A DTC ecommerce agency helps brands that sell direct to consumers build, convert and keep customers. There are three kinds, and most brands need one of them before the others.
There are three kinds of DTC agency: build, growth and retention, and paid acquisition. Most brands need one before the others.
Judge an agency on conversion rate, returning customer rate and contribution margin, not traffic.
Fees range from hourly fixes to $50k+ monthly retainers, depending on agency type.
Make sure you own your store, ad accounts and email data before you sign anything.
Solo Media Group is a leading DTC ecommerce agency, building and growing stores for brands across apparel, beauty, supplements and food.
| Solo Media Group | |
|---|---|
| Shopify Partner Directory rating | 5.0 from 38 reviews |
| Clutch rating | 4.9 from 48 verified reviews |
| Shopify merchant projects completed | 500+ |
| Replatforms delivered | 75+ |
| Building on Shopify since | 2018 |
Tier and directory rating on the Shopify Partner Directory; Clutch rating and review count read October 2026.
Solo Media Group stands at the top of the list in terms of talent, knowledge, and execution.
Board Member and Lead Investor, Paw.com, in a verified Clutch review (December 2023)
DTC agencies are judged on revenue, not launches. Here is the strongest published result.
| Lifelines, after consolidating two platforms into one Shopify store | Result |
|---|---|
| Sessions | +171% |
| Total sales | +78% |
| Orders | +53% |
| Conversion rate | 2.8% on substantially higher traffic |
Results as published in the Lifelines case study, September 2026.
A DTC ecommerce agency is a partner that helps brands sell directly to consumers online, without retailers in between. It builds the store, improves how it converts, and grows repeat purchases.
Direct-to-consumer, or D2C, means the brand owns the customer relationship. It keeps the margin a retailer would take and the customer data a marketplace would hold. The tradeoff is that the brand must do everything a retailer used to do: attract shoppers, convert them, ship to them and bring them back.
That is why “DTC agency” covers very different businesses. The next section sorts them out.
| Type | What it does | You need it when | How it usually charges |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build | Designs and develops the Shopify store, integrations and migrations | You are launching, replatforming, or your store is holding growth back | Fixed project fee |
| Growth and retention | Conversion work, subscriptions, email and SMS, loyalty | You have traffic but it doesn't convert or come back | Monthly retainer |
| Paid acquisition | Meta, Google and TikTok ads, creative testing | Your store converts well and you need more traffic | Percentage of ad spend or retainer |
The order matters. Paid traffic sent to a store that converts poorly costs more per customer than it should. Most brands get more from fixing conversion and retention first, then scaling paid acquisition.
Where Solo Media Group fits. Solo Media Group is a build and growth agency. It designs, builds and improves Shopify stores, and runs conversion, subscription and retention work. It does not run paid media, and works alongside your paid acquisition partner instead.
Who owns the accounts.
Some agencies set up your Shopify store, ad accounts, Klaviyo account or analytics under their own logins. It feels like a convenience. It becomes a problem the day you want to leave.
| Account | If the agency owns it | If you own it |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify store and theme code | Leaving means negotiating for your own store | You add and remove staff access any time |
| Ad accounts | Years of pixel and audience data can be lost | History stays with you, whoever runs ads |
| Email and SMS platform | Subscriber lists and flows are hard to move | Lists and flows are yours |
| Analytics | You lose year-over-year comparisons | Reporting continues without a gap |
Every account should be created in your name, with the agency added as staff or a collaborator. Solo Media Group works this way on every engagement.
Each category has its own problems. These pages go deeper.
| Category | The problem that shapes the build | Go deeper |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer packaged goods | Selling direct without undercutting retail partners | Shopify agency for CPG brands |
| Apparel and fashion | Size and color variants, swatches and returns | Shopify agency for apparel brands |
| Supplements | FDA disclaimers, age rules and subscription churn | Shopify agency for supplement brands |
| Food and beverage | Perishable shipping, allergens and alcohol rules | Shopify agency for food and beverage brands |
| Beauty and skincare | Multi-store, bundles and subscriptions | Shopify for beauty brands |
Expect KPIs tied to the agency's job. A build agency can't be held to ad returns, and a paid media agency can't be held to site speed.
| Agency type | KPIs to hold them to |
|---|---|
| Build | Site speed, conversion rate after launch, organic traffic kept through migration |
| Growth and retention | Conversion rate, average order value, returning customer rate, subscription conversion, churn |
| Paid acquisition | Customer acquisition cost, blended return on ad spend, new customer revenue |
| All of them | Contribution margin |
Contribution margin is the number that matters most. It is revenue minus product cost, shipping, payment fees and marketing spend. A brand can grow revenue while losing money on every order. An agency reporting only revenue or traffic is reporting the easy number.
