Each month, we’re gathering information from ecommerce agencies: their results, thoughts, and predictions, and then sharing these insights in an aggregated and anonymous industry report.

Whether you're an agency owner or just looking for more information, this report can help you get a better understanding of the state of ecommerce agencies.

The current state of ecommerce agencies: trends, statistics & outlook (November 2024)

The numbers we’ve gotten throughout the year always have a big spike at "5" (meaning no change); and November is no exception. However this month there’s a noticeable increase in higher ratings (6-10), which means marketing budgets went up this month. The November numbers lean more towards bigger budget increases compared to the steady trend for the rest of the year. This shows that customers are spending more on marketing, probably to get ready for big holiday shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

​”I’m at a solid 9 in optimism about eCommerce opportunities over the next six months, particularly from an SEO perspective. 

Google's been pushing Shopping and Free Listing results harder, which tells us they’re all-in on making search even more eCommerce-friendly. It’s clear the game is evolving, and if we don’t keep tweaking our optimization strategies, we’re going to get left behind.

What’s really exciting, though, is how buying behavior is all over the map right now. People aren’t just sticking to one platform anymore—they’re bouncing between social, search, and who-knows-what-else to make decisions. 

Good eCommerce SEO these days isn’t about just crushing it in one spot; it’s about figuring out how to connect the dots across all these channels and staying ahead of where people are actually shopping.”

Jason Berkowitz

Founder, Break The Web

One of the most unchanged graphs of the whole year. However the spikes on 7-8 likely mean that more brands have increased their spending. This suggests customers are preparing and making their final touches, getting ready for the holiday shopping season,

“We see many brands today investing in a streamlined experience that connects online and in-person shopping, recognising the importance of a unified journey for their customers. Using Shopify POS, we’ve seen how this integration not only enhances in-store efficiency but also aligns loyalty programs across channels, creating a seamless connection for returning customers. Recently, we helped Shop Santé make this shift, bringing together their online and offline touch-points under one system.”

Olivier Lambret‍

Director of Medito Digital

This graph shows how customers' willingness to spend on agency services changed in November 2024 compared to the year average. In November, more customers rated between 0 and 3, meaning they're less willing to spend right now. Compared to the rest of the year, it looks like agency owners are getting more careful with their budgets, probably because of economic uncertainties.

However, as you’ll see in some of the quotes below; November has also been a month in which many brands have decided to pull the trigger and hire an agency. Maybe foreseeing not being fully ready for BFCM? Maybe because they sensed some tail winds coming up?

“Surprisingly - and what I wouldn’t have expected a few months ago - we’ve seen a decrease in potential client and existing client price sensitivity. All throughout 2024, we were basically competing for the bottom in terms of who could offer the lowest service price. Now, however, I’ve noticed a shift in the sales conversations to focus more about results over cost.

‍As an agency, In Social has a ton of case studies, client testimonials, and all around data to back up that our service costs are worth the price (we end up paying for ourselves many times over), and have noticed that new clients are actually taking that information and listening to it, whereas, before, it was pretty much ignored because our pricing was perceived as too high compared to other “agencies.”

As many in Ecomm know, it doesn’t take much for someone to create an “agency,” so there are a lot of them out there acting as if they are one, even if they have no idea what they’re doing! It feels like, now, there is definitely a shift in brands wanting better service and results at a fair price, vs getting terrible service and results at a very cheap price. We’ve already landed a few new clients where we’ve taken over some of those “agencies” and paid for ourselves a few times over, already! - guess brands are finally sick of dealing with the consequences of their choices!”

‍Jess Grossman‍

Founder & CEO, In Social

“We've noticed increased price sensitivity to marketing services costs, with clients scrutinizing attribution much more than previously to see if not only the adspend is worth the investment, but whether the actual cost to manage said adspend is a line item they're comfortable with.”

Shannon Conheady

Founder at The Ecomm Guys

This graph shows how likely customers are to bring their marketing in-house instead of outsourcing to agencies. The November 2024 data shows more agencies leaning towards a middle option, but fewer are fully into outsourcing compared to the year average (9-10). Looks like agency owners are being more careful, maybe trying to find a balance between control and keeping costs low.

“Businesses should focus on 3 things to increase ecommerce revenues: Eyeballs. Engagements. Empowerment.“

Jason Ciment,

CEO at Get Visible

This graph shows what agencies think their revenue will look like in six months. In November 2024, most expect either no big changes or a significant increase, but fewer are as optimistic compared to the year average. It looks like agencies are being cautious, with mixed expectations for growth.

