Amazon Agency Leaders: Are You Providing Strategy … or Just Supplying Tactics? A
By Simon Ellicott · February 10, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Amazon Agency Leaders: Are You Providing Strategy … or Just Supplying Tactics?
Amazon agencies don’t have a strategy problem, they have a definition problem.
Let’s tighten the lens:
Short term tactics aren’t the enemy, they’re necessary.
But most agencies have quietly convinced themselves those tactics are the strategy. They’re not.
Tactics are inputs. Strategy is the decision system they feed into.
Optimising listings.
Adjusting bids.
Launching new ad types.
Testing creatives.
Running promos.
All useful.
All valid.
All meaningless in isolation.
Without a clearly defined, pre agreed outcome, tactics become motion, not progress.
A real Amazon strategy starts with decisions:
What role does Amazon actually play in this business?
Where should growth come from, and where shouldn’t it?
What trade offs are acceptable?
What does success look like commercially, not just in platform?
Only then do tactics earn their place.
Execution should exist to answer strategic questions:
Are we protecting margin or buying share?
Are we scaling certainty or paying to learn?
Are we optimising for discovery, defence, or repeat purchase?
When tactics feed strategy, performance data becomes insight.
When tactics replace strategy, performance data becomes noise.
This is where most agencies fall down.
They know how to do the work, they can’t clearly articulate why this work, now, for this brand.
Category understanding should be the first filter.
Not “what keywords are competitors bidding on” —
but where demand is genuinely winnable and profitable.
Strategy narrows focus.
Tactics then go deep instead of wide and wasteful.
Profitability has to anchor everything.
Efficiency gains should be protected, reinvested, or deliberately spent.
If no one agrees which outcome matters most, agencies default to chasing metrics that look good in reports and quietly damage the business.
Advertising exposes the confusion fastest.
Amazon is pay-to-play, yet spend decisions are still reactive.
Strategy defines who you’re targeting and why.
Bids, budgets, formats simply execute that intent over time.
Content works the same way. Optimisation isn’t strategy, it’s hygiene.
Necessary for visibility, relevance, and AI-driven discovery, but not the point.
Here’s the reality check:
AI will execute faster than most agencies ever could, but it won’t decide what’s worth executing.
Agencies that survive won’t be better button pushers, they’ll be better decision makers.
Strategy is the destination.
Tactics are the route choices.
Confusing the two is why so much Amazon activity looks busy…
yet goes nowhere.
So I’ll leave you with the uncomfortable question:
Are you being hired for strategic judgement ...
or just tactical output?
#AmazonAgencyStrategy #CommerceDecisionMaking #Amazon
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