Freelancer, Consultant or eCommerce Agency? A Buyer’s Guide for DTC Founders

Every founder hits the same question at some point: Who do I actually need to grow this thing?

You’ve got gaps. You’ve got momentum. Maybe even some budget. But whether you go with a freelancer, a specialist consultant or a full agency isn’t just a resourcing decision – it’s a strategy one.

Here’s how to know which path makes sense, based on what you’re trying to solve, how fast you’re growing, and what kind of support you actually need.

First, Define the Problem You’re Solving

Before you hire anyone, get brutally clear on this:

• Do you need execution or strategy?

• Is the work one-off or ongoing?

• Do you need one person or a team of specialists?

• Are you solving capacity issues, expertise gaps, or both?

Your answers will tell you more about what you need than any job title or portfolio ever will.

Option 1: Freelancer

What it is:

A self-employed designer, developer, marketer or specialist who works on a project or hourly basis.

Best for:

• Early-stage brands with limited budgets

• Clear, tactical needs (e.g. email design, landing page build)

• Quick turnarounds or low-complexity deliverables

Pros:

• Affordable and flexible

• Direct communication

• Great for repeatable tasks or short-term fills

Cons:

• You’ll need to brief, manage and QA everything

• No strategic oversight or multi-disciplinary thinking

• Hard to scale or rely on consistently

Atlas Take: Freelancers can be brilliant, but they’re rarely the right answer for brands doing $2M+ and trying to scale.

Option 2: Consultant

What it is:

A subject matter expert brought in to advise, audit or architect a strategy – without executing the work directly.

Best for:

• Deep-dive audits or guidance (e.g. Klaviyo setup, tech stack review)

• Brands with in-house teams but missing senior leadership

• Short-term clarity before committing to execution

Pros:

• Strategic insight without agency overhead

• Brings cross-brand and platform expertise

• Ideal for decision support or team coaching

Cons:

• Doesn’t build or execute

• Can be expensive for limited output

• Not useful without internal capacity or implementers

Atlas Take: Consultants are ideal when you know what needs to change, but not how to change it.

Option 3: eCommerce Agency

What it is:

A team of specialists that designs, builds, and runs key parts of your brand’s growth engine – across design, development, marketing and data.

Best for:

• Mid-market brands ($2M–$25M revenue)

• Complex builds, migrations or retention programmes

• Teams who want strategic partnership plus reliable execution

Pros:

• Cross-functional team with breadth and depth

• Strategy, creative and engineering under one roof

• Scalable and accountable – no chasing individuals

Cons:

• Higher cost, longer timelines

• Needs a clear onboarding and comms process

• Not all agencies are equal – vet thoroughly

Atlas Take: The right agency should feel like an extension of your team – not a black box or a production mill.

When to Hire Each One

What Atlas Studios Offers (and Doesn’t)

We’re not a freelance platform, and we’re not a hands-off consultant. We’re a high-performance Shopify and Klaviyo agency for DTC brands that want depth, clarity and growth.

We offer:

• Strategic audits, backed by execution

• Lifecycle and retention planning, not just email ‘management’

• Full Shopify design, dev and optimisation

• Custom solutions for tech stack, ops and automation

We don’t:

• Bill for hours and disappear

• Offload execution to cheap offshore teams

• Say yes to everything

Not sure what kind of partner you need? Let’s talk. If it’s not us, we’ll tell you who it should be.