How to Choose an Amazon Agency

Choosing an Amazon agency starts with deciding what needs to change in your business. A brand struggling with stock availability needs a different plan from one with reliable operations and inefficient advertising. Use this guide to compare proposals against the work you need, rather than the length of a service list.

1. Define the problem before comparing agencies

Write down your main constraint, the markets involved and who currently owns the work. Is the concern advertising efficiency, weak product pages, catalogue errors, unreliable replenishment or a lack of commercial visibility? If several issues interact, ask for a diagnosis before committing to a single-channel solution.

Separate your desired outcome from your starting evidence. “Improve profitable growth” is an objective. A contribution report, stockout history and campaign performance are evidence that helps a partner decide where to begin.

2. Match the scope to the constraint

A PPC engagement should explain campaign responsibilities and how decisions account for conversion, margins and stock. Full management needs a wider division of responsibility, including catalogue work, account health, inventory coordination and reporting. An expansion project needs a territory-specific readiness plan.

  • Advertising-led need: compare Amazon PPC support against your internal team's ability to handle listings and operations.
  • Several connected problems: consider full account management, with clear boundaries around the work included.
  • Content or conversion need: clarify the brief, asset ownership and approval process for creative services.

3. Ask who will do the work

Establish who sets the strategy, who operates the account and who is accountable when a priority slips. Ask how specialist support is arranged, whether subcontractors are involved and which decisions require your approval. A named contact is useful only if their responsibilities and availability are understood.

For international work, ask which markets the proposed team has actually operated in. Request relevant context without expecting disclosure of another client's confidential data. Experience gained in previous employment should be distinguished from results delivered by the current agency.

4. Agree what reporting needs to explain

Revenue and advertising ROAS can be useful, but neither answers every commercial question. Ask how the agency will interpret advertising spend alongside stock, product conversion, fees and the cost information you can supply.

Choose definitions together. For example, a profitability view should state which costs it includes and which remain estimates. Reporting should connect a change in performance to the decision made, the evidence available and the next action. It should also distinguish advertising-attributed sales from total account sales.

5. Compare the complete fee and workload

Ask what the proposal includes, what triggers additional work and how fees change if you add a marketplace or expand the catalogue. Clarify onboarding, creative production, translation, specialist advice and third-party software costs where relevant. A lower headline retainer can be difficult to compare if the deliverables differ.

At Consultancy Worx, fees are tailored to marketplaces, account maturity, catalogue and workload. Full account management has a minimum six-month retainer. Other projects are scoped individually; the proposal should make the applicable commitment clear.

6. Keep ownership and handover clear

Ask who owns the marketplace account, campaign structure, creative assets and reporting files. Agree permissions appropriate to the work, the handling of confidential information and the steps for removing access when the engagement ends. Do not share your account password to obtain an initial opinion.

Before signing, understand the notice period, handover deliverables and treatment of unfinished work. These details are easier to resolve at the proposal stage than during a transition.

Questions to take into a proposal review

  1. What do you believe is our main constraint, and what evidence supports that view?
  2. What will you prioritise first, and what depends on our team?
  3. Who performs and approves each part of the work?
  4. How will you report commercial progress and uncertainty?
  5. What is excluded, and how is extra work approved?
  6. What will we retain when the engagement ends?

Assess the fit, not a guaranteed outcome

Ask an agency to explain its reasoning, assumptions and delivery process. Treat an unsupported promise of a specific ranking, sales uplift or return as a reason for further questions. A useful proposal identifies controllable work and dependencies such as inventory, brand approvals and platform decisions.

Read how we work, or use our consultation preparation checklist to organise your brief.

Serious about growing your Amazon business?

Apply to Work With Us through our eight-step qualification flow. Prefer a conversation first? Book a Free Consultation. You can also email hello@consultancyworx.com.