What the best eCommerce agencies are doing to drive profitability in 2025

eCommerce growth surged, cementing new digital habits. Data shows that the number of users is expected to amount to 3.6 billion by 2029, and global eCommerce sales are expected to exceed 10.4 trillion U.S. dollars by 2028.

In other words, it’s an exciting time to be operating in the eCommerce space. The question is: how can your eCommerce agency get a bigger piece of the pie?

There’s fierce competition brewing among eCommerce agencies. The barrier to entry is low due to accessible tools and platforms, as well as the growing demand for eCommerce services. To help you navigate the new landscape, we explore the trends and strategies that may hint at the next eCommerce battleground. Let’s dive in.

Tips & strategies to drive eCommerce agency profitability in 2025

What are the emerging trends, what tactics do eCommerce agencies use, and how can you cash in on the eCommerce boom? Here are some of the strategies that can help eCommerce agencies drive profitability.

1. Specialized agencies vs. full-service agencies

The number of eCommerce agencies offering specialized services is growing by the day. The reason? The advantage of niche expertise. Agencies have recognized the importance of a unique offering in order to stand out.

How to do it?

• Build expertise in one area: Whether you focus on a specific platform, such as Shopify or Magento, or you choose a specific industry, such as fashion or furniture, having expertise in the area will help you land more clients who are looking for an experienced eCommerce agency.

• Create a strong positioning: Imagine being recognized as the best CRO agency or the go-to agency for global expansion. Having a strong positioning is the key to becoming recognizable.

• Deliver high-quality service in your area of expertise: Choosing a niche is not enough. You need to excel in what you do and walk the walk instead of talk the talk.

2. Use the power of automation

Retailers are constantly on a quest to improve efficiency, and automation plays a big role. That’s why eCommerce agencies implementing automation as part of their processes will have a significant competitive advantage. Automation frees up time, allowing you to focus on higher-leverage tasks.

How to do it?

• Automate feed management: Automation in feed management helps ensure products are correctly listed, optimized, and synced across platforms. This is crucial for eCommerce agencies that manage multiple clients with large inventories or operate across several sales channels such as Google Shopping, Facebook, Amazon, etc.

• Optimize campaign performance with centralized workflows: Get real-time data on how your clients’ products perform and optimize campaign goals based on ROAS, POAS, or CPS.

• Use the power of rules to automatically set up PPC campaigns, ad groups, ads, and keywords: Automatically optimize your PPC campaigns by dynamically inserting feed keywords to achieve greater relevance, improved click-through rates, and higher ROI.

3. Adopt the retainer model

Instead of chasing clients and dealing with unpredictable revenue, why not build a foundation of stability and recurring income? It’s all about shifting from short-term wins to long-term partnerships. Think of yourself as an extension of your client’s team, not just a vendor.

How to do it?

• Define retainer services: Create clear, valuable service packages (e.g., ongoing e-store management, advertising, SEO) with tiered pricing and defined deliverables.

• Establish regular communication: Set up frequent check-ins, performance reviews, and automated reporting to keep clients engaged and informed.

• Focus on client retention and upselling: Continuously deliver value, identify opportunities for upselling, and offer exclusive perks to encourage long-term partnerships.

• Streamline with automation: Use automation tools for reporting, invoicing, and task management to save time and scale efficiently.

4. Implement AI to increase efficiency

We already know the world is going digital, but over the past few years, it’s become a lot more intelligent, too. To stay ahead of the curve, you need to embrace artificial intelligence in your day-to-day work.

How to do it?

• Automate the generation of missing product attributes with AI-powered attribute enrichment: Use AI to automatically generate missing attributes, saving you time and ensuring your clients’ feeds are always complete and compliant.

• Use an AI social media post generator: Speed up the content creation process with AI to craft scroll-stopping posts for your clients across platforms.

• Optimize product photography with AI image tools: AI tools can automatically enhance product photos, adjusting lighting, background, and even resizing them to fit each platform’s specifications.

• Use AI video generator for eCommerce marketing videos: AI can whip up professional-grade product videos in minutes, helping you scale video content production for your clients.

5. Front loading more work early on

Leading eCommerce agencies know that investing the time upfront, whether it’s optimizing workflows or diving deep into strategy, pays off in the long run. By tackling the heavy lifting in the beginning, you’re setting yourself (and your clients) up for success.

“Front loading works great in SEO because it breaks the stigma that SEO takes too long.” - Kai Cromwell

How to do it?

• Build robust foundations early: Invest time upfront in detailed market research, solid strategy development, and optimizing product feeds—setting yourself up for smooth execution down the line.

• Create scalable systems: Automate repetitive tasks (like reporting, inventory updates, and ad management) early so you can scale without burning out or missing deadlines later.

• Maximize client onboarding: Start with comprehensive onboarding to align on goals, gather all necessary assets, and build strong working relationships. This will ensure a smooth partnership that pays dividends over time.

6. Offer/service stacking

Service stacking is a no-brainer way to boost your revenue by layering new, high-value services on top of what you're already offering. This gives your existing clients more value—and you get more profit.

How to do it?

• Create bundles: Service stacking and specialization don’t need to be at odds. Approach bundles in a way that emphasizes your expertise and the synergy between services you already excel at. For example, you can offer complementary services like paid ads and landing page optimization.

• Upsell data-driven insights: Add premium analytics or reporting packages to your existing services.

• Offer ongoing optimization packages: Set up monthly or quarterly optimization services (SEO audits, ad performance reviews, etc.) to keep clients improving year-round while boosting your agency’s monthly recurring revenue.

7. Whitelabel

Do you want to scale your business without dealing with the client side of things? It’s possible. Enter whitelabeling—delivering outstanding services to other agencies that they later sell to clients. This will allow you to run on higher margins without having to spend hours on client communication.

How to do it?

• Leverage your expertise: Package your specialized eCommerce services (like SEO, paid ads, or content creation) and offer them as whitelabel solutions to other agencies.

• Focus on high-value services: Choose services that don’t require constant client interaction, like data analysis, optimization, or automation.

• Automate client deliverables: Set up systems that automatically deliver reports, updates, and results to your partner agencies so you can focus on the work, not the communication.

Driving profitability as an eCommerce agency in 2025

And there you have it—seven strategies to drive profitability in 2025 and beyond. The horizon’s looking promising for eCommerce agencies. However, in order to capitalize on the potential, eCommerce agencies must keep a pulse on the new business landscape fueled by AI and automation.

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