Glossary

ROAS

Return on Ad Spend: sales generated per unit of ad spend. The inverse of ACoS.

FormulaROAS = ad-attributed sales ÷ ad spend (ACoS = 1 ÷ ROAS)

Definition

ROAS and ACoS describe the same ratio from two sides. A 4x ROAS equals a 25% ACoS; a 2.5x ROAS equals 40%. Amazon's reporting shows both; agencies with Google Ads backgrounds tend to speak in ROAS, Amazon-native teams in ACoS.

Neither is profit. A 4x ROAS on a product with 20% margin loses money; a 2.5x ROAS on a 50% margin product is fine. Always compare ROAS or ACoS against the product's break-even.

Platform-wide, Sponsored Products ROAS averages around 3x and Sponsored Display below 2x, with wide variation by category.

How we use it

We report ROAS for teams used to it, but manage to ACoS targets per ASIN because they map directly to margin.

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FAQ

Common questions

Related terms

What is a good ROAS on Amazon?

Above 1 ÷ your margin before ads. For a 40% margin product that is at least 2.5x; most mature accounts we run sit between 4x and 6x on generic terms.

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