TACoS in practice.
It's the most honest advertising metric on Amazon. A falling TACoS with rising revenue means: your advertising is carrying the organic business, and you're becoming less dependent on ads. If the TACoS keeps rising instead, you're buying revenue at a high price. We manage accounts primarily via this metric.
We'll explain it to you over the phone – no jargon and no sales pressure.
Why TACoS is the more honest metric.
The ACoS only looks at the revenue that comes directly from ads. The problem: good advertising also generates organic sales – because it strengthens your ranking, which in turn brings organic visibility. The ACoS makes this effect invisible.
TACoS instead puts the advertising costs in relation to total revenue. This makes visible how dependent your business really is on paid advertising.
An example: two accounts have the same ACoS of 25%. On account A the TACoS is 22% – almost all the revenue comes from advertising. On account B it's 8% – here the business largely sustains itself organically. Account B is considerably healthier, even though the ACoS looks identical.
How to read the TACoS trend.
The ideal case: advertising builds organic ranking, the business becomes more independent.
Healthy growth – advertising scales proportionally with it.
Growth is being bought at a high price. Fine short-term at launch, a warning sign long-term.
Alarm level: either the market is getting more expensive or the conversion is collapsing.
Sounds good, but often means untapped potential – you could buy more revenue here.
Common mistakes.
Only looking at the monthly figure. TACoS is a trend metric – the pattern over six months says more than any single value.
Averaging TACoS across the whole account. It only becomes meaningful per product or product group.
Ignoring seasonality. In Q4 all the figures shift – comparisons need the same time window in the previous year.
Frequently asked questions about TACoS.
How do you calculate TACoS?
What is a good TACoS value?
Does Amazon show the TACoS directly?
Let's talk about your project.
Request your no-obligation callback – we'll discuss your goals and tell you honestly whether and how we can help.
We will get back to you as soon as possible – usually the same working day.