Benchmarks
Google Shopping Ads Benchmarks 2026: CPC, ROAS & PMax Data
Last updated: November 2026 · Data period: September 2025–August 2026 (US DTC panel) and Q4 2025–Q1 2026 (Europe)
Google Shopping is where ecommerce budgets meet buyers who already know what they want. A shopper types a product name, sees an image, a price and a store, and clicks. That makes Shopping one of the most direct revenue channels in paid media, and also one of the most crowded.
In 2026 the channel looks different. Performance Max now carries most Shopping budgets, marketplaces like Amazon and Temu compete in the same auctions, and European advertisers are paying more per click for less return. Judge your results against an old "industry average" table and you will draw the wrong conclusions.
For this guide we compiled the most reliable 2025–2026 benchmark sources for Shopping and Performance Max: Shopping vs PMax vs Search comparisons, European euro benchmarks, vertical data from Europe, and the shift of spend into PMax. We also explain why we left out the category tables you see on many other sites. Looking for last year's numbers? See the 2025 edition.
Key takeaways
Standard Google Shopping ads averaged a $1.02 CPC, 1.01% CTR, 2.86% conversion rate and 4.13 ROAS across 28 DTC brands with USD accounts from September 2025 to August 2026, according to Top Growth Marketing.
European ecommerce Shopping CPC was €0.31–0.35 in Q4 2025–Q1 2026, with Shopping CTR at 1.6–1.8% in Q1 2026, according to the SMEC Market Observer Q1 2026.
In Europe, Channable measured ROAS down 46% for Performance Max and 43% for standard Shopping year over year (June 2025 to June 2026, EU/EEA), according to PPC Land.
Performance Max held 67% of US Shopping listing spend in Q1 2026 (Tinuiti, via Karooya), yet in the US DTC panel PMax posted a lower ROAS (3.90) than standard Shopping (4.13) (Top Growth Marketing).
Data caveat: Google does not publish Shopping benchmarks by product category, and the category tables that circulate online cannot be traced to WordStream; Channable publishes only the extremes per vertical for the EU/EEA.
Why do Google Shopping Ads benchmarks matter in 2026?
Benchmarks are a diagnostic tool, not a target. Use them to answer questions like:
Am I paying too much per click compared with similar advertisers in my region?
Is my feed and product imagery the problem (CTR lagging peers)?
Is the product page or price the bottleneck (CVR or CPA lagging)?
Is my PMax campaign actually beating standard Shopping, or just absorbing its budget?
The most common mistake: reacting to a falling ROAS without checking whether the cause is rising CPCs, weaker click-through or lower conversion after the click.
What are the key Google Shopping metrics (and how do they connect)?
CTR (click-through rate): clicks ÷ impressions
CPC (cost per click): spend ÷ clicks
CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions): spend ÷ impressions × 1,000
CVR (conversion rate): conversions ÷ clicks
CPA (cost per acquisition): spend ÷ conversions (roughly CPC ÷ CVR)
ROAS (return on ad spend): conversion value ÷ spend. A ROAS of 4.0 (or 400%) means €4 of tracked revenue per €1 spent.
Why campaign type changes what "good" looks like
Standard Shopping only serves product listings. Performance Max adds YouTube, Display, Discover and Gmail inventory, which shifts CTR, CPM and CVR. Search text ads capture the most explicit intent. Always compare like with like.
Google Shopping Ads benchmarks by industry (2026)
Standard Google Shopping ads averaged a $1.02 CPC, a 1.01% CTR and a 4.13 ROAS in a panel of 28 DTC brands with USD accounts from September 2025 to August 2026, according to Top Growth Marketing. An honest note, though: Google does not publish Shopping benchmarks by product category. Many blogs show tables with Shopping CTR, CPC and ROAS per category, attributed to "WordStream / Merchant Center". We could not trace those tables to any WordStream publication, so we do not use them here.
What does exist: disclosed datasets that compare campaign types, a large European dataset with euro figures, and one European benchmark with a split by vertical. Those are the tables below.