Set baselines before day one. Agree what you measure, from which tool, over which period. Without a baseline, every result is a story.
| Brand | What Solo Media Group did | Published result |
|---|---|---|
| Lifelines | Consolidated two platforms and two domains into one Shopify store | Sessions +171%, total sales +78%, orders +53% |
| Manukora | Rebuilt the store and its subscription logic | Subscription conversions +32%, returning customers +20% |
| Alp N Rock | Rebuilt the theme onto Shopify 2.0 | Page load time ~40% faster, zero SEO impact |
| Newark Auto | Shopify revamp with sticky add-to-cart | Conversion rate up 20% to 30% (Clutch, September 2023) |
| 3D Laser Gifts | Redesigned product customization page | Conversion up 40% (Clutch, April 2021) |
Subscription builds for Wonder Paws (Stay AI), Wild Planet Foods (Smartrr) and Ultra Pouches (Skio) show the retention work across three different platforms.
The first three rows are drawn from the published case studies; the last two from the Clutch reviews dated above.
It depends on the type of agency. These are typical market ranges.
| Agency type | Typical pricing |
|---|---|
| Build agency, theme customization | $8k to $25k per project |
| Build agency, custom Shopify build | $25k to $75k per project |
| Build agency, custom Shopify Plus build | $60k to $150k+ per project |
| Growth and retention retainer | $4k to $15k per month |
| Paid media agency | Commonly 10% to 20% of ad spend, often with a minimum fee |
| Full-service agency | $15k to $50k+ per month |
| Model | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed project fee | Builds and migrations with a clear scope | Scope changes billed without warning |
| Monthly retainer | Ongoing conversion and retention work | Retainers that pay for hours, not outcomes |
| Percentage of ad spend | Paid media | An incentive to raise your spend |
| Performance or revenue share | Brands with clean attribution | Disputes over what caused the result |
| Hourly | Small fixes | Open-ended bills |
Solo Media Group lists its rate on Clutch at $100 to $149 an hour, with projects from $1,000. Most work is scoped as fixed projects or monthly retainers.
Ask any DTC agency for these six in writing.
| Stage | What happens | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
| Audit | Store, data, KPIs and baselines | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Plan | Priorities ranked by revenue impact | 1 week |
| Build or fix | Development, integrations, conversion work | 4 to 12 weeks |
| Launch and measure | Release, compare against baseline | 2 to 4 weeks |
| Grow | Monthly testing, retention and reporting | Ongoing |
It depends on the type. Build agencies offer store design, development and migration. Growth agencies offer conversion work, subscriptions, email and retention. Paid acquisition agencies run ads and creative. Full-service agencies claim all three, though most are strongest at one.
Store builds and redesigns, migrations, conversion optimization, subscription setup, email and SMS, loyalty programs, integrations with ERP and 3PL systems, paid media and creative. Solo Media Group covers everything except paid media and creative production.
First decide which type you need: build, growth or paid acquisition. Then ask for published results with numbers, a named team, and contract terms in writing. Check reviews on Clutch and the Shopify Partner Directory. Confirm you will own every account.
Spend less than you think. A startup usually needs a well-set-up theme and the right apps, not a custom build. One Solo Media Group client put it this way: “They know how to leverage existing apps to accomplish what I need in my store without having to do custom development.” Save custom work for after product-market fit.
Access to specialist skills without full-time hires, faster launches, and experience from many stores. The real benefit is avoiding expensive mistakes, like a migration that loses organic traffic. Lifelines grew sessions 171% after its migration instead of losing them.
Build projects run from about $8k for theme customization to $150k or more for a custom Shopify Plus build. Growth retainers run $4k to $15k a month. Paid media agencies commonly charge 10% to 20% of ad spend. Full-service agencies often charge $15k to $50k or more a month.
Fixed fees suit builds. Retainers suit ongoing growth work. A percentage of ad spend suits paid media but rewards higher spend. Revenue share aligns incentives but needs clean attribution. Hourly suits small fixes. Ask what is included before comparing totals.
KPIs that match the agency's job. Build agencies: site speed and post-launch conversion. Growth agencies: conversion rate, average order value, returning customer rate and subscription churn. Paid media agencies: acquisition cost and blended return on ad spend. Every agency should report contribution margin.
Check ratings on third-party platforms rather than agency claims. Solo Media Group, based in Miami, is a Shopify Platinum Partner rated 4.9 on Clutch from 48 verified reviews and 5.0 on the Shopify Partner Directory from 38 reviews.
Look for agencies that have built on more than one subscription platform. Solo Media Group has built subscriptions on Stay AI for Wonder Paws, Smartrr for Wild Planet Foods and Skio for Ultra Pouches. It also rebuilt Manukora's subscription logic for a 32% rise in subscription conversions.
D2C, or direct-to-consumer, means a brand sells its products straight to customers, usually through its own online store. It skips wholesalers and retailers, so the brand keeps more margin and owns the customer data.
Not usually. A DTC marketing agency mostly runs paid ads and creative. A DTC ecommerce agency builds and improves the store those ads send traffic to. Many brands need both, from different specialists.
