Resource · Updated quarterly
Built from original data across Run The Numbers®'s portfolio of UK ecommerce Google Ads accounts. Measure your campaigns against real results, not industry averages pulled from thin air.
Last updated: April 2026 · Aggregate data across RTN's managed ecommerce accounts
Average ROAS by vertical
Ranges reflect the spread between accounts at different maturity stages. New accounts typically sit at the lower end. Accounts with 6+ months of optimisation and clean product feeds consistently hit the upper range.
Fashion and Apparel
4x – 6x
Shopping-heavy vertical. Feed quality and imagery drive the biggest variance between accounts.
Home and Garden
5x – 8x
Higher AOV products push ROAS up. Seasonal peaks (spring, Q4) can hit 10x+ with the right strategy.
Health and Beauty
4x – 7x
Repeat purchase rates help here. Subscription products and bundles consistently outperform single-item campaigns.
Sports and Outdoor
6x – 10x
Strong brand loyalty and high intent searches. Niche products with less competition regularly exceed 8x.
Food and Drink
3x – 5x
Lower AOV makes this the tightest vertical. Subscription models and hamper/gift products push toward the upper range.
Standard Shopping vs Performance Max
The RTN approach: run both. Standard Shopping for top-performing product groups where maximum control matters, and Performance Max for broader catalogue coverage and new customer acquisition. The split depends on your catalogue size, margin structure, and growth goals.
Average CPC trends
CPC varies significantly by vertical, competition level, and campaign type. These ranges reflect what RTN sees across active UK accounts.
| Vertical | Shopping CPC | Search CPC | PMax CPC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fashion and Apparel | £0.18 – £0.35 | £0.45 – £1.10 | £0.22 – £0.50 |
| Home and Garden | £0.25 – £0.55 | £0.60 – £1.40 | £0.30 – £0.65 |
| Health and Beauty | £0.20 – £0.40 | £0.50 – £1.20 | £0.25 – £0.55 |
| Sports and Outdoor | £0.15 – £0.30 | £0.40 – £0.90 | £0.20 – £0.45 |
| Food and Drink | £0.12 – £0.28 | £0.35 – £0.85 | £0.18 – £0.40 |
CPCs have risen 6-13% year on year across most verticals, driven by increased competition and Google's shift toward AI-powered bidding. The accounts that resist this inflation are the ones with strong feed quality scores and tight negative keyword management.
The feed optimisation impact
Your product feed is the foundation of every Shopping and Performance Max campaign. Poor feed data means poor results, regardless of how clever your bidding strategy is. Here's what RTN sees when feeds get rebuilt through proper product feed optimisation.
Before feed optimisation
3.2x
Average ROAS across accounts before feed rebuild. Titles are auto-generated, descriptions are thin, custom labels non-existent.
After feed optimisation
4.3x
After optimised titles, enriched descriptions, strategic custom labels, and proper GTIN/brand mapping. A 34% improvement from feed changes alone.
Feed optimisation costs nothing in additional ad spend and improves every campaign that touches your product data. If you haven't had a professional feed audit, you're leaving performance on the table.
Frequently asked questions
Quarterly. Each refresh pulls from the latest 90 days of performance across the managed accounts. Outlier months like Black Friday are excluded so the figures reflect sustainable, repeatable performance rather than seasonal spikes.
Data is aggregated across every active managed ecommerce account in the portfolio. Exact account numbers aren't disclosed for client confidentiality, but the figures represent a meaningful sample of UK ecommerce businesses across the verticals shown.
Start with a Free Audit. RTN will look at your account structure, feed quality, search term reports, and conversion tracking to identify where the gaps are. Most audited accounts have at least one significant issue suppressing ROAS, and it's usually fixable within the first 30 days.
No. Brand campaigns artificially inflate ROAS figures and make comparisons meaningless. All benchmarks here are non-brand only, covering generic Shopping, Search, and Performance Max campaigns. If someone quotes you a 15x ROAS without specifying brand versus non-brand, ask questions.
The client base ranges from £1,000 to £30,000 monthly ad spend. Benchmarks apply most directly to businesses in that range. Enterprise accounts with six-figure monthly budgets operate in a different competitive environment and should benchmark differently.
Benchmarks give you a reference point. They don't tell you what's wrong with your specific account. Book a Free Audit and find out where you stand against these figures.
Get my Free Audit