Ecommerce consultancy from a senior, specialist team.
Experienced across platform, marketing, data and commercial strategy.
Brands come to us when something isn't working and they're not sure why, when a big decision is looming and they want to get it right, or when growth has stalled and the priority list has become impossible to rank. That might be a platform that can't support where the business is going, paid media that isn't returning what it should, data and reporting that can't be trusted, or too many systems and agencies pulling in different directions.
We have a team of experienced ecommerce specialists - from data analysts and solutions architects to developers, UX designers and digital marketers. We've seen and solved these problems before, across platforms, sectors and business sizes, which means our advice is grounded in what we know works.
Ecommerce strategy
Clear commercial direction for growth, change and optimisation.
Site analysis
Practical reviews of performance, UX, SEO, technology and conversion.
Technology and systems
Independent guidance on the right platform, partners and tools.
Planning and prioritisation
Prioritised plans your team can understand, trust and act on.
Our ecommerce consultancy services
Examples of how brands use our ecommerce consultancy services
Ecommerce site audits
Our ecommerce site audits review the areas with the greatest impact on performance: SEO, UX, conversion, site speed, analytics, merchandising and the customer journey. We identify what is working, what is holding you back and where the strongest opportunities sit.
User and competitor research
We use user behaviour, competitor analysis, market positioning and onsite data to understand how your customers actually shop and where your competitors are beating you.
Acquisition and growth strategy
Understanding where your customers come from, what brings them back, and where the strongest opportunities for growth sit across paid, organic and owned channels.
Retention and customer lifetime value
Most ecommerce businesses over-invest in acquisition and under-invest in keeping customers. We help identify where retention is leaking and what to do about it.
Merchandising and conversion
How your products are presented, categorised, priced and promoted has a direct impact on revenue. We review and improve the commercial mechanics of how your store sells.
Digital transformation
Digital transformation is rarely just a technology change. It is about how the business operates, sells, serves customers and scales. We help ecommerce brands manage change across platforms, processes, data and customer experience.
Why brands choose Unified for ecommerce consultancy
01
Our consultants sit alongside developers, designers, solutions architects, SEO and analytics specialists. A recommendation gets checked against what it would take to build, track and market before it reaches your roadmap - which is why our plans tend to hold up in practice.
02
Most consultancies hand off to agencies to deliver. We have commercial strategists, platform specialists, developers, designers, SEO specialists and data analysts in the same team. That means the advice and the people who can act on it are in the same room.
03
Across platforms, sectors and business sizes, we've helped brands navigate replatforms, stalled growth, data they can't trust and priorities they can't rank. That experience shapes every recommendation we make.
04
We build on Shopify Plus, Adobe Commerce, Magento, Hyvä, BigCommerce and headless architectures, and we hold partner status with all of them. Because we work across all of them, we have no default answer when you ask which platform you should be on.
05
Ecommerce teams are rarely short of ideas. The hard part is knowing which ones matter this quarter. We rank recommendations by impact, effort, dependency and urgency, and we are willing to tell you which items on your existing list are not worth doing at all.
06
We tie recommendations back to revenue, conversion rate, customer acquisition cost, retention, operational efficiency and total cost of ownership. The measure of success is a stronger ecommerce business, in numbers your finance team recognises.
Decisions we have helped brands make
Years of apps and customisations on Magento had left The Conran Shop with a maintenance bill and an upgrade cycle that were slowing the business down, just as it wanted to pivot towards own-brand products and new markets. The strategic call was to accept less customisation in exchange for platform features that come as standard. Shopify Plus, a UX redesign, Klaviyo, Shopify POS, and the Middle East opened up.
Total cost of ownership
-50%
Conversions
+54%
House of Hackney needed to sell to consumers and to the trade, across the UK, US and EU, without maintaining three separate builds. The decision we advised was to blend B2C and B2B on Shopify-native features rather than customise, then connect Onetime PIM and BrightPearl ERP behind it. Where a genuine gap existed, in wallpaper and fabric quantities, we built an app instead of compromising the whole architecture.
Best Ecommerce Re-platform
2025 winner
Regional storefronts
3
New Zealand's oldest jeweller, on Magento 2.4.3p3 and reaching end of life ahead of their 160th anniversary. A full replatform was on the table. We advised upgrading to 2.4.6-p8 and rebuilding the frontend on Hyvä instead, running a hybrid where brand partner agreements required certain product pages to stay on Luma. They kept the performance gain without breaking the agreements that matter to their business.
