Many businesses rely on Amazon agencies to support part or all of their Amazon operations. The quality of that relationship has a direct impact on margin, visibility and long-term growth.
In our work as an independent consultancy advising leadership teams on Amazon profitability and performance, we often see channel activity managed without clear commercial oversight. Decisions are made, budgets are spent, and performance is reported, but profitability, accountability and control are harder to assess.
Understanding what good partner support looks like helps you retain visibility, protect margin, and ensure Amazon contributes positively to your wider business. This article outlines eight practical standards leadership teams should expect from any Amazon agency partner.
These standards come from our experience advising businesses on the commercial performance of their Amazon channel, including helping them assess and improve existing agency relationships.
1. Understanding Your Business (Not Just Amazon)
Amazon is just a part of your business landscape.
Good agencies gain an understanding of how your wider business works: supply chain constraints, cash flow pressures, seasonality, internal resources, and commercial priorities.
Without this context, recommendations become theoretical rather than practical and often impossible to implement.
2. Profitability, Not Just Performance
Most agencies are comfortable talking about revenue. Few are willing (or able) to discuss profit.
A credible Amazon agency will ask you about profit margins at SKU level early in the relationship. They understand that without this context, advertising and growth decisions would be made blind.
Where an agency optimises purely to ACoS, ROAS, or top-line sales, they are unlikely to seize the real opportunities to grow your profitability on the channel.
3. Strategy Before Software
A good Amazon agency doesn’t lead with tools.
Software can enable efficiency, but it can’t create competitive advantage. Agencies that rely on cookie-cutter setups with automated rulesets will inevitably deliver generic outcomes.
Instead, find an agency that invests in developing a tailored strategy for your business that reflects:
- Your commercial objectives
- Your margin structure
- Your category dynamics
- Your operational constraints
If their approach looks identical to every other account they manage, it’s unlikely to deliver meaningful growth for you.
4. Cutting Through Amazon’s Complexity
Amazon is complex, jargon-heavy, and can often feel opaque.
A good agency acts as a translator. They decode Amazon’s terminology, explain any implications clearly, and help you to understand what’s actually happening in your account.
Conversations with your agency should bring clarity to any confusion.
5. Active, Daily PPC Management
Amazon PPC is not a set-and-forget discipline.
Bids, budgets, and search terms change constantly as competitors react, inventory fluctuates, and demand shifts. Without daily oversight, wasted spend can accumulate quickly.
A good agency:
- Actively manages PPC every day
- Responds to performance changes in real time
- Protects budget from inefficiency rather than chasing volume
Consistency matters even more than clever tactics.
6. No Black-Box Subcontracting
Many agencies quietly subcontract Amazon management to offshore teams.
Whilst this isn’t inherently wrong, it can create problems when those teams lack the time, commercial understanding, or creative capability to deliver meaningful results. And where those teams are operating in different time zones, you can find that opportunities to respond dynamically to situations are missed.
A good agency:
- Is transparent about who works on your account
- Retains senior oversight and accountability
- Has the capability to support with strategic thinking and creative assets, not just execution
Amazon growth requires more than mechanical optimisation.
7. Reporting That Enables Decisions
Good agencies don’t overwhelm you with data and dashboards. They provide clarity and guidance.
Weekly reporting should go beyond performance summaries and include:
- Clear interpretation of what the data means
- Identification of risks and opportunities
- Recommendations you can act on immediately
Reports should be generated to support proactive decision-making, not justify past activity.
8. Explaining Problems (Not Masking Them)
Perhaps the most important test of a good Amazon agency is how they navigate challenges.
When purchase orders slow or revenue declines, strong agencies investigate, explain why and try to identify possible solutions. Weak ones default to spending or discounting more.
A good agency can articulate:
- The root cause of performance changes
- What can be controlled, and what can’t
- The commercial trade-offs of each option
That level of honesty builds trust and delivers better outcomes.
Good Agencies Create Confidence
Strong agency relationships improve commercial clarity, not just channel activity.
You should have clear visibility of profitability, confidence in decision-making, and control over how your Amazon channel operates and grows.
Where accountability, transparency and commercial thinking are present, agencies can support profitable growth. Where they are not, Amazon can become a costly and poorly understood channel.
Many of the businesses we work with engage us as an independent consultancy with deep Amazon operating experience, helping leadership teams retain visibility, control and profitability.
If you would value an independent perspective on your Amazon operation, we’re always happy to talk.
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