Agency, freelancer or in-house hire: choosing your eCommerce resource based on workload

This question comes up in pretty much every sales call I take. "What do we do for our eCommerce — agency, freelance, or do we hire in-house?" And honestly, most of the time, the answer isn't the one the prospect expects. Because sometimes I tell them myself to forget the agency. We're too expensive for what they need, and hiding that would be dishonest.

Here's the actual trade-off I walk brands through, no sugar-coating to close a deal.

The starting point — how many days do you actually need

Before you pick who, you need to know how much. And that's where 90% of people get it wrong. They think in terms of "I need someone for my eCommerce" instead of thinking in real working days across the year.

Look at your peak period, Black Friday and Christmas: how many days a month do you need someone? And the rest of the year? Because there's a massive difference between needing one day a month and a full-timer running your operation nonstop.

I had this recently with a brand running several markets. Between continuous multi-market management, seasonal peaks and country managers firing off requests every single day, we were clearly looking at a full-time role, not a disguised part-time one. And from that point on, the math changes completely.

So before you read on, do your own estimate. Number of days during peak, number of days in a normal cadence. Even a rough figure. That number is what decides, not your gut.

When an agency makes sense (and when it doesn't)

I'll be transparent about our model, because it helps explain the pricing logic behind all this.

We work two ways. Either the full done-for-you setup, where we embed a head of eCommerce and an eCommerce manager into your team. The head of eCommerce handles the big initiatives, the roadmap, the build projects. The eCommerce manager handles the operational side, the day-to-day run. Or the tailored offer, where we only provide a head of eCommerce or only an eCommerce manager. And honestly, that's what clients pick most of the time. One person is enough in most cases.

Pricing works on a monthly retainer. One initiative plus the run included. If you want two initiatives running in parallel, there's an add-on. It's cleaner, and it acts as a guardrail. The retainer prevents unlimited requests, because otherwise you end up with a brand that wants everything, all the time, for the same price. We can also bill by day or by hours, but I much prefer the retainer.

An agency makes sense when you need seniority and broad expertise without wanting to juggle a pile of vendors. You want CRM, paid, dev, design and an eCommerce lead sitting on top? That's when an outsourced eCommerce team becomes relevant, because you've got every skill set in one place. When I was an in-house eCommerce director, managing five different agencies across the eCommerce scope was time-consuming and often pointless. Centralising is exactly how you avoid that.

But an agency makes zero sense if what you need is pure operational work, high volume, nonstop. In that case we're too expensive, and that's not where we bring real value. Paying an agency day rate for basic run work is throwing money away.

The freelance — the right call when budget is tight

If your volume is moderate and so is your budget, a freelance is often the best move. A good paid or eCommerce freelance will cost you way less than an agency. Figure around 1,000 euros, or a day rate in the ballpark of 300 euros depending on the profile and seniority.

And I say it every time: good profiles that aren't too expensive are rare. Borderline impossible to find. We struggle to recruit good people ourselves. So if you go the freelance route, pick one who doesn't have too many clients, or a small agency that's just getting started and genuinely hungry. Rather than a big outfit. The big agency is reassuring sometimes, but it's usually not where you get the best support.

A setup we see working a lot: a freelance or an apprentice handling the operational side, with us adding a layer of seniority on top. We set the direction, we steer, and the person executes. That gives you solid firepower on your eCommerce at a lower cost. You get the seniority without paying full price across the whole run.

In-house hiring — when the need becomes full-time

Here, everything changes.

When your need becomes full-time, forget the agency. It's going to cost you way too much. And I say it with full transparency, even when it goes against my direct commercial interest. If you need someone to run your operation continuously, handle the Black Friday and Christmas peaks, answer your teams' daily requests, you need to hire. Full stop.

A full-time role paid at agency rates just makes no economic sense. An in-house salary will always be cheaper than a full-time equivalent billed by an agency or a freelance on a day rate.

The problem is the recruiting itself. Like I said, finding a good profile that isn't too expensive is hard. So you need to run several tracks at once before you commit. Bring in a recruitment firm. Tap your network. Look at the freelances you've already spotted — sometimes one of them is looking to settle into an in-house role. The goal: have all your cards in hand before you decide, not get stuck because you bet on a single option.

My decision grid

If I had to sum up my grid. One or two days a month with a tight budget, go freelance, or a managed apprentice. The moment you want seniority, broad expertise and several initiatives without managing five vendors, an agency becomes relevant, usually the tailored version. And when you're at a full-time load with continuous management, seasonal peaks and daily requests, you hire in-house. The agency will be too expensive and I'll tell you so myself.

And one important point people forget. These choices aren't mutually exclusive. The freelance-executes-plus-agency-oversees setup is one of the best for growing brands. Like us, who often sit on top of an external acquisition agency playing the eCommerce director role. You combine resources based on where you need seniority and where you just need hands.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to one thing: put the right seniority in the right place, and stop paying agency prices for run work. Before you sign anything, estimate your real days across the year. That number will give you the answer before you even call a single salesperson. And if you want to dig into the real profitability of your store before hiring anyone, start with your P&L, not your campaigns.