Table 1 - Shopping vs Performance Max vs Search (DTC ecommerce, USD accounts)
Metric | Shopping | PMax | Search |
|---|---|---|---|
CPC | $1.02 | $1.12 | $1.31 |
CTR | 1.01% | 1.48% | 14.64% |
CVR (click to purchase) | 2.86% | 3.06% | 5.65% |
CPA | $25.89 | $31.04 | $24.04 |
ROAS | 4.13 | 3.90 | 4.91 |
CPM | $10.56 | $16.00 | $168.73 |
Share of spend | 6.3% | 70.4% | 22.2% |
Source: Top Growth Marketing, 28 DTC brands, $4.36M spend, USD accounts, Sep 2025–Aug 2026. Small agency panel, so treat it as a reference point rather than a market average. Demand Gen took the remaining 1.0% of spend.
Table 2 - Europe: Shopping vs PMax vs Search (ecommerce, EUR)
Metric | Shopping | PMax | Search |
|---|---|---|---|
CPC (Q4 2025–Q1 2026) | €0.31–0.35 | €0.37–0.42 | €0.39–0.41 |
CPC YoY (Q4 → Q1) | ~+13.5% → ~+11% | ~+7.5% → ~+6.5% | ~+3% → 0% |
CTR (Q1 2026) | 1.6–1.8% | 1.5–1.6% | 13.5–15% |
CVR (Q1 2026) | ~3.0–3.5% (Q4 peak ~4.5%) | ~3.0–3.5% (Q4 peak ~4.8%) | ~4.5% |
Source: SMEC Market Observer Q1 2026, EU ecommerce advertisers, Q4 2025–Q1 2026. SMEC also reports a median blended ROAS (Shopping + PMax + Search) of ~4.5 in October 2025, ~6.8 in mid-December, ~7.0 in early January 2026 and 5.0–6.2 in late January–February.
Table 3 - Europe: PMax and Shopping by vertical (selected findings)
Finding | Vertical | PMax | Standard Shopping |
|---|---|---|---|
Highest PMax CPC | Electronics & Tech; Health & Beauty | €0.56 (both) | n/a |
Lowest PMax CPC | Fashion & Apparel | €0.39 | n/a |
Lowest CPA | Baby & Pets | €9.90 | €8.95 |
Highest CPA | Home & Garden | €26.72 | €21.74 |
Highest trailing-year ROAS | Sports & Leisure | 659% | 645% |
Source: Channable, via PPC Land and the Channable benchmark tool. €1.38B in verified Google Ads spend from 10,000+ EU/EEA ecommerce advertisers, Jun 2024–Jun 2026, medians, at least 10 merchants per segment. Channable publishes the extremes, not a full table per vertical.
What this data is really telling you
Shopping is cheap reach; Search is expensive intent. In Table 1, Shopping's CPM is $10.56 against $168.73 for Search, yet Search wins on CVR and ROAS. Shopping wins by volume and visibility, not by click efficiency.
PMax gets the budget, not always the best return. In the same DTC panel PMax took 70.4% of spend while posting a lower ROAS (3.90) and higher CPA ($31.04) than standard Shopping.
Don't compare Shopping CTR with Search CTR. Shopping and PMax CTRs sit at 1.01–1.48% in the US panel and 1.5–1.8% in SMEC's EU data; Search sits at 14.64% and 13.5–15% respectively.
Seasonality is huge. SMEC's blended ROAS ran from ~4.5 in October to ~7.0 in early January. A Q1 report compared with a Q4 report says more about the calendar than about your account.
Vertical matters more than any average. In Channable's data, Home & Garden's PMax CPA (€26.72) is far above Baby & Pets (€9.90). Benchmark against your own vertical and country.
A note on ROAS by campaign type: Focus Digital reports a median ROAS of 2.88x for Shopping, 3.12x for PMax and 5.17x for Search (Mar 2025–Apr 2026, region not stated). Its methodology is only partly disclosed, and an older window quoted by Superscale gave PMax 2.57. Treat these as directional only.
Europe and the Netherlands: what's different?
Europe has the best public Shopping data right now, and the story is a squeeze.
ROAS fell sharply. Channable reports ROAS down 46% for PMax and 43% for standard Shopping year over year (June 2025 to June 2026, EU/EEA). CPA rose by €1.44 (PMax) and €1.94 (Shopping), and PMax CVR slipped 0.11 percentage points (PPC Land).
