Understand how your CPC compares. Dive into benchmark data by industry, region, and campaign type
November 2024 - November 2025
Detailed observation of presented data
Retail CPC in the United States followed a classic holiday-to-midyear arc: elevated costs through Q4 2024, a sharp reset in early Q1, a prolonged summer trough, and a late‑Q4 2025 rebound. Across the full window, United States retail CPCs averaged $1.06 versus a $1.13 global benchmark, pointing to slightly lower country-specific ad costs but noticeably higher month-to-month swings. The year’s high landed in November 2024 ($1.53) and the low in July 2025 ($0.89), with a late lift into November 2025 ($1.09). 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 Retail in the United States compared to the global benchmark.
The American retail CPC trend peaked at $1.53 in November 2024, eased to $1.42 in December (−7%), then reset more sharply in January (−24% to $1.08). Costs continued to soften through March ($0.97), before a brief April–May plateau near $1.03. The cycle’s trough arrived mid‑summer at $0.89 in July (−42% from the November 2024 peak), then gradually rebuilt from August through October (three consecutive monthly gains) and finished with a solid November 2025 lift to $1.09 (+14% month over month).
Across the 13 months, U.S. Retail CPCs averaged $1.06 (seven months under $1.00). Volatility ran hot: average absolute month‑over‑month movement was $0.08, versus $0.05 globally, and the range was wider as well ($0.65 in the U.S. vs. $0.41 globally). The steepest single drop came in December to January (−$0.34), while the largest jump was October to November 2025 (+$0.14).
The pattern aligns with familiar retail seasonality on Facebook Ads benchmarks for CPC