How we work
We work in different ways depending on what you need - from a focused piece of analysis to ongoing advisory alongside your team.
Analysis & audit
A focused review of your site, customer journey, analytics, technology and marketing activity to identify the strongest opportunities and the real barriers to growth.
Strategy
A clear direction based on what the data shows: what should change, why it matters, what it will cost, and how each recommendation supports your commercial objectives.
Ongoing advisory
A retained relationship where we work alongside your team - attending planning sessions, reviewing performance, pressure-testing decisions and keeping the strategy honest.
Roadmap
We prioritise by impact, effort, dependency and urgency, then phase the work into short-term fixes, larger projects and longer-term growth. You own the roadmap, whoever delivers it.
Implementation
Where it helps, we can move from advice into delivery through our in-house design, development, marketing and analytics teams.
Analysis & audit
A focused review of your site, customer journey, analytics, technology and marketing activity to identify the strongest opportunities and the real barriers to growth.
Strategy
A clear direction based on what the data shows: what should change, why it matters, what it will cost, and how each recommendation supports your commercial objectives.
Ongoing advisory
A retained relationship where we work alongside your team - attending planning sessions, reviewing performance, pressure-testing decisions and keeping the strategy honest.
Roadmap
We prioritise by impact, effort, dependency and urgency, then phase the work into short-term fixes, larger projects and longer-term growth. You own the roadmap, whoever delivers it.
Implementation
Where it helps, we can move from advice into delivery through our in-house design, development, marketing and analytics teams.
Ecommerce consultancy questions we get asked
What is ecommerce consultancy?
Ecommerce consultancy is expert strategic advice for online retailers. It helps brands understand how to improve ecommerce performance across areas such as website experience, platform choice, technology, SEO, digital marketing, conversion rate, analytics and customer retention.
How much does ecommerce consultancy cost?
Most engagements start with a half-day workshop with our specialists, which is usually enough to pressure-test a decision or frame a problem properly. From there it can run to a six-week platform selection and roadmapping project, or an ongoing advisory retainer alongside CRO and analytics work. We scope and price the engagement before anything starts, so you know what you are committing to.
Will you recommend work you can sell us?
It is a fair question to ask any agency that both advises and delivers. Our honest answer is that we would rather keep a client for a decade than win one project. We have advised brands to stay on their existing platform and upgrade rather than replatform, and we have told clients a piece of work was not worth the money. If you want the recommendation stress-tested, ask us what we would advise if somebody else were delivering it.
When should I work with an ecommerce consultant?
Consider ecommerce consultancy if growth has slowed, your site is underperforming, you are planning a replatform, you are unsure which technology to choose or you need a clearer roadmap. It is especially useful when you need an independent view before making a major decision.
What does an ecommerce site audit include?
An ecommerce site audit can include SEO, UX, CRO, analytics, site speed, technical performance, content, merchandising, navigation, platform setup and customer journey analysis. The exact scope depends on your goals, but the output is always clear, prioritised recommendations.
Can you help us choose an ecommerce platform?
Yes. We help brands compare ecommerce platforms and supporting technologies based on requirements, budget, internal resource, growth plans and operational needs, including total cost of ownership rather than licence fees alone. We work across Shopify Plus, Adobe Commerce, Magento, Hyvä, BigCommerce, WooCommerce and headless solutions.
What happens in a discovery workshop?
A discovery workshop defines the goals, challenges, risks and opportunities behind a project. We use the session to understand your business, customers, current platform, future requirements and commercial objectives, then turn those insights into a strategy or roadmap.
Do you only provide strategy, or can you implement the work too?
Either. Some clients work with us purely for consultancy and strategic direction, then deliver it themselves or with another partner. Others use our in-house design, development, marketing and analytics teams to deliver the roadmap. You are not obliged to buy the delivery to get the advice.
How long does an ecommerce consultancy project take?
A half-day workshop or focused audit can be completed in a matter of days. A platform selection with roadmapping typically runs around six weeks, because it needs research, stakeholder input and total cost of ownership modelling. Ongoing advisory work runs alongside your team for as long as it is useful.
What makes Unified different from other ecommerce consultants?
We have to live with our own advice. We design, build, market and optimise ecommerce sites every day, so when we recommend a platform or a piece of work, we are the people who would have to make it work. That tends to produce more cautious recommendations and fewer plans that fall apart on contact with a developer.