Clicks got more expensive. Channable measured combined Google Ads ecommerce CPC up 15% YoY (+€0.06, Jun 2025–Jun 2026). Comparing Q4 2025 with Q1 2025, spend rose 47.9% and CPC 9.1%. SMEC shows Shopping CPCs rising fastest of the three campaign types (Table 2).
Two sources, two lenses. SMEC's median ROAS levels stayed between roughly 5 and 7, while Channable reports a steep YoY decline. They measure different things over different periods, so read them side by side rather than averaging them.
Marketplaces crowd the auction. In SMEC's Q1 2026 data, median impression share was 34–37% for Amazon, ~20–21% for Temu, ~17–18% for eBay and 15–19% for AliExpress. Mobile takes nearly 80% of PMax and Shopping volume (SMEC).
Country gaps are wide. Channable flags Hungary (costs +42.1%) and the Czech Republic (+34.8%), Norway with the highest PMax CPA (€28.05), and Poland and Spain with PMax CPCs of €0.20.
For the Netherlands specifically there is no public Shopping benchmark. The market context: Dutch paid search spend grew 11% in 2025 (VIA/Deloitte, via Emerce), and across Europe Google's share of advertiser spend dropped from 62.1% to 57.3% between H1 2025 and H1 2026 in a matched cohort tracked by Billy Grace (PPC Land).
Trends 2025–2026: where is Google Shopping heading?
1) PMax keeps absorbing Shopping budgets (US)
According to Tinuiti, PMax's share of US Shopping listing spend rose from 53% in Q1 2025 to 59% in Q2 and 68% in Q3 2025. It stood at 67% in Q1 2026 (summary by Karooya). By Q3 2026, PMax held 62% of Shopping investment but only 59% of sales, and still trailed standard Shopping on ROAS (Tinuiti via RetailTouchPoints).
2) PMax converts slightly better but costs more per click
In Tinuiti's Q3 2025 US data, PMax beat standard Shopping on CVR (+2%) and sales per click (+5%), but CPC was 7% higher and ROAS 2% lower. YouTube accounted for 9% of PMax impressions.
3) US Shopping costs are stable; Europe's are not
US Shopping spend grew 14% in Q3 2025 with CPC down 1% (Tinuiti), and 18% in Q2 2026 with CPC flat (Digital Applied on Tinuiti). In Europe, Shopping CPCs rose by double digits (Table 2).
New Google Shopping and PMax features worth using right now
These are Google product changes. Google has not published independent performance figures for them.
PMax channel performance reporting. Open beta from 30 May 2025, expanded in March 2026 and available in API v23 (January 2026). You can now see how much PMax spends on Shopping vs YouTube vs Display, though channel exclusions are still not available (TechWyse, Google).
Product reporting change (watch your YoY reports). From 15 June 2026, PMax product reports include data from all networks. Google says this may cause a one-time increase in metrics (TechWyse). Annotate it in your dashboards, or year-over-year comparisons will look better than reality.
AI-powered Shopping ads with Gemini summaries. Announced at Google Marketing Live 2026. No performance data is available yet.
Industry playbooks: what should you do differently by vertical?
There are no reliable public Shopping benchmarks per category, so these playbooks are practical guidance. Where a figure appears, it comes from Channable's EU data.
Fashion & Apparel: how do you win on volume?
Clicks are relatively cheap (lowest PMax CPC in Channable's EU data, €0.39), so the battle is CVR: size availability, returns policy and delivery speed visible on the product page.
Keep variants (color, size) clean in the feed so the right image shows for the right query.
Electronics & Tech: how do you protect margin on expensive clicks?
This is one of the priciest PMax verticals in Europe (€0.56 CPC per Channable), and marketplaces compete hard. Price competitiveness matters more than ad copy.
Use standard Shopping for hero SKUs where you want tight control, and PMax for the long tail.
Health & Beauty: how do you turn first orders into repeat revenue?
CPC is high (also €0.56 in Channable's data), so a single-order ROAS view undersells the channel. Track repeat purchase value where you can.
Strong product titles with ingredient, size and benefit help both CTR and policy compliance.
Home & Garden: how do you manage a high CPA?
Channable shows the highest CPA here (€26.72 PMax, €21.74 Shopping). Expect longer consideration and judge on value, not order count.
Seasonality is strong: build separate campaigns or budgets for spring and summer categories.
Baby & Pets: how do you scale a vertical that converts cheaply?
