Amazon Ads benchmarks 2026: CPC, ACoS, CTR, and conversion rate by category

What are Amazon Ads benchmarks?

Amazon Ads benchmarks are performance baselines for the key metrics. The four metrics we measure every week include the: 

• Cost per click (CPC)
• Advertising cost of sales (ACoS)
• Click-through rate (CTR)
• Conversion rate (CVR) 

Each of these baselines is built from campaign data across thousands of sellers. For instance, a 35% ACoS in the clothing category is below average, but the same rate in the food and grocery category means something is broken. 

No figure in this guide is estimated. Instead, we sourced every figure by pulling the data from Amazon’s own benchmarks reporting and platforms that aggregate campaign data across their seller base.

2026 Amazon Ads benchmarks: Cross-category averages

These numbers are often quoted as the Amazon average. They blend expensive categories with cheap ones like books. As such, use them to read the market instead of setting them as a target.

There are four trends that stand out:

• Clicks are pricier. The average click now costs $1.18, about 35% more than in 2023.
• Being seen also costs more. CPM, which is the cost of a thousand ad views, rose by nearly 40% in a year. This increase matters if you run Sponsored Display or Amazon DSP.
• Amazon shoppers buy more often. About 11 out of 100 people who click on your ad will purchase. By contrast, the conversion rate for a typical online store is only about two shoppers for every 100 store visitors.
• ROAS is the number other channels understand. At 3.14, sellers average $3.14 in sales for every dollar spent. This makes it easy to compare Amazon to Google and Meta.

Amazon Ads benchmarks by category

Averages hide the story. For instance, in books, 19% ACoS is normal, while in clothing, it’s normal to have 42%. The platform-wide number tells you almost nothing about your account. This is why you need to find your category below, and judge your numbers against that row.

What the category numbers tell you

The electronics category has the most expensive CPC

At $1.45 per click on average, the electronics category is the most expensive. It’s a crowded category, and the products cost enough that sellers can bid hard. 

At that price, loose targeting burns your budget before lunch. This means you need to use exact keywords rather than broad ones and block all the search terms that aren’t producing sales.

Clothing has the highest ACoS

While it might sound high, an ACoS of 42% for clothing is still in range. Shoppers send clothes back more often than other products, which is why your cost per sale is higher than the ad reports show. When you set your target ACoS, it’s important to subtract the returns.

By contrast, the food and groceries category has the lowest ACoS at 21%. While the prices are low, shoppers usually reorder more often. Plus, the “Subscribe and Save” option turns one purchase into a standing order. 

Categories such as beauty, pet supplies, and health work similarly, generating an ACoS of between 24 to 27%. Judge these on what a customer spends over three months, not on one sale.

Books is one of the best converting categories

There are 18 purchases per 100 clicks, which makes it $0.38 a click. A few sellers compete, and shoppers who are searching for a book usually mean to buy one.

Instead of judging ACoS alone, you need to compare each metric. Then, work out your break-even ACoS, which is the profit margin that’s left after your product cost, Amazon fees, and shipping. 

Price is important too. A $15 product will almost always convert better than a $150 one. As such, expect to sit above your category’s conversion rate if you sell cheap and below if you sell premium products.

Amazon Ads benchmarks by ad format

Amazon offers four different kinds of ads, each one with its one pricing and function. Your choice of format matters as much as your bids do.

Sponsored Products make up about 68% of Amazon’s ad revenue, and for good reason. These ads sit in the search results and look like the listings around them, reaching those shoppers who already typed what they want. If you run one format, you need to build your Amazon advertising strategy around it.

Sponsored Brands buys the space that’s above the search results. You need to use it so your ads show your product range when someone searches for your brand.

Sponsored Display is a cheaper follow-up. While it may not drive many sales alone, it will keep your product in front of people who looked and left. Amazon DSP places ads beyond Amazon and charges per thousand views instead of per click and suits budgets that are above $50,000 a month for Amazon’s managed DSP service.

