staff who focus on high service – rather than those that appear to work hard but don’t deliver.
In 2017, it also introduced a new revenue model – Shared Success – in which client fees are based on a percentage of their sales, instead of upfront and fixed fees.
More recently, Visualsoft was made a Google Premier Partner and tier one agency and a Bing Ads accredited partner, highlighting its commitment to marketing best practice.
Visualsoft’s CEO and founder, Dean Benson, commented: “Twenty years is a long time in digital. Even over the past 12 months, we’ve seen huge developments in online retail beyond what anyone could have imagined back in 1998 – the same year that Google’s first webcrawler started examining the links between online pages.
“The ability to rapidly adapt to these changing market conditions has been of paramount importance. What’s more, consistent research and development means that we are not only keeping up with the needs of the industry, but paving the way in terms of great client experience. Here’s to the next 20 years.”
