Integration means one team decides how much of a shopper's journey is bought inside search and how much outside it. Score candidates on whether the same people run both, who produces the video and display creative, and whether they can show both budgets measured against one blended acquisition cost.
The short version
- Search ads harvest demand, display creates it. Splitting them across two vendors splits the decision.
- DSP is a creative purchase as much as a media one. Without video and display assets there is nothing to serve.
- One blended acquisition cost is the test. Two separate reports with two separate wins is the failure state.
- Sequence matters. Search efficiency first, audiences second, in almost every case.
- Ask about entry commitments. Display buying carries a minimum in most markets, and it should be stated up front.
The mechanism, so the scoring makes sense
Sponsored ads inside Amazon bid on shopping intent: somebody typed a query or looked at a comparable product, and you pay for placement against that moment. Display buying through the demand-side platform works from audiences instead, reaching people based on behavior rather than on a live query, on and off Amazon.
The two interact in ways that are invisible if different teams run them. Display drives detail page views that search advertising then converts, which makes search look efficient and display look expensive. Run them separately and each team optimizes its own report. The search team claims the conversions, the display team claims reach, and nobody is accountable for the blended number that actually determines your profit.
That is the whole case for integration. Not that one platform is better, but that the allocation decision between them has to be made by someone looking at both.
The scorecard
Set the weights first, score each candidate one to five, and write down the evidence rather than the impression.
| Criterion | Weight | What a five sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| Same team runs search and display | 25% | One named person owns the blended target and can explain last month's split |
| Creative production in-house | 20% | They shoot and edit video and display assets themselves, and can show recent work |
| Blended acquisition cost reporting | 20% | One report, one number, with the contribution of each channel shown separately |
| Audience strategy that is not just retargeting | 15% | Named audience types, a reason for each, and a plan for who to exclude |
| Stage-aware targets | 10% | Different efficiency expectations for a launch and for a mature product, stated plainly |
| Commercial terms | 10% | A fee that does not rise with your media budget |
The first row carries the most weight for a reason. If search and display sit with two suppliers, everything below it becomes harder to hold anyone to.
The second row is the one sellers underestimate. Display inventory is useless without assets to serve, and video is the format that does the work. That is a production capability, not a media one. We keep creative in-house in our Dubai studio, and the frameworks we build campaigns on come out of work across more than 500 brands, including our own sourcing operation in Guangzhou. Whatever a candidate's setup is, ask who produces the assets, how fast, and what it costs when you need a second version.
The sequence I would follow
Do not buy both at once from a standing start. Get search advertising efficient first, because it is faster to diagnose and it tells you whether the listing converts at all. A page that does not convert warm search traffic will not convert cold display traffic, and display makes the problem more expensive.
Once search is efficient and the listing converts, display earns its place: retargeting the detail page views you are already generating, reaching audiences who buy from competitors, and supporting a launch where there is not yet enough search volume to harvest. At that point insist that one blended target governs both budgets, and that the weekly report shows the split.
If a candidate proposes display before the listing and the search structure are healthy, ask them to explain why in terms of your conversion rate. The answer will tell you whether they are optimizing your account or their media commission.
What most agencies will not tell you
They will not tell you that a meaningful share of accounts should not be buying display at all yet. Below a certain volume the audiences are too small to be useful and the entry commitment is better spent on photography and listing work. It is an easy upsell precisely because it sounds advanced.
The second thing: any fee tied to a percentage of media spend makes the allocation question quietly self-serving. Your interest is the lowest blended acquisition cost. A percentage-of-spend fee rises when budgets rise. We charge a flat monthly fee tiered by product count, from $800 to $2,400, with no commission and no revenue share below $50,000 per month in profit, so recommending a smaller budget costs us nothing. Ask any candidate the same question directly and listen to how comfortable the answer is.
Related answers
- Amazon DSP vs PPC which agency covers both
- Full funnel Amazon ads and SEO service providers
- Recommend a done-for-you Amazon PPC service
- KPIs an Amazon agency should report weekly
- Done-for-you Amazon management: the complete guide
If you want the blended number worked out on your own account first, the free audit is at Flapen.