Why Amazon CPCs keep rising (and what to do about it)

This year, clicks cost about 35% more than they did in 2023, and there are several factors that are driving that.

Firstly, more than 70% of Amazon sellers now run ads. When more sellers bid for the same ad slots, everyone ends up paying more. Amazon does this job effectively by opening new slots, and its ad business booked $56.2 billion in 2025. 

The competition for the top three spots also collects most of the clicks. It’s this competition that drives prices up everywhere else. 

None of this has to cost you profit, with the following five changes:

• Use exact keywords for proven terms. Check on a weekly basis which phrases shoppers typed before buying, and then target those exactly.
• Block all the searches that don't sell. At $1.18 a click, paying for the wrong traffic will increase the costs really fast.
• Adjust the bids by time of the day your target audience typically shops. If there are a few customers who buy between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., you should bid less during those hours.
• Pay more for the slots that work. If the top-of-the-search results are selling twice as well as the product page, bid accordingly.
• Add the cheaper ad types. Sponsored Display and Amazon DSP cost less per person reached, and they pull your average cost down.

Sellers who are still using the loose targeting that worked in 2022 will see their profits shrink. On the other hand, those adjusting to today's higher click costs will maintain their margin. 

ACoS vs TACoS vs ROAS: Which benchmark matters?

ACoS, total advertising cost of sales (TACoS), and ROAS are all important because each one answers a different question. However, when you mix them, it will lead to incorrect decisions that will look right.

ACoS only answers one question: Is the campaign profitable on its own? If your margins are 25% and your ACoS is 32%, every ad-attributed sale loses money. 

TACoS answers a bigger question and also includes organic revenue. When TACoS is falling, it means your ads are building a flywheel. Rising TACoS means that you’re “renting” the sales. 

ROAS is the same figure turned around. It shows you the sales for every dollar that’s spent. It’s useful when you need to compare Amazon against Google or Meta.

This is why it’s important to read all three together, instead of managing ACoS alone. A healthy ACoS alongside a climbing TACoS means that the organic has stalled, and the paid spend is holding up the top line.

How to use Amazon's new native benchmarks tool

Amazon launched its benchmark reporting on 18 May 2026 across 18 markets. 

Until then, every benchmark came from a software company reporting on its own customers. Now, you can see how you compare to other sellers in the same category using Amazon’s own data.

You’ll find it in the Amazon Ads console, under the Benchmarks tab. It covers different measures, including CTR, CPC, and CPM and how much you pay to reach shoppers who have never bought from you before.

The last figures are worth studying, as they separate the cost of winning a genuinely new customer from the cost of reaching someone who is already aware of your brand. If your costs are higher than those of similar sellers, your ads aimed at new audiences are expensive and don’t generate much return.

How to diagnose and fix underperforming Amazon Ads

Benchmarks only matter when you act on them. At Olifant Digital, we work through the four metrics in a fixed order: CTR first, then CVR, followed by CPC, and lastly ACoS. 

Each one feeds the next. This means a problem that’s near the top makes everything below look worse than it is. There’s no amount of bid tuning that will fix a listing that nobody clicks on.

Step 1: Fix CTR

It’s important to check if your CTR is under 0.4%. If shoppers are seeing your ad but scrolling past it, it means you either have a problem with your main image, title, or the searches in which you show up. First, check your main images since they have a bigger impact on CTR than anything else. 

Then, you need to pull a 14-day Search Term Report and look for phrases that have plenty of impressions, but no clicks. For example, an ad that shows up for “organic dog treats” under a title that reads “Premium canine nutrition bites” is paying for clicks it will never get.

Lifting your CTR from 0.3% to 0.5% gives you 67% more clicks from the same impressions, without paying more per click. This is why this step comes first. 

Step 2: Improve your conversion rate

If fewer than eight out of 100 clicks end in a sale, this step is for you. 