Lowest CPA in Channable's data (€9.90 PMax, €8.95 Shopping), which makes it a good candidate for scaling, as long as ROAS holds.
Note that standard Shopping beat PMax on CPA here. Test both before moving everything into PMax.
Sports & Leisure: how do you keep a strong ROAS strong?
Highest trailing-year ROAS in Channable's data (659% PMax, 645% Shopping). Use the headroom to test new product lines.
Protect brand queries in Search so PMax doesn't take credit for demand you already own.
Actionable recommendations
1) Diagnose with the CPM → CTR → CVR → CPA ladder
High CPC or CPM: auction pressure (marketplaces, seasonality) → review bids, tROAS targets and product segmentation.
Low CTR: feed problem → improve titles, images, price competitiveness and promotions.
Weak CVR: product page problem → stock, delivery promise, reviews, mobile speed (mobile is nearly 80% of EU Shopping volume, per SMEC).
High CPA or low ROAS with healthy CTR and CVR: check margins, average order value and attribution before cutting budget.
2) Run a 30-day Shopping test plan
Week 1: feed audit (titles, images, GTINs, price competitiveness, disapprovals).
Week 2: turn on PMax channel performance reporting and check how much spend goes outside Shopping.
Weeks 2–3: test standard Shopping vs PMax for one product group with comparable budgets.
Week 4: compare CPA and ROAS per vertical and country, then shift budget to the winner.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good CTR for Google Shopping ads in 2026?
Shopping CTR was 1.01% in a US DTC panel (USD accounts, September 2025–August 2026, Top Growth Marketing) and 1.6–1.8% for European ecommerce in Q1 2026 (SMEC Market Observer Q1 2026). Don't compare it with Search CTR, which runs at 13.5–15% in the same EU data.
How much does a click cost on Google Shopping?
Standard Shopping CPC averaged $1.02 in the US DTC panel from September 2025 to August 2026, according to Top Growth Marketing. In Europe, ecommerce Shopping CPC was €0.31–0.35 in Q4 2025–Q1 2026, with year-over-year growth of roughly +11% to +13.5% (SMEC Market Observer Q1 2026).
What is a good ROAS for Google Shopping?
Standard Shopping delivered a 4.13 ROAS in the US DTC panel (September 2025–August 2026, Top Growth Marketing). SMEC reports a median blended EU ecommerce ROAS (Shopping + PMax + Search) of 5.0–6.2 in late January–February 2026 (SMEC Market Observer Q1 2026), while Focus Digital gives a lower, directional 2.88x for Shopping (March 2025–April 2026, region not stated).
Is Performance Max better than standard Shopping?
Not by default: in the US DTC panel, PMax had a 3.90 ROAS and $31.04 CPA versus 4.13 and $25.89 for standard Shopping (September 2025–August 2026, Top Growth Marketing). In Tinuiti's Q3 2025 US data, PMax converted 2% better but paid a 7% higher CPC, with a 2% lower ROAS.
Are there Google Shopping benchmarks by product category?
No reliable full category table exists, because Google does not publish one. The closest is Channable's EU/EEA data (June 2024–June 2026), which shows the lowest PMax CPA in Baby & Pets (€9.90) and the highest in Home & Garden (€26.72), via PPC Land.
What do Google Shopping ads cost in the Netherlands?
There is no public Netherlands-only Shopping benchmark, so use the European ecommerce figures (Shopping CPC €0.31–0.35 in Q4 2025–Q1 2026, SMEC Market Observer Q1 2026) and your own account history as the baseline. For context, Dutch paid search spend grew 11% in 2025 (VIA/Deloitte, via Emerce).
Conclusion: what "good" Google Shopping performance looks like in 2026
There is no trustworthy "Shopping benchmark by category" table, and the ones that circulate can't be traced. What the reliable data does show is clear enough to act on:
Shopping and PMax CTRs are low by nature (1.01–1.48% in the US panel, 1.5–1.8% in SMEC's EU data); don't judge them against Search.
PMax dominates spend, but standard Shopping still often wins on ROAS. Test, don't assume.
In Europe, costs are up and ROAS is down, so efficiency has to come from your feed, your product pages and your margins.
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More 2026 ad benchmarks
Comparing channels? See all headline numbers side by side on our Ad Benchmarks 2026 hub, or jump to another guide in the series:
