Facebook Ads Cost Per Purchase Benchmarks for E-commerce

Introduction

Across all countries, E‑commerce cost per purchase ran consistently below the global Facebook Ads benchmark for most of the year, with one brief push above market in April before a steady cool‑down into Q4. The rhythm was clear: an early lift, a mid‑year slide, a modest November rebound, and then a sharp reset at the start of 2026. Volatility was generally higher than the market, especially around the calendar turn.

This analysis is based on $3B worth of advertising data from our dataset, which provides strong directional benchmarks. This analysis explores ad performance trends for E‑commerce across all countries compared to the global benchmark.

The story in the data

E‑commerce cost per purchase opened 2025 at $44.91 and closed December at $41.94, a 6.6% decline across the year. The period’s high came in April at $53.14, followed by a long slide to a 2025 low of $41.73 in October. A small November bounce to $43.48 gave way to a softer December, and then a sharp step‑down to $21.14 in January 2026. Averaged across the full window, E‑commerce cost per purchase landed at $43.59.

Month‑to‑month movement averaged $4.11, though most of that turbulence came from the December‑to‑January reset; looking only at 2025, average monthly change was a milder $2.59. The early‑year lift was pronounced (+18% from January to April), followed by a 22% drawdown from April’s high to October’s trough. The single largest monthly move was the −$20.79 plunge into January 2026.

By comparison, the global benchmark (all industries, all countries) averaged $49.61 over the same period, peaking at $54.77 in February 2025 and reaching a low of $25.15 in January 2026. Global month‑to‑month movement averaged $3.33 across the full period and $1.59 within 2025 alone.

Seasonal and monthly dynamics

The first half of 2025 was the stronger stretch for E‑commerce: Q1 averaged $47.48 and Q2 $48.83, anchored by April’s high. The back half softened notably: Q3 averaged $43.15 and Q4 $42.38, with only a brief uptick in November before easing again in December. Performance typically softens through Q4 as competition rises, with engagement or efficiency commonly rebounding in early Q1; in this dataset, cost per purchase actually eased through late Q3 and Q4, then reset sharply lower at the start of 2026.

The global benchmark followed a similar arc—elevated in the first half, softer in Q4—though with smaller month‑to‑month swings through most of 2025.

Country vs. Global

Relative to the global benchmark, E‑commerce across all countries was lower on cost per purchase almost every month. On a 2025 average basis, E‑commerce was $45.46 vs. the market’s $51.65, about 12% below. The narrowest gap appeared in April, when E‑commerce briefly ran 1–2% above the market; the widest gap appeared in September–October, 20–21% below. Trendwise, the market declined roughly 10% from January to December 2025, while E‑commerce eased by about 7%, but with more volatility (average monthly shift of $2.59 vs. the market’s $1.59 in 2025). Both series saw a pronounced step‑down entering January 2026 (−50% to −53%), reinforcing the broader seasonal reset in cost per purchase.

Closing

These Facebook Ads benchmarks show that cost per purchase for E‑commerce across all countries trailed the global market for most of the year, with the largest gap in late Q3–Q4 and a decisive reset at the start of 2026. Understanding cost‑per‑purchase dynamics within industry ad performance helps frame country‑specific ad costs alongside broader CPC trends, CPM analysis, and CTR performance.