What's a healthy POAS for an apparel store on Google Ads?

POAS divides the gross profit a campaign produced by what you spent to get it. At 1.0, ad spend used up every dollar of product profit the campaign generated. Above 1.0, the campaign contributes to fixed costs and net profit; below it, each sale loses money before overhead is counted.

No published POAS benchmark for apparel, or for any vertical, is built on real account data. The figure above is the closest credible number: the median Google Ads ROAS for apparel and accessories brands. It measures revenue, not profit, so this page shows how to turn it into POAS using your own margin.

Apparel is hard to read because three things move profit after Google Ads has already recorded the conversion: returns, markdowns and size exchanges. Any ROAS figure, the median above included, counts revenue before all three.

What moves an apparel store's POAS

Returns arrive after the conversion is counted

Google Ads records conversion value at checkout. When an order is returned, the value in the account stays the same unless you upload a conversion adjustment. Coresight Research estimates the average US online apparel return rate at 23.4% for 2025 (source on the apparel ROAS vs POAS gap page), and every returned order widens the gap between the revenue Google reports and the revenue you keep. A campaign that clears 1.0 on checkout revenue can fall below it once returns are netted out.

The margin a campaign sold at, not the catalogue average

A full-price new-season jacket and the same jacket at 40% off carry very different margins. Campaigns that mostly move sale stock often show a strong ROAS on low-margin units. For POAS, use the margin the campaign's orders actually earned. The catalogue average hides this in both directions.

Size exchanges keep revenue but add cost

An exchange for a different size keeps the sale, but you pay to ship the item twice and handle it once more. Those costs belong in the cost side of POAS, covered on the apparel COGS breakdown.

Seasonality changes the answer within one campaign

The same Shopping campaign can be healthy during the full-price window and loss-making during end-of-season clearance, with no change to its ROAS target. Judge POAS by season, not as one annual number.

Turning the median ROAS into POAS

POAS equals ROAS multiplied by your margin after returns. Whether a campaign at the apparel median is profitable depends entirely on that margin.

• Convert before you compare. A thin-margin store can lose money at the median ROAS; a high-margin store can be profitable well below it.
• Measure it net of returns. Judge a week's spend once that week's orders have passed your return window. Earlier readings overstate POAS.
• Below 1.0 after returns means the campaign costs more in ads than the products earn. Cut it or fix its margin mix before adding budget.
• Above 1.0 after returns means the campaign contributes to overhead and there may be room to scale. First check it isn't driven by a few full-price bestsellers that will sell out in your core sizes.

Why a benchmark is only a starting point

Your own break-even line depends on your return rate, your markdown calendar and your fulfilment costs. Use the median to see where apparel accounts typically sit, then set targets from your own return-adjusted margin.