High competition Last updated July 1, 2026

E-commerce Advertising Benchmarks 2026

Online retail and shopping - typically lower CPA due to shorter sales cycles

Avg. CPC
$1.30
Cost per click
Avg. CPM
$9.00
Cost per 1,000 impressions
Avg. CPA
$48.00
Cost per acquisition
Conversion Rate
4.01%
Visitors → conversions
How to read this page: These are cross-platform averages for E-commerce as a category. Your actual costs will vary by platform, geography, audience size, ad quality, and seasonality. Below you'll find the platforms that historically perform best for this vertical, plus a link back to /benchmarks for the full platform-by-platform reference table.

Top Platforms for E-commerce

The three platforms with the strongest historical performance for E-commerce campaigns. Click a card to see the full platform benchmark hub.

#1 for E-commerce Low cost

Meta Ads

Facebook and Instagram advertising - highly targetable social ads

CPC $1.10 CPM $7.80
Social engagement Mobile users
#2 for E-commerce High cost

Google Ads PPC

Search advertising on Google - pay per click on search results

CPC $5.42
High intent searches Local businesses
#3 for E-commerce Low cost

Google Display Network

Display advertising across Google's network of partner sites

CPC $0.75 CPM $3.50
Brand awareness Remarketing

All Platforms — E-commerce View

The current benchmark dataset tracks E-commerce at the industry-aggregate level (the KPIs above) rather than platform-by-platform within this vertical. For platform-level CPC and CPM comparisons across the full list of 11 platforms, head to the main benchmarks reference.

View the full platform-by-platform table

Considerations for E-commerce

Ecommerce campaigns typically have the shortest path from click to conversion, which pulls CPA down but pushes CPC up on high-intent keywords. Shopping-style formats (Google Shopping, Meta Advantage+ Shopping, TikTok Shop) tend to outperform generic image ads. Watch attribution windows carefully — a 7-day click / 1-day view window will paint a very different picture from 28-day click.

About the Data

Update Schedule

E-commerce benchmark data is refreshed quarterly. The current dataset was last updated July 1, 2026.

Next scheduled update: October 1, 2026.

Sources

  • WordStream/LocaliQ 2026 Google Ads Benchmarks (May 2026, n=13,000 campaigns)
  • LocaliQ 2026 Search Advertising Benchmarks
  • WordStream Comprehensive Guide to Online Advertising Costs 2026
  • WordStream Facebook Ads Benchmarks 2025
  • WordStream 2026 TikTok Ads Cost Guide

Put These Benchmarks to Work

Free calculators to plan, measure, and optimize E-commerce campaigns.