Choosing an ecommerce agency is one of the bigger decisions a growing brand makes. The right partner can change the direction of your business. The wrong one can cost you a year. Here’s how to choose well in South Africa.
Decide what you need first
“Ecommerce agency” covers a lot. Before you talk to anyone, decide which of these you need:
- Strategy: where you’re losing sales and what to fix first.
- Build: a new store, a redesign or a platform move.
- Growth: marketing, marketplaces, social commerce, retail media and retention.
- Brand: identity, photography and content that make people want what you sell.
Some agencies do one of these well. Some do all of them. Know which you’re buying.
What to look for
1. Commerce results, not only awards. Ask what happened to sales, conversion rate or average order value after the work went live. Beautiful work that doesn’t sell is expensive decoration.
2. They start by looking. A good agency wants to understand your store, your customers and your numbers before it proposes anything. Be wary of a full proposal before anyone has looked at your data.
3. Local knowledge. South African commerce has its own realities: payment methods, couriers, marketplaces, mobile data costs and POPIA. An agency that knows them will save you from expensive surprises.
4. Brand and performance together. Many brands end up with a creative agency and a performance agency that don’t talk to each other. An agency that does both, or works well with others, closes that gap.
5. Honest advice. Ask them which platform they’d recommend and why. A good agency will tell you when you don’t need something, even if it means less work for them.
6. Clear ownership. Make sure you own your store, your domain, your ad accounts and your data. If you part ways, you should be able to take everything with you.
Questions to ask
- What would you look at first in our business, and why?
- How will we measure whether this is working?
- Who will actually do the work, and who will we speak to each week?
- What happens after launch?
- Can we speak to a client you’ve worked with for more than a year?
Red flags
- Guaranteed results or rankings. Nobody can guarantee these honestly.
- Long lock-in contracts before any work has been proven.
- Reports full of clicks and impressions, but nothing about sales.
- Reluctance to give you access to your own accounts.
Start small
The best way to find out whether an agency is right for you is to work with them on something small first, like an audit or a single project. You’ll learn how they think, how they communicate and whether they deliver.
That’s why, at Artive, most client relationships start with an Audit: a clear look at where your brand and store are leaving money on the table, and what to do about it. If you’d like a quick first read, try our free CRO audit.
