How to Choose an E-commerce Agency: 7 Questions Before You Build

When choosing an e-commerce agency, the thing to look at is not the design portfolio but whether the store will sell once it is built. The right agency recommends a platform based on your catalog, builds the store in your name, puts the payment, shipping, accounting and marketplace connections into a written scope, and hands over measurement and an SEO foundation ready on launch day. Ask the seven questions below in the proposal meeting; if the answers are clear and in writing, you are on the right track.

Why do some newly built stores fail to sell?

The pattern we see often is this: the store looks good, but product pages load slowly, customers drop off at checkout, shipping labels are fixed by hand and stock does not match the marketplace. Then, when the agency changes, it turns out the store cannot be moved. Most of these problems are decided before the build, when the agency is chosen. The proposal meeting is the last moment when you can fix them cheaply.

1. Is the agency tied to a single platform?

Some agencies work with only one platform and recommend it to every business. Yet the right platform depends on your catalog, the markets you sell to, your integration needs and your budget. Hosted platforms (Shopify, or Turkish platforms such as ikas, T-Soft and Ticimax) are quick to set up and have a low maintenance burden; businesses with non-standard pricing, a dealer structure or processes closely tied to production may need custom software.

The question to ask: "Which platform do you recommend for my catalog and my market, and why? Why are the other options not a fit?" A single answer with no reasoning shows that a product is being sold, not a solution.

2. In whose name will the store be set up?

The domain, the platform account, the payment provider contract, shipping agreements, Google Analytics, Search Console and ad accounts should all be opened in your business's name. The agency gets administrator access to these accounts; it does not own them. Otherwise, when you part ways with the agency, your store is effectively held hostage.

Legal obligations also belong to the business. If you sell in Turkey, the Ministry of Trade requires e-commerce service providers to register with the Electronic Commerce Information System (ETBIS) through e-Devlet, the government portal, before starting operations. A good agency will not do this registration for you, but it will remind you of it in the pre-launch checklist and ask whether the distance sales contract, pre-contract information and KVKK privacy notice are in place on the site. Work with your legal counsel on the content of these texts.

3. If my existing store is migrated, will my rankings be preserved?

If there is a migration, this question should sit at the center of the proposal. Google's site move documentation describes the process clearly: a mapping table between old and new URLs is prepared, server-side permanent (301) redirects are set up from old URLs to new ones, and these redirects are kept in place as long as possible, generally for at least a year. According to the same document, moving most pages of a small or medium-sized site can take a few weeks.

Ask the agency: "Who prepares the mapping table, who tests the redirects, and who monitors Search Console in the first weeks after launch?" A team that has done migrations before will answer step by step.

4. Who sets up the integrations, and who fixes them when they break?

A store does not work on its own. Payment (virtual POS and 3D Secure), shipping, e-invoicing or accounting, ERP/CRM and marketplaces are all connected. When order, stock and customer data come together in one place, manual corrections and stock errors go down.

The proposal should list every included integration one by one: which shipping carrier, which marketplace, which accounting or ERP software. "Integrations will be done" is not a scope. The contract should also say who will step in, and how fast, when a connection breaks after launch. For businesses running Canias ERP, our İzmir team handles these integrations as a Canias ERP Gold Partner.

5. How will speed and conversion be measured?

A fast, simple store sells more, but "fast" means nothing until it is measured. Google's Core Web Vitals give you a good baseline: for 75% of real visits, the main content of the page should load within 2.5 seconds (LCP), interactions should get a response within 200 milliseconds (INP), and layout shift should stay below 0.1 (CLS).

Ask the agency: "What are your target values for the product page and checkout, and how will you show them at handover? How do you measure drop-off between cart and checkout?" If the answer includes analytics setup, a funnel report and testing, you are on the right track; if you only hear about design, something is missing.

6. What will be ready on launch day, and is the scope in writing?

Analytics, conversion tags, ad measurement connections, the sitemap and basic SEO settings should be ready on launch day. Measurement added later loses the data of the first months. It should also be clear who prepares product titles, descriptions and photos, and in what format. If you plan to sell abroad, a multilingual structure, multiple currencies and international shipping should be discussed at the start; adding them later often means rebuilding.

Make sure the proposal states:

• How many products will be uploaded and the category structure
• Which payment, shipping, accounting and marketplace connections are included
• The number of design revisions
• The pre-launch test list (payment, returns, mobile)
• Team training and handover documentation
• The post-launch maintenance and support period, and response times

Build time varies with the platform and the catalog; the proposal should also say which scope the agency's timeline applies to.

7. Is marketing handled by the same team, or "later"?

The real work starts once the store goes live: Google and social media ads, SEO, marketplace management, email and SMS. If the team that built the store and the marketing team are separate, everyone points at the other when conversion drops. A team working under one roof can look at ad and sales data and fix the store itself. If you work with separate teams, write down from the start who will access the measurement accounts and who makes the call when there is a problem.

Proposal comparison checklist

• Is the platform recommendation backed by reasons?
• Are all accounts opened in the business's name?
• If there is a migration, is the redirect plan in writing?
• Are the integrations listed one by one, with a clear owner for maintenance?
• Are there measurable targets for speed and conversion?
• Will measurement and SEO be ready on launch day?
• Is out-of-scope work spelled out?

If you are looking for a more general question list for website projects, see our guide on how to choose a web design agency. At Piküp Medya, the same team runs store builds, integrations and digital marketing from our İstanbul and Dubai offices. You can review the scope of our e-commerce service, and if you would like to assess your current store or plan together, get in touch.