Google Shopping can be a black box for many advertisers.
It’s not always that easy to know if you’re doing well, especially if there aren’t a lot of sales coming in.
The goal of this article is to give you an idea of what kind of metrics other advertisers are hitting. And to give you something to aim for.
Let’s jump in!
Table of Contents
Google Shopping vs Search Ads Budget Split
Taking note of the improved performance, more retailers are allocating more of their media budget from Search to Shopping Ads.
- Google Shopping: 80%
- Google Search Ads: 20%
Source: Sidecar 2020 Benchmarks report (Q1 2020)
Why should you care?
This trend has persisted over the last couple of years, increasing the competition and cost per clicks for Shopping Ads. With retailers moving away from Search Ads, opportunities might arise for those stores that have solid performance.
Average Monthly Shopping Budget
Advertisers are spending $770.41 per month on Google Shopping. This varies pretty wildly if we look at the different industries:
| Industry | Average monthly Shopping budget |
| Medical Supplies | $423.37 |
| Health & Beauty | $1,815.12 |
| Child & Infant Care | $381.46 |
| Pet Care | $384.73 |
| Clothing & Apparel | $801.74 |
| Food & Alcohol | $1,065.09 |
| Home & Garden | $864.87 |
| HVAC & Climate Control | $1,116.21 |
| Automotive Supplies | $988.34 |
| Travel & Luggage | $273.35 |
| Entertainment & Events | $770.41 |
| Educational Supplies | $296.43 |
| Computers & Technology | $1,473.32 |
| Office & Business Needs | $835.77 |
| Art & Music | $421.02 |
| Chemical & Industrial | $638.66 |
Source: Wordstream Shopping Benchmarks (Q2 2019)
Why should you care?
Knowing what the average advertiser in your industry can give you a better idea what kind of budget you should be allocating to Google Shopping.
Especially starting out, knowing the ballpark can be useful.
That said, these budgets are pretty small for Shopping campaigns that work. So I would look at these numbers as a minimum spend to properly test the channel.
Average Google Shopping Cost Per Click
Next to deciding how much to allocate to Shopping, the next step is to decide how much you’re willing to pay per click.
The average cost per click on a Google Shopping ad is $0.66. Again this price varies depending on the industry:
| Industry | Average Shopping CPC |
| Medical Supplies | $0.63 |
| Health & Beauty | $0.87 |
| Child & Infant Care | $0.36 |
| Pet Care | $0.82 |
| Clothing & Apparel | $0.82 |
| Food & Alcohol | $0.42 |
| Home & Garden | $0.58 |
| HVAC & Climate Control | $0.47 |
| Automotive Supplies | $0.56 |
| Travel & Luggage | $0.40 |
| Entertainment & Events | $0.48 |
| Educational Supplies | $0.83 |
| Computers & Technology | $0.89 |
| Office & Business Needs | $1.09 |
| Art & Music | $0.34 |
| Chemical & Industrial | $0.66 |
Source: Wordstream Shopping Benchmarks (Q2 2019)
Why should you care?
These CPCs should give you an idea where to start with your own bids.
They are averages, so some advertisers will pay less while others will pay more. How successful you are at a particular CPC level will depend on your quality score.
Average Google Shopping Click-Through Rate (CTR)
The average clickthrough rate for Google Shopping Ads is 0.86%, and for Bing Shopping Ads it is 1.25%.
The table below breaks it down by industry:
| Industry | Average Shopping CTR |
| Medical Supplies | 0.87% |
| Health & Beauty | 0.74% |
| Child & Infant Care | 0.71% |
| Pet Care | 0.68% |
| Clothing & Apparel | 0.76% |
| Food & Alcohol | 0.91% |
| Home & Garden | 0.90% |
| HVAC & Climate Control | 1.12% |
| Automotive Supplies | 1.20% |
| Travel & Luggage | 0.99% |
| Entertainment & Events | 0.92% |
| Educational Supplies | 0.94% |
| Computers & Technology | 0.55% |
| Office & Business Needs | 0.65% |
| Art & Music | 0.76% |
| Chemical & Industrial | 0.89% |
Source: Wordstream Shopping Benchmarks (Q2 2019)
Why should you care?
Click-through rates will vary widely, even within the same industry. But these metrics will give you something to aim for.
As soon as you’ve gathered some data in your account, you can get a more personalized benchmark based on the products in your account. (Look for the Benchmark CTR columns in your account)
Google Shopping Revenue share (by device)
- Desktop: 48%
- Mobile: 42%
- Tablet: 10%
Source: Sidecar Google Shopping Benchmarks (Q1 2018)
Note: data was taken from 300 US customers
Why should you care?
Mobile keeps rising and gaining in importance and ROAS. So you need a good plan on how to capture mobile traffic. The days of -100% bid adjustments are definitely over.
Google Shopping ROAS (by vertical)
The most useful metrics to evaluate your overall performance are those that relate to revenue (and ideally profit).