"At eCommerce Today, we’re seeing some of the best deals in years across our portfolio of businesses. The competition this season will be intense, as brands pull out all the stops to attract customers. It’s shaping up to be an exciting time for eCommerce, with businesses leveraging creative strategies and standout offers to stay ahead."

Stefan Chiriacescu
CEO, eCommerce Today - Shopify Agency

“We've noticed longer sales cycles for development related services, and it feels like Q4 rush almost came a little 'late' this year. September we are normally almost completely booked out for Q4, but this year we only booked out the next few months in early October.”

Shannon Conheady

Founder at The Ecomm Guys

This graph shows how optimistic agency owners are about eCommerce opportunities over the next six months. In November 2024, there’s a mix of opinions, with some leaning towards high optimism (8-10), while others are more cautious compared to the year average. Overall, it seems like there’s a bit more uncertainty, but also a good chunk of optimism for the future.

"The eCommerce's future is filled with challenges and opportunities. The key to thriving lies in our ability to stay agile and responsive. By fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration, we can adapt to change and actively shape it, ensuring we deliver exceptional value to our clients and drive sustained success in this dynamic landscape."

Ahmed Elghobashy

Founder and CEO, Simplixi Innovations 

“We noticed a notable shift in merchant activity in October. When it rains it pours, we had a large number of merchants seemingly overnight commit to service agreements.”

Shannon Conheady

Founder at The Ecomm Guys

By the time we ran our survey in November 2024, we already knew who was going to be the next president of the United States. Up until then, in September and October, 47% of our agencies had a pessimistic feeling regarding the results of these elections affecting ecommerce sales. 

In November 2024, once we already knew the election results, this pessimistic feeling dropped from 47 to 33%. The open question at this point is whether this reduction in pessimism is due to the fact that Donald Trump won the elections, or whether agencies expected some sort of immediate negative consequence (e.g. protests) that would affect the economy in general.

 "After a year of continual elections (8 major ones in total), we should see brands starting to raise their budgets and consumers feeling more confident and spend money again. Thanks to greater the political stability, I think 2025 will be a superb year"

AJ Saunders
CEO at Audacious Commerce

We closed this survey the Monday before BFCM. And while it’s not officially Black Friday or Cyber Monday yet, lots of brands had already started running promotions so several agencies had access to some early results.

From the early data gathered up until the night of Wednesday, Oct 27; it looks like this year’s BFCM might register slightly lower sales than in 2023. However, it could also be that consumers are waiting to the actual Black Friday and Cyber Monday to place most of their orders.

"As we look ahead to Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year, I’d rate my outlook at around a 7. While economic uncertainty may impact some consumer behaviour, we’re seeing strong commitment from brands to maximise this peak season. Many are adopting creative strategies to drive sales without heavy discounting—focusing instead on building customer loyalty and enhancing the shopping experience. We expect this year’s event to at least match, if not slightly exceed, 2023 levels, as brands leverage smarter promotion tactics and consumers seek more meaningful purchases."

Ultan O'Callaghan‍

CEO at Thooja

“Despite economic headwinds, we're seeing continued optimism and investment in ecommerce from our clients. We’re seeing strong BF/CM budgets with our clients looking to outsource more of their operations.“

Jordan Parrello

Director at Gudu

“Our clients that have a clear value proposition and competitive advantage in their industry continue to scale well, and we'd expect them to continue growing YOY and to easily surpass their results from last year's BFCM.”

Shannon Conheady

Founder at The Ecomm Guys

Predicting the future ecommerce agency trends

We're setting our sights high with this industry report. We're not just content with understanding today's trends; we want to get a sneak peek into tomorrow’s. The idea is to track these insights over time and start predicting where ecommerce is headed.

This isn’t just number crunching; it’s about getting a sense of the human element behind the data.

‍This index gets better with more voices joining in. It’s a community thing – the more agencies chip in, the richer and more insightful this index becomes. It acts as a growing, evolving knowledge base for all of us in the ecommerce sphere.

Some of our agency participants include: Online Origins, SeaMonster Studios, Swanky Agency, Thooja, Audacious Commerce, Ecommerce Today, For My People, RPF Agency, Pluro, Webcetera, SmartBug Media, Gloross, VT Labs, Motif, TatJones, Growth Heist, EastsideCo, SmartSites, MageMontreal, GetVisible, StubGroup, Thooja, Gudu, TenThousandFootView, Storetasker, and SEOWorks.

If you're an agency and would like to participate and receive the full report, you can email ReferralCandy's Partnerships Lead Raul Galera at raul [at] referralcandy.com