How to reduce advertising costs on Wildberries?

Advertising on Wildberries helps boost sales and push products to the top of search results. However, without regular monitoring, it can become one of the most costly expense items. Many sellers evaluate ad effectiveness only by the number of orders or the amount deducted from the ad dashboard, but this approach doesn't reveal whether the promotion is generating profit.

To reduce advertising costs without losing sales, you need to analyze not just expenses, but also their relationship with the orders and revenue generated. This is where the ACoS metric comes in.

What is ACoS on Wildberries in Simple Terms

ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sale) shows what portion of money from orders or revenue goes to advertising.

Example:

order turnover: 300,000 RUB;

advertising costs: 30,000 RUB.

ACoS = 30,000 / 300,000 × 100% = 10%.

The budget size itself (30,000 RUB, 100,000 RUB, etc.) doesn't mean much. What matters is the turnover and profit this budget generates.

Comparing Two Campaigns with the Same Costs:

Campaign A: spent 20,000 RUB, received orders worth 300,000 RUB. Campaign B: spent 20,000 RUB, received orders worth 80,000 RUB.

In the first case, the ACoS is much lower, meaning the advertising is more effective. This is exactly why ACoS is needed — it shows how justified the investment in promotion is.

Why ACoS Alone Isn't Enough

You can't calculate a single "universal" ACoS because:

an order is not yet revenue;

some orders are not redeemed;

some redeemed items are returned.

Because of this, the same ad spend can result in:

many orders right now;

fewer actual sales after deducting non-redemptions;

a different share of final revenue.

Therefore, sellers typically have three key control points:

ACoS from orders — how advertising brings in orders right now.

ACoS considering the redemption rate — what these orders actually turn into.

ACoS from revenue — what share of earned money is "consumed" by advertising.

Each metric answers its own question and is needed for different management decisions.

ACoS from Orders (TACOO)

TACOO shows what share of the total order value is taken up by advertising costs, without considering returns and the redemption rate.

Formula:

TACOO = (Advertising Costs ÷ Total Orders) × 100%.

This metric:

can be calculated immediately after launching or changing a campaign;

responds quickly to changes in bids, keywords, budgets;

is convenient for daily monitoring and comparing campaigns with each other.

How to Use TACOO:

daily bid optimization;

comparing different campaign types and ad groups;

evaluating changes after edits (bids, keywords, strategies);

operational control to prevent ad spend from "going through the roof."

Important: TACOO is about speed and reaction. It doesn't show real profit, but it allows you to catch ineffective settings in time.

ACoS Considering Redemption (TACOS)

TACOS shows the share of advertising costs considering what portion of orders will actually be paid for and not returned.

The problem of orders without redemption:

order reports might look high;

in reality, some customers don't redeem;

another part makes returns;

final revenue is much lower than the order total.

TACOS accounts for redemption and provides a more realistic picture of advertising effectiveness. It can be calculated using two approaches.

Option 1. TACOS based on historical redemption rate Take the average redemption rate for the product (or product group) over the past 30–60 days. Then:

multiply the order total by the average redemption rate;

calculate the share of advertising costs from this "expected" revenue.

This gives a forecast TACOS — convenient for quick assessment when actual redemption data isn't fully formed yet.

Option 2. TACOS based on actual redemption This uses real data:

how many orders were redeemed;

how many items were returned;

what revenue was actually accrued.

The longer the analysis period, the more accurate the TACOS — over a month/quarter, it already shows the picture well.

TACOS is a strategic metric. It answers not "how many orders did we get," but "how profitable is the advertising overall, considering real customer behavior."

Why the Redemption Rate is Critical for Evaluating Advertising

Two products with the same order total can have completely different profits due to different redemption rates.

Example:

Both products received orders worth 100,000 RUB. 10,000 RUB was spent on advertising for each. But:

Product 1: 95% redemption.

Product 2: 60% redemption.

Results:

Product 1 brings in about 95,000 RUB in revenue.

Product 2 brings in about 60,000 RUB.

With the same advertising costs, the real effectiveness of the campaigns differs greatly. If you only look at orders and TACOO, you might mistakenly consider the second campaign normal.

ACoS from Actual Revenue

ACoS from revenue shows what share of actually earned money is taken up by all advertising costs for the period.

Simplified Formula:

ACoS from revenue = (Advertising Costs for the Period ÷ Actual Revenue for the Period) × 100%.

Revenue here includes:

only what was actually redeemed;

accounting for returns;

accounting for payments accrued by the marketplace.

This metric:

is directly linked to profit;

is convenient for analysis by week, month, quarter;

helps answer the question: "What percentage of turnover do we ultimately give to advertising?".

If the goal is to manage business profit, not just the ad dashboard, you should primarily focus on ACoS from revenue and TACOS.

What ACoS Can Be Considered Normal

There is no fixed "correct" ACoS. The target level depends on the economics of a specific product:

cost price (production, purchase);

Wildberries commission;

logistics and storage costs;

taxes;

redemption and return rates;

overall margin;

promotion strategy (aggressive growth or careful profit).

The same ACoS can be:

critical for a low-margin product;

comfortable for a high-markup item.

-Conclusion: A "normal" ACoS is one where, after all costs (purchase, commission, logistics, taxes, advertising), a profit remains that meets your goal. This needs to be calculated through unit economics, not based on advice like "my ACoS is 8%, do the same."

Example: Inexpensive Product with Low Margin

Product: socks.

Selling price: 300 RUB. All costs (production, logistics, taxes, etc.): 260 RUB. Margin before advertising: 40 RUB. If spending 30 RUB on advertising (10% of the price):

profit per unit = 40 RUB − 30 RUB = 10 RUB.

Any small increase in advertising costs:

another −10 RUB — and the product is at breakeven;

a bit more — and the item goes into the red.

For such products, the acceptable ACoS is usually very low — 1–3%. Therefore, aggressive advertising here almost always quickly "eats up" the margin.

Example: High-Margin Product

Product: coffee machine.

Selling price: 50,000 RUB. Total cost price (purchase, logistics, etc.): 25,000 RUB. Margin before advertising: 25,000 RUB. Even with high advertising costs:

advertising: 15,000 RUB (ACoS 30%);

profit: 25,000 − 15,000 = 10,000 RUB.

In this case:

a high ACoS does not mean failure;

advertising can be profitable even at 30% or higher;

the key question is "how much profit in absolute numbers remains after all costs."

Conclusion: Comparing ACoS between products without considering margin is meaningless.

Why Comparing Your ACoS with Competitors is Dangerous

Relying on others' numbers like "Our ACoS is 8%, so yours should be too" is incorrect.

Even within the same niche, sellers can have vastly different:

purchase costs;

supplier terms;

marketplace commission;

delivery and storage costs;

return rates;

discount and promotion systems;

target margin and strategy (market share growth vs. maximum profit here and now).

As a result:

one seller is comfortable with a 5% ACoS;

another lives fine with 20%;

a third goes into the red at 8%.

The correct approach is to calculate your own unit economics and, based on that, determine your personal target ACoS, rather than adjusting to the "average temperature in the hospital."

How to Actually Reduce Advertising Costs on Wildberries

Reducing costs isn't just about "cutting the budget." The right strategy is to keep working campaigns and remove/reconfigure unprofitable ones.

Analyze ACoS for Each Product, Not Just the Dashboard

The overall ACoS might look normal, but:

several items are burning through most of the budget;

other products are pulling the overall result up, masking the negative ones.

What to do:

export metrics for each SKU;

look for products with high ACoS and low profit;

for those, separately analyze the advertising strategy or turn it off completely.

Compare TACOO and TACOS and Control Redemption

Many orders don't guarantee earnings. If TACOO is good (low ACoS from orders), but the actual redemption is low, then:

TACOS and ACoS from revenue will be significantly worse;

advertising will look profitable in terms of orders but fail in terms of real profit.

Solutions:

track redemption rates by product;

adjust listings, content, price to increase redemption;

lower bids and budgets for items with chronically low redemption.

Regularly Review Bids

The marketplace situation is constantly changing:

new competitors enter;

bids in the category change;

demand rises or falls.

Bids that were optimal a month ago may today:

lead to a sharp increase in costs;

provide almost no additional traffic.

A regular cycle is needed:

monitor ACoS by campaign;

for products with rising ACoS — lower bids or rebuild campaigns;

test other types of placements and keywords.

Cut Advertising for Unprofitable Products

Not every product needs to be actively promoted. If an item consistently shows high ACoS and low profit, and all optimization attempts don't change the situation, then it's logical to:

reduce advertising pressure;

reallocate the budget to products with better ACoS and higher margin.

Sometimes it's more profitable to stop advertising part of your assortment than to "treat" a chronically unprofitable item.

View Advertising Through the Lens of Profit, Not Just ACoS

Even a very low ACoS doesn't guarantee the product is making money. A possible situation:

low ACoS;

small margin;

high logistics/commission/taxes.

As a result, the absolute profit is minimal or non-existent.

Therefore, when evaluating advertising, always consider:

cost price;

marketplace commissions;

delivery, storage, packaging;

taxes;

actual advertising costs;

final profit per unit and for the product as a whole.

The point of advertising is not beautiful percentages, but increasing gross and net profit.

How to Automate ACoS Control and Stop Manual Calculations

If your assortment is small, calculations can be done in Excel or Google Sheets. But when there are dozens or hundreds of products, manual tracking becomes a constant routine and a source of errors.

Analytics services like Torgstat allow you to calculate three key metrics:

TACOO — ACoS from orders;

TACOS — ACoS considering the redemption rate;

ACoS from revenue — the share of advertising costs in actual accruals.

Automation is especially important if you:

are actively scaling your assortment;

run many advertising campaigns;

want to make decisions based on a system, not intuition.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is ACoS on Wildberries?

ACoS stands for Advertising Cost of Sale. The metric shows what portion of the order total or actual revenue is consumed by advertising over a selected period.

What is the difference between TACOO and TACOS?

TACOO is the share of advertising costs from the total of placed orders, without considering redemption and returns. It's needed for operational control. TACOS is the share of advertising costs considering redemption (forecast or actual). It better reflects the real effectiveness and profitability of advertising.

What ACoS can be considered good?

There is no universal value. A "good" ACoS:

fits within your unit economics;

leaves enough profit after all costs;

can be 1–3% for cheap, low-margin products and 20–30% or higher for expensive, high-margin products.

Can I reduce advertising costs without losing sales?

Yes. To do this, you need to:

calculate different types of ACoS for each product;

remove or reduce unprofitable campaigns;

adjust bids;

reallocate the budget to profitable products;

consider actual redemption and final revenue.

Do I need to calculate several types of ACoS?

Yes, if the goal is to manage not just turnover, but also profit:

TACOO — quick control based on orders; TACOS — assessment considering redemption; ACoS from revenue — the real share of advertising in earned money and its impact on the business's financial result.