# Paid media for ecommerce: scale on margin, not on platform ROAS > For large catalogues and DTC brands that already know a ROAS of 5 can lose money and a ROAS of 2.5 can make it. Source: https://www.nashmarketinglabs.com/en/ecommerce-paid-media-agency Author: Nash Marketing Labs, a paid media agency (Google Ads, Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, LinkedIn Ads). --- Platform ROAS is the most easily manipulated metric in ecommerce: it goes up if you buy back your own brand, if you over-count repeat customers or if the mix shifts towards low-margin products. As an **ecommerce paid media agency**, we optimise against what is left over: margin per order, net ROAS per SKU and MER. That is where it is decided whether the channel pays for the company or only pays for itself. You can start with the numbers: the [catalogue calculator](https://www.nashmarketinglabs.com/en/tools/catalog/) gives you the breakeven ROAS each category needs, so you can see which parts of your range can actually carry paid traffic. **Nash Marketing Labs in numbers:** EUR 18M of media managed, EUR 220M billed by our clients (over EUR 10 for every euro invested, aggregated since 2015), 10+ years in paid media. ## Large catalogues: not every SKU deserves a bid In distribution with thousands of products, treating the catalogue as a single block is giving money away. With **SKUSCALE™** (the product of our Classification Lab) we classify every product by real profitability and scaling potential, and the campaign structure inherits that classification: - High-margin SKUs with proven demand get budget and aggressive bids. - Thin-margin SKUs only compete where the price is competitive. - SKUs that destroy margin come out of the feed or stay at minimum coverage. The typical result isn't spending less: it is the same budget buying orders that leave a profit. ## Own brands: scaling without burning the brand In DTC the problem is a different one: separating acquisition from repeat purchase. If Meta and Google claim customers who were already yours, the growth is fictional. We measure **new vs returning** in every channel, work attribution with honest windows (click, not inflated view-through) and set the pace of scaling with blended figures and MER in front of us, not just Ads Manager ROAS. ## The stack: Shopping + PMax + Meta, measured properly Google Shopping and Performance Max with enriched feeds and brand exclusions. Meta with creative refreshed based on data ([Nash Generative Lab](https://www.nashmarketinglabs.com/en/labs/generative)) and attribution read on a click-only basis. And underneath, measurement: server-side, deduplication across platforms and your store's actual sales (Shopify, PrestaShop or whatever you use) reconciled with platform data in the [Nash BI Lab](https://www.nashmarketinglabs.com/en/labs/bi) pipeline. If the platform says 100 and the store says 60, you want to know before scaling. ## Reporting your finance team understands Net sales (excluding VAT and shipping, net of returns), margin by channel, MER and a paid media P&L. Automatic, daily and reconciled against your ecommerce platform. Stop arguing with the agency report: our reporting is designed for your finance director to sign off. ## Frequently asked questions ### We have 40,000 products. Can you really manage that? It is our favourite territory. Classification by profitability is automated (SKUSCALE™) and the campaign structure is generated from it. The bigger the catalogue, the more value there is in separating margin from volume. ### How do you calculate net ROAS? Your store's actual net sales (excluding VAT and shipping, net of returns) divided by spend, by channel and by SKU where the data allows. We don't use gross platform revenue as the source of truth. ### Meta or Google for ecommerce? Both, in different roles: Google captures demand (Shopping and Search) and Meta creates it. The split comes from your acquisition and margin numbers, not from an agency preference. ### We already have a ROAS of 6. Why would we need you? To find out whether that 6 is real. In most audits, once you separate out brand, repeat customers and returns, the number changes. Sometimes it confirms everything is fine and the job is to scale; sometimes it reveals that the growth was buying itself. ## More resources - [Paid media services: what we do and which one fits you](https://www.nashmarketinglabs.com/en/services) - [A Google Ads agency for accounts that no longer accept excuses](https://www.nashmarketinglabs.com/en/google-ads-agency) - [A paid media agency measured in business results, not impressions](https://www.nashmarketinglabs.com/en/paid-media-agency) - [Google Ads audit: what each problem costs and in what order to fix it](https://www.nashmarketinglabs.com/en/google-ads-audit) - [What is the minimum profitable ROAS (and how to calculate yours)](https://www.nashmarketinglabs.com/en/blog/minimum-profitable-roas) - [Product feed in Google Shopping: why it is almost never the bidding](https://www.nashmarketinglabs.com/en/blog/product-feed-google-shopping) - [MER vs ROAS: which metric to use and when](https://www.nashmarketinglabs.com/en/blog/mer-vs-roas) --- Contact: https://www.nashmarketinglabs.com/en/request-audit - free Viability Audit, no strings attached.