PPC management for ecommerce is the ongoing work of running paid search, shopping and paid social campaigns for a store where every click can be traced to a basket. That traceability is what makes the category different from lead generation: the argument is not about impressions or brand lift, it is about revenue per dollar of spend, and both sides can see the same numbers. The catch is that the numbers only mean something if the store measures purchases correctly in the first place. Most disappointing engagements go wrong before a single campaign is built, in the tracking layer, and the buyer only finds out three months in when the agency's dashboard and the store's own order report disagree.
What the retainer actually pays for
A competent ecommerce paid media engagement covers four recurring jobs. First, the product feed: keeping titles, prices, availability and identifiers accurate, because shopping formats bid off the feed rather than off keywords. Second, campaign structure and bidding, including which products are allowed to spend and which are held back because their margin cannot carry the click cost. Third, creative and landing experience, since the same product page serves paid and organic traffic. Fourth, measurement and reporting, which is where the agency proves the rest of the work paid. If a proposal prices only the second job and treats feed hygiene as the client's problem, the retainer is cheaper for a reason, and the gap will surface as disapproved products rather than as a line on the invoice.
Get the measurement right before you get the ads right
Google's own ecommerce measurement documentation defines the purchase event and the items array that carries product, quantity, value and currency, and it is worth reading before your first agency call. Ask the shortlist how they will validate that a purchase event fires once per order, carries the true order value net of discounts, and excludes test and refunded orders. Ask what attribution window their reported return on ad spend uses and how it compares with the store's own order report, because platform reported revenue and bank deposits are different numbers and an agency that will not reconcile them is reporting its own homework. A good answer describes a reconciliation habit, monthly at minimum, and names the tolerance at which a gap becomes an investigation rather than a rounding note.
What moves the fee
Three things move price more than anything on an agency's capability slide. Catalogue size and volatility come first: a hundred stable SKUs is a different job from twenty thousand items with seasonal pricing and constant stock changes. Channel count comes second, since search, shopping, paid social and marketplace ads each carry their own build and their own reporting. The third is the fee model itself. Percentage of spend is common and easy to administer, but it rewards spending more, so it needs a floor and a written review point. A flat retainer aligns better with catalogue work and is easier to compare across a shortlist. Whichever model you sign, ask what happens to the fee when you cut budget for a quarter, and get the answer in the contract rather than in the pitch.
How to vet a shortlist without taking claims on trust
Ask each candidate for two things a real operator can produce in a day: a named account they still run in your product category, and a redacted monthly report from it. Read the report for whether it explains losses as well as wins. Ask who does the work, by name and by hours, since the person in the pitch is often not the person in the account. Insist that the ad accounts, the analytics property and the merchant feed all stay in your ownership with the agency granted access, so that a change of provider is an access revocation rather than a rebuild. Finally, treat any promised return on ad spend figure as a forecast, not a commitment, and ask what assumptions it rests on. If you are shortlisting locally, a San Diego PPC management company for example, the same evidence test applies before geography does.
Questions people ask about ppc management for ecommerce
How much of my budget should go to the agency fee?
There is no single right share, but the ratio should make sense against the work. A small catalogue on one channel with a modest budget rarely justifies a fee that rivals the media itself, while a large volatile catalogue can. Ask for the fee expressed both ways, as a flat monthly figure and as a share of your current spend, then compare shortlists on the flat number.
Why does the agency dashboard show more revenue than my store?
Usually attribution. Ad platforms credit conversions inside their own lookback windows, count some view-through activity, and may double count an order attributed by two platforms. Your order report counts orders. Neither is lying, but only one pays the bills, so agree at the start which report governs the conversation.
Should the agency own my ad accounts?
No. Keep ownership of the ad accounts, the analytics property and the product feed, and grant the agency access. Agency owned accounts turn a routine provider change into a data loss event, and they remove your ability to audit history.
How long before paid campaigns settle down?
Expect a build and learning period rather than an immediate steady state, and judge on a full purchase cycle rather than on the first fortnight. Ask the candidate to write down what they expect to be true at 30, 60 and 90 days, then hold the review against what they wrote.