Los Angeles has become one of the most thriving ecommerce ecosystems in the world. From fashion and beauty to wellness, food and entertainment brands, the competition in LA’s DTC landscape is brutal and endlessly inventive. Choosing the right agency to develop and optimize your Shopify store is the fundamental decision in whether you thrive or languish in this fast-paced marketplace.
Having worked with dozens of LA-based ecommerce brands from fashion to beauty, wellness and consumer electronics there is a clear picture that emerges as to how the best select their agency partners. Brands that get this right have a huge competitive advantage. The ones that fall short generally waste six to 12 months and hundreds of thousands of dollars in the search for a suitable fit.
Why Local Expertise Matters in LA
Geography isn’t the only factor when searching for a Los Angeles Shopify agency, but it depends too. Apart from the broadsheet highlights that might read a great deal like a resume, LA-based agencies know local brands, appreciate what consumers want/need in their experience and have some robust insights into the dynamics within particular industries that just can’t be mirror image replicated by an agency on another continent. They have never confused a Silverlake lifestyle brand with a Downtown LA streetwear label and they design for that. They know the photographic standards that LA buyers expect and how aggressive the feeling in this space is.
Local agencies also provide practical benefits: in-person workshops and strategy sessions, on-site photography and content coordination, the ability to visit your pop-ups or trade shows and response times that are reasonable when urgent issues arise. “It provides them with things that are not in play if your [advertising] partner is only working remotely like the relationship you can build, and some of those friction points are reduced.”
And speaking of that, don’t ignore LA. Some of the top Shopify Plus agencies are national firms with deep Los Angeles client rosters. They might be based on New York, Austin or abroad but have deep experience working with LA-based brands and understand the market forces. Whether this is in your local neighborhood or not, finding an agency that understands your market and knows how to deliver results is the key.
What LA’s Top Brands Look for in an Agency
I work with ecommerce brands in LA and these people get three things above everything else: design quality, speed of execution and strategic thinking. Design quality as LA brands booty compete in visuals-driven competitive sets where product aesthetics are relevant to brand perception and intent-to-purchase. Speed — because trend cycles in la move quickly, and brands need agency partners who are able to do fast turnarounds on design updates, new feature launches, and seasonal campaigns. Strategic thinking — The best agencies help you develop a future-focused perspective, so that you’re able to anticipate market changes and take advantage of emerging opportunities instead of simply reacting to them.
Creative agencies with strength in deeper Shopify Plus have been the most successful players in the LA market. A good Shopify Plus ecommerce agency for LA brands should be just as comfy talking about brand strategy, visual identity and content marketing as they are talking checkout extensibility and API integrations. That technical and creative capabilities need to work in concert, which is why integrated agencies generally do better than pure development shops in this market.
Vertical expertise is also increasingly important. Within LA, clusters of ecommerce can be found in beauty, fashion, wellness and food and beverage. Agencies that have deep vertical experience already have high-quality pattern recognition in place, which helps them make decisions faster while minimizing expensive mistakes along the way. They have seen what resonates in your category, and they can bring that experience to your brand.
Evaluating Agencies for LA-Based Brands
For a start, check out the agency’s clients. Do they partner with brands in your vertical and at your scale? If you are a premium beauty brand, an agency that predominantly builds B2B industrial supply stores is not going to provide the level of design and UX expertise that you need. Category expertise matters because it influences everything from design sensibility to the recommended app stack to how conversion optimization effort is prioritized.
Seek references with brands similar in size and category. The questions that matter most: Did the agency consistently hit its timelines? Were there budget surprises? • Given urgent requests, how responsive were they? What were the measurable results of the engagement? How did they deal with the differences or adversity? In particular, references from brands in your vertical are worth their weight in gold because they can attest to the agency’s knowledge of your market.
LA brands: Evaluate the agency’s design capabilities closely. Ask agencies for portfolio walkthroughs where they discuss the strategy behind design choices. Did they create with the label’s dream customer in mind? Can they show how design decisions influenced conversion metrics. Do they have comparative performance data for before and after? Great agencies are proud of their results and excited to compare the data behind their design decisions.
Making the Partnership Work
LA brands that get the most from their agency relationships put work into partnership. They share data freely, include the agency in strategy and brand conversations, give timely feedback and consider them a true partner rather than vendor to be managed. When the agency is treated like a partner, problems are identified early and solutions are brainstormed openly to bring them to market faster.
Los Angeles ecommerce ecosystem favors brands that plays aggressively, look great and convert effectively. The right Shopify Plus agency will help ensure you’re achieving all three, and the best partnerships evolve into long-term relationships that deliver sustainable growth over the course of years — not just successful one-off projects.
Geography borders who we’re going to get for Shopify Plus work, but don’t just blindly use geography as your sole qualifier. The key components here are pertinent vertical experience, proven conversion results, the quality of their design aligning with your brand standards and the communication language that best suits how your team works. The agencies that achieve the best results for LA brands consistently share both a deep understanding of local markets and national-calibre technical and strategic capabilities.
The competitive intensity of the LA market renders agency selection a truly high-stakes decision. Brands that engage with the wrong agency fall behind competitors who are faster, better designers, and better converters.
