Quiet Panic Rising The more I speak to Amazon agency owners… The more anxiety I
By Simon Ellicott · April 21, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Quiet Panic Rising
The more I speak to Amazon agency owners…
The more anxiety I encounter.
Not publicly.
Not in posts.
Not in the “we’re crushing it” updates.
Privately.
Behind the scenes.
Because despite all the noise on LinkedIn…
A large portion of agencies are unsettled.
Some are starting to panic.
Some are quietly exploring exits.
Many are realising their businesses aren’t as in-demand as they thought.
Not because the market isn’t active, because buyers are selective.
And most agencies still look… interchangeable.
Now (to be clear) this isn’t everyone.
There are agencies making serious gains right now and I’m lucky enough to be working with some of them.
But they’ve done something most haven’t.
They’ve ripped up the 2025 playbook.
They’ve stopped hiding behind “full service.”
Because that label?
It’s becoming a liability.
A catch-all phrase that tells brands very little, and as brands become more specific about:
What they need
What they’ll in-house
Where they expect external support
“Full service” starts to work against you.
The agencies pulling ahead look different.
Almost without exception, they’ve moved upstream. Into:
Consultative, strategic guidance
Commercial decision-making
Clear, confident direction
They’re not just doing the work, they’re helping brands understand the work.
They give stakeholders:
Confidence in the plan
Clarity on trade-offs
The ability to communicate strategy internally with authority
That changes everything.
No more spinning plates.
No more reactive scrambling.
No more constant P&L rewrites.
Instead: A 6–12 month strategy.
Built for profitability.
Aligned across teams.
Stable enough that brands can actually sleep at night.
And in many cases?
Amazon becomes the channel that offsets decline elsewhere.
This isn’t “test and learn.”
It’s not:
“Let’s try this and see.”
It’s:
Data already interpreted.
Decisions already framed.
Trade-offs already understood.
In 1P environments, it even feeds into AVN and JBP conversations.
That’s a different level of value and it’s why those agencies are winning.
2026 isn’t just about what you do.
It’s about what you don’t do.
Where you focus.
What you ignore.
How clearly you define success.
Because clarity is replacing activity.
And the agencies that haven’t made that shift?
They’re feeling it.
Even if they’re not saying it out loud.
#AmazonAgencyStrategy #AgencyPositioning #CommerceLeadership
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