Retail is the category where the marketing is most tightly coupled to operations: what is in stock, what it costs, what the margin is and what the photographs look like decide more of the result than the campaign does. An agency that never asks about the feed, the stock file or the margin is going to spend money on the wrong products.
The product feed is the campaign
Shopping surfaces read titles, descriptions, images, identifiers, price and availability from a feed, and disapproved or missing items simply do not appear. The requirements are published and testable. An agency's first month should include a feed audit with the disapprovals cleared and the titles rewritten for how people search, which is usually the largest single improvement available.
Margin and stock have to reach the media decisions
Spending equally across a catalogue advertises loss-leaders and out-of-stock lines. The agency needs margin bands and stock levels, ideally in the feed itself, so budget follows the products worth selling. If your systems cannot supply that, say so early, because it changes what any honest agency can promise.
Seasonality is the plan, not a complication
Retail demand is concentrated into a few periods, and the work for those periods happens months earlier: feed quality, landing pages, stock planning and creative. A flat monthly retainer spread evenly across the year is the wrong shape. Build the plan from your own two years of sales data and agree where the effort is loaded.
Reporting has to reconcile with the finance system
Platform-reported revenue will exceed what you actually banked, because of attribution windows, returns and cancellations. Agree early which number is the one you will manage against, and reconcile the platform figures to the finance system monthly. Agencies judged on platform-reported revenue optimise for platform-reported revenue.
Questions people ask about retail digital marketing agency
What should a retail agency do in month one?
Audit the feed, clear the disapprovals, fix the titles, and instrument the reporting so it can be reconciled. That is unglamorous and it is where the money is.
How should returns be handled in reporting?
Netted off, on the same cadence as the finance system. A channel that looks efficient gross and unprofitable net is a common and expensive surprise.
Should the agency manage the marketplaces too?
Only if they have done it; the mechanics differ from your own store. Ask for specific accounts they have run on the marketplace in question.
How much of the budget belongs to brand?
Enough that you are not only harvesting demand you already have. The split is a judgement, and it should be argued rather than defaulted.