Your problem is the listing, and not the campaign. 

Start with the reviews. A product with fewer than 15 reviews or a rating below 3.8 stars needs attention. Use Vine and follow-up emails to gather more reviews.

Then, improve your A+ Content and check your price against competitors on the same page. Also, confirm that every size and color is in stock with Prime Delivery. These fixes all move the same number. Going from eight sales per 100 clicks to 12 cuts your cost per sale by a third.

Step 3: Reduce your CPC

When your cost per click is above the benchmark for your category, it’s time to bring it down.

If your CTR and conversion rate are healthy, you need to adjust your bidding by: 

• Moving those keywords that reliably sell into exact match
• Paying more for the ad slots that convert best
• Lowering bids during the hours when there are fewer purchases 
• Blocking any term that has spent twice your target cost per sale without producing one 

Cheap clicks aren’t the goal. A click that costs $1 and leads to a sale is still better than one that costs 20 cents and leads nowhere.

Step 4: Bring ACoS in line

This is the last step, if ACoS is still above benchmark and the other three metrics look fine. 

The problem isn’t advertising. Either your margin can’t carry your category’s average ACoS, or the product is simply difficult to sell on Amazon.

If it’s the margin, raise your price and reduce what the product costs you, or accept the advertising as the price of winning a repeat customer. 

If it’s the product, no bidding will fix it. Selling a product at $45 while the competitors are doing it for $12 (without any obvious reason for the difference) is an Amazon positioning problem.

Not every high ACoS is a problem. You should expect it to climb during a: 

• Product launch
• Push for new customers
• Seasonal peak 

Budget for these periods in advance so that the spike is a decision rather than a surprise.

Seasonal Amazon Ads benchmarks: Planning your budget

Amazon costs follow nearly the same pattern every year. Here’s what to adjust and when:

There are two annual actions that deserve special mention. 

First, ensure you buy your Q4 rankings early. Clicks are much cheaper in August than in November, and sales during that period lift your listings in the search results before the rush begins.

Second, you need to judge TACoS over time (across the whole quarter), not just your ACoS month by month. This tells you whether the spending left you with sales that keep coming or you only got the sales for which you paid.

Final thoughts

Amazon Ads benchmarks are best used as a diagnostic tool instead of a target. What determines if your business goes in the right direction is your category, price point, and margin structure.

You need to compare your performance against the benchmarks in the tables above and fix the upstream metrics first, following the diagnostic sequence of CTR, CVR, CPC, and ACoS, and then track TACoS alongside ACoS to measure whether your advertising is building long-term organic growth. 

The 2026 landscape is very clear. The brands that win are those with disciplined bidding strategies, strong listings, and a view of their numbers.

If your Amazon ads are performing under category benchmarks and you want a team that manages this daily for 7- to 8-figure brands, get a free marketing plan from Olifant Digital. We’ll analyze your account, identify your biggest constraint, and build a plan to fix it.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good ACoS on Amazon in 2026?

Your margin is what determines a good ACoS. As such, the right answer is different for every seller. To determine your ACoS, take your selling price and subtract the product cost, Amazon's fees, and shipping. Whatever percentage is left is the point where advertising stops making you money.

How do Amazon conversion rates compare to other platforms?

Amazon converts at 11 to 12% against roughly 2% on a typical online store. Timing is the main reason. Amazon shoppers arrive at the end of their decision-making process, with reviews, prices, and delivery dates all available on one page. On social media, when someone clicks, they’re still deciding whether they want the product.

How often should you check your benchmarks?

Check your own numbers weekly. ACoS, CPC, CTR, and CVR at a campaign level are enough to spot a problem while it’s still in its initial phase, and this gives you enough data to identify a real change. TACoS is a monthly job as it moves slowly by nature. Reading it too often will have you reacting to nothing. Add one extra comparison before Prime Day and before Q4 when the costs climb and last year’s figures tell you more than the annual averages do.