Amazon ACoS Benchmarks by Category (2026)
Median Amazon ACoS by product category for 2026, from 19% in Books to 42% in Clothing. What counts as a good ACoS in your category and why the spread is so wide.
TL;DR: The cross-category average Amazon ACoS in 2026 is about 32%. By category the median ranges from 19% in Books to 42% in Clothing & Apparel. A good ACoS depends entirely on your category, so compare within yours: under your category median you are outperforming, well above it signals a structural issue.
ACoS (advertising cost of sales) is ad spend divided by ad-attributed sales. It is the headline efficiency metric for Amazon PPC, and the one sellers most often ask "is this good?" about. The honest answer is that it depends on your category.
Average Amazon ACoS in 2026
The cross-category average ACoS in 2026 is 32.48%, based on compiled 2026 industry data. Most accounts sit between 25% and 36%. But the median across the ten categories below is closer to 27.5%, because a handful of high-ACoS categories pull the blended mean upward.
Median ACoS by category
The table shows the median ACoS in each major Amazon category as of 2026. Lower is more efficient.
| Category | Median ACoS (2026) |
|---|---|
| Books | 19% |
| Food & Grocery | 21% |
| Beauty & Personal Care | 24% |
| Pet Supplies | 26% |
| Health & Household | 27% |
| Toys & Games | 28% |
| Electronics | 29% |
| Home & Garden | 31% |
| Sports & Outdoors | 33% |
| Clothing & Apparel | 42% |
Source: compiled from 2026 industry benchmark data and cross-checked against Autron's own managed accounts. Values are category-level medians, not individual-seller values.
What the spread tells you
The 23-point gap between Books (19%) and Clothing (42%) is structural, not a sign that Books sellers are better operators. Two forces drive it:
- Return rates. Clothing and apparel get returned at far higher rates than books or grocery, so a chunk of ad-driven orders never become net sales. The reported ACoS climbs even when campaigns are run well.
- Margin and price. Low-price, high-repeat categories like Books and Food & Grocery can sustain very low ACoS because conversion is high and competition for clicks is thin (note the matching low CPC in those categories).
So "is 30% ACoS good?" has no answer without a category. It is excellent in Clothing, roughly average in Home & Garden, and poor in Books. The only useful comparison is against your own category's median.
Set the right ACoS target
Your benchmark is a comparison, not a target. To set a target you can actually run to, start from your margins: the break-even ACoS calculator finds the ACoS where an ad sale stops making money, then a target ACoS for the net margin you want. To see how your current ACoS compares to your category median, use the benchmark comparison tool. For the full set of metrics side by side, see the Amazon PPC benchmarks by category overview, and for what to do if you are behind, the 2026 Amazon advertising benchmarks report.