How much does a digital marketing agency charge in India? (D2C and marketplace brands)

A brand selling products online usually pays an agency in one of four ways: a fixed monthly retainer, a percentage of ad spend, a one-off project fee, or a fixed fee plus a share of revenue. Which one is cheapest depends on how much you sell, not on how big the agency is.

Our own model first, so you can compare. We charge a fixed fee from ₹25,000 plus GST a month, which is half our usual rate, plus 5% to 10% of marketplace revenue, set per brand. That covers advertising on Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, other marketplaces, and Meta and Google for your own site. Additional services cost extra. A brand doing ₹5 to 9 lakh a month on marketplaces pays a fixed fee of up to ₹50,000 a month instead, because the revenue share would cost more at that size.

A percentage of ad spend gets more expensive exactly when you are doing well

Agencies that charge 10% to 20% of ad spend earn more when you spend more, whether or not the spend works. Ask what happens to the fee if you cut the budget in half during a slow month. If the answer is "the fee halves", the agency has no reason to tell you to spend less.

A retainer is only fair if the scope is written down

A flat monthly fee is easy to budget. It goes wrong when "digital marketing" is undefined. Ask for a list of what is included: which platforms, how many creatives a month, how often you get a report, who answers on WhatsApp. If a line is missing, assume it costs extra.

A project fee suits a website, not ongoing ads

A single fee for a website, a launch or a catalogue clean-up is reasonable because the work ends. Ads do not end. If someone quotes a project price for "running your ads", ask what happens in month two.

Revenue share lines the agency up with your sales

With a fixed fee plus a share, the agency earns more only when your marketplace revenue grows. The trade-off is that the share has to be set per brand, because a brand at ₹2 lakh a month and a brand at ₹20 lakh a month cannot pay the same percentage. Ask the agency to show the monthly cost at your current revenue and at double it.

Five questions to ask before you sign

1. What is the total monthly cost at my current revenue, including GST?
2. Which platforms and channels does that cover, and which cost extra?
3. If I spend less on ads next month, what changes in your fee?
4. What number will you report every month, and who produces it?
5. What do you not do? An agency that does everything usually does a few things well.

What to expect if you work with us

Our clients see a 4.3 average ROAS within the first six months, and that is the number we are accountable to. Our office has been in Thane for nine years. We say what we do not do before you sign, because an agency that does everything usually does a few things well.

If you want the monthly cost at your numbers, talk to us.