What's a healthy POAS for an electronics 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 electronics stores is built on real account data. The figure above is the closest credible number: the median Google Ads ROAS for electronics brands in Triple Whale's dataset. It was a hard year. Over the twelve months to July 2026, median ROAS fell 9.73%, one of the three largest declines in the dataset. Median cost per acquisition rose 17.49% to $39.72, and median conversion rate fell 14.98% to 2.08%, even as median order value rose 13.80% to $127.02. Electronics orders are large. What they leave behind can be small.

What moves an electronics store's POAS

High order value, thin margin

A large order makes ROAS look healthy, but electronics can carry little margin per dollar of revenue. In Damodaran's industry data, cost of goods was 61.23% of sales across eight US-listed consumer electronics makers, and a store reselling other brands' devices buys at a price that already includes the maker's margin. On a thin margin, a small drop in ROAS can take a campaign from profit to loss.

Shoppers compare prices

Electronics are easy to compare, and Shopping ads put your price next to everyone else's. In a Numerator survey of recent electronics buyers, 58% named price and value as an influence when choosing between a national brand and a lower-priced alternative, more than any other factor, and 47% said they were waiting for deals or sales. If your price isn't competitive, you can end up paying for clicks from shoppers who then buy elsewhere.

Returns that can't be resold as new

An opened device can't be sold as new. It becomes open-box or refurbished stock, sold at a discount, so an electronics return can cost part of the product's value as well as the shipping. In Loop's returns data from Shopify merchants, 13% of electronics returns were for damage or defects.

Payment fees and fraud on large orders

Card fees are a percentage of the order, so they grow with order value, and high-value, easy-to-resell products can attract fraud. Both come out of margin after the conversion is recorded.

Turning the median ROAS into POAS

POAS equals ROAS multiplied by your margin after returns, fees and shipping.

• Convert before you compare. At electronics margins, the median ROAS can mean a loss.
• Separate devices from accessories. They carry different margins and need different targets.
• Count open-box losses in your margin, not just refunds.

Why a benchmark is only a starting point

Your break-even line depends on your margin, your price position and your returns. Use the median to see where electronics accounts typically sit, then set targets from your own margin after costs, product type by product type.