Paid media that moves fashion inventory

It depends on your gross margin. A brand at 70% margin can run profitably at 1.8x to 2.2x blended ROAS. A brand at 45% margin needs more like 3.5x to be profitable. Most fashion DTC brands we work with target a blended ROAS between 2.5x and 4x, with Google Shopping pulling 4x to 6x on branded and category queries while Meta cold prospecting hovers around 1.8x to 2.5x. ROAS without margin context is a vanity metric.

Both, with different jobs. Performance Max pulls heavy volume across Shopping, YouTube, Discover, and Gmail, but it hides query-level data and chases lookalike audiences hard. We use PMax for prospecting and standard Shopping with custom intent for the queries we know convert. New stores often start with PMax for breadth, then peel off branded and high-intent terms into standard campaigns once we have 30 days of data to work with.

We build a creative calendar 6 to 8 weeks ahead of each season so we have shot lists ready when products land. For each drop we plan three creative angles: hero product on model, detail or fabric close-up, and a styling or lifestyle scene. Then we test 3 to 5 variants per angle in the first 2 weeks, kill the bottom 60%, and scale the survivors. Creative dies faster in fashion than in any other vertical we run, so the refresh cycle is built into the budget.

Yes, but the way you measure them has to change. iOS 14.5 and the post-cookie changes mean Meta's in-platform ROAS undercounts true revenue by 20 to 40% in our experience. We rely on GA4 modeled conversions, server-side CAPI events, and post-purchase surveys (How did you hear about us?) to triangulate the real picture. Brands that only trust Meta's dashboard cut budget at exactly the wrong time. The platform still drives a huge share of fashion discovery.

Below $3,000 a month of media spend it's hard to gather statistically useful data on Meta. Google can work with less because intent does some of the heavy lifting. A realistic floor for a brand that wants both channels firing is $4,000 to $6,000 a month in ad spend across Google and Meta, with management on top. Brands targeting $50K+ a month in revenue from paid usually run $10K to $18K in media. Ad budget gets paid directly to the platforms, not to us.

It's the single biggest lever in fashion paid media and most brands ignore it. Your product title, description, color, size, GTIN, material, age group, and custom labels decide which queries you show up for and how Google ranks your products. We rewrite titles in a structured order (brand + product type + key attribute + color + size), fix disapprovals, add missing GTINs, and split custom labels by margin and bestseller status. A clean feed often doubles Shopping impressions within 2 weeks.

Both, and the budget split matters. For most ecommerce accounts we work on we put 60 to 70% of spend on cold acquisition, 20 to 30% on warm retargeting (site visitors, video viewers, engagers), and 10 to 15% on hot retargeting (cart and checkout abandoners). Cart abandoners convert at much higher rates than cold traffic, but the audience pool is small, so dumping budget there caps your growth. We treat retargeting as the closing channel, not the growth channel.

Custom labels in the Merchant Center feed. We tag each SKU by margin tier (high, mid, low) and bestseller status, then build separate Shopping or PMax campaigns per tier with different target ROAS. A 70% margin product gets pushed aggressively at 2x target ROAS because each sale is profitable. A clearance item at 25% margin needs 4x or it loses money. Treating all products with one ROAS goal is how fashion brands quietly bleed margin.

Pinterest pulls real weight for fashion because the platform is built around saving and shopping looks. TikTok Shop has become a serious revenue channel for sub-$80 price points, especially with creator content plus paid amplification. YouTube Shorts on lookbook footage drives cheaper video views than Reels. We don't push every brand onto every channel. We usually max out Google and Meta first, then add a third platform when the first two flatten.

More often than any other vertical. Fashion creative typically loses 30 to 50% of its CTR within 10 to 14 days on Meta, and PMax asset groups need new images every 3 to 4 weeks to keep performance stable. We bake a weekly creative drop into our retainer for active accounts. The brands we see lose momentum are the ones who set creative once at launch and let it ride.

Both, used differently. Influencer organic content gets you reach and social proof. Whitelisting (running paid ads from the creator's handle) is where the real performance lift happens because the creator's face plus your offer outperforms brand-owned creative on cold audiences in nearly every test we run. We typically negotiate a 60 to 90 day whitelisting window into creator deals so we can pump budget through the post that performed on organic.

Two pieces. The feed itself uses the availability attribute, so out-of-stock products drop out of Shopping ads within hours. On Meta we use catalog rules to exclude products below a stock threshold (we usually set it at 3 units left, since the last few sizes burn budget without conversions). Anyone who's ever clicked an ad for a beautiful coat in their size, only to find it sold out, knows why this matters.

Book a free audit. Our paid media team pulls your Merchant Center status, recent Google Ads spend, Meta ad library entries, and competitor ad activity, then sends a 12 to 15 page document with what we'd change in the first 30 days. No charge, no obligation, and you keep the audit either way.