This table shows the ROAS for different industries:
| Vertical | AOV | CVR | ROAS |
| Apparel & Accessories | $76 | 2.69% | 3.47 |
| Automotive | $230 | 1.03% | 10.61 |
| Books, Music & Video | $71 | 2.18% | 3.98 |
| Computer & Electronics | $252 | 1.61% | 5.99 |
| Flowers & Gifts | $73 | 1.00% | 3.67 |
| Food & Drugs | $85 | 1.38% | 5.76 |
| Health & Beauty | $76 | 3.67% | 4.15 |
| House & Home | $185 | 2.45% | 6.08 |
| Jewelry | $453 | 0.81% | 4.94 |
| Mass Merchant | $118 | 1.40% | 4.05 |
| Office Supplies | $107 | 4.01% | 7.09 |
| Pet Care | $90 | 2.11% | 6.28 |
| Sporting Goods | $133 | 2.43% | 6.52 |
| Toys & Hobbies | $73 | 3.08% | 8.82 |
Source: Sidecar 2020 Benchmarks report (Q1 2020)
Why should you care?
This table gives some insights into the numbers other advertisers are hitting.
Although I have to say they are on the high side to what I’m used to, they will tell you how well your optimization efforts are going.
Average Google Shopping Conversion Rate (by vertical)
The average conversion rate of a Google Shopping visitor is 1.91%.
Broken down by industry:
| Industry | Average Shopping CVR |
| Medical Supplies | 2.94% |
| Health & Beauty | 2.78% |
| Child & Infant Care | 2.20% |
| Pet Care | 1.07% |
| Clothing & Apparel | 2.70% |
| Food & Alcohol | 2.16% |
| Home & Garden | 1.31% |
| HVAC & Climate Control | 3.30% |
| Automotive Supplies | 1.29% |
| Travel & Luggage | 2.07% |
| Entertainment & Events | 1.98% |
| Educational Supplies | 1.88% |
| Computers & Technology | 2.20% |
| Office & Business Needs | 2.45% |
| Art & Music | 1.77% |
| Chemical & Industrial | 0.83% |
Source: Wordstream Shopping Benchmarks (Q2 2019)
Why should you care?
If you compare this with the table above you’ll notice many differences. That’s because the types of stores included in each study are different.
So what’s the use of this? It’s to give you something to aim for. Let’s say your competitors are hitting these conversion rates, are you able to survive?
Average Google Shopping Cost Per Action (by vertical)
The average cost per action (or conversion) from a Google Shopping click is $38.87. But this number widely varies by industry:
| Industry | Average Shopping CPA |
| Medical Supplies | $19.23 |
| Health & Beauty | $35.89 |
| Child & Infant Care | $49.36 |
| Pet Care | $26.01 |
| Clothing & Apparel | $19.29 |
| Food & Alcohol | $35.80 |
| Home & Garden | $58.00 |
| HVAC & Climate Control | $7.28 |
| Automotive Supplies | $54.76 |
| Travel & Luggage | $36.34 |
| Entertainment & Events | $17.51 |
| Educational Supplies | $30.67 |
| Computers & Technology | $75.92 |
| Office & Business Needs | $68.55 |
| Art & Music | $19.03 |
| Chemical & Industrial | $91.21 |
Source: Wordstream Shopping Benchmarks (Q2 2019)
Why should you care?
While the conversion rate drops some hints, the CPA gives you some insights into the actual performance of an advertiser. While they all feel pretty high, it depends a lot on the types of products you sell.
If your average order value is too close to this number, you’ll need to fix that equation!
Take the Google Ads Test to start with!
Showcase Shopping Ads Clicks vs Standard Google Shopping
Showcase Shopping Ads make up 4.4% of mobile clicks.
Source: Sidecar 2020 Benchmarks report (Q1 2020)
Why should you care?
Google is constantly experimenting with different ads formats. So experimenting with these new formats ensures you get maximum visibility, while also offering arbitrage opportunities.
Thanks so much for the information, it looks incredible and well detailed. It was quite surprising to see the budget split 80/20. Even though I always recommend a higher budget for Shopping campaigns, in most of the cases, clients go towards search campaigns instead.
Thanks for chiming in Leo!
I see the same thing happening, people unfamiliar with Google Ads stick with their Search Ads, while us pros know that it’s in Shopping where the money awaits 😉
My experience is quite different to these stats. We run web site that sales medical stuff (medical nutrition, incontinence, disability related products …). We run shopping campaign with Google and conversion rate is around 2%. We need around 45-50 clicks to make one sale. We use only google search to display our ads. If we use other channels (partners, smart shopping) a number of clicks will be around 65-70 per one sale. The main challenge is to find reasonable cost per click. The calculation assume: profit margin is 30% , average conversion value is $100, 50 clicks to achieve one conversion and we want to keep 2/3 of the profit and pay one third to google.
CostPerClick = (($100 *0.3) / 3) /50 = $0.2
HI Ds,
Thanks for dropping by.
Great to see that you have a good grasp on your numbers.
It also highlights the two main task for advertisers:
– attract higher quality visitors
– spend less per click
Good campaign optimization will work on both elements.
Hi Dennis,
Thanks a ton for this info, great read! I just wanted to ask – has this information been updated for 2023 data? Or this still only in accordance with 2020 data?
I have a couple of Home Furnishings clients & with the huge shifts in the Home & Garden sector, I can only imagine that these data points have changed with the landscape in the last 3 years. Thank you!
Hi Danny,
I try to keep things updated as much as I can, but there hasn’t been much new data released in the last few years.
Obviously, CPCs are up. But I’ve seen other metrics come back down to pre-pandemic levels. Especially in an industry like the one you’re describing.
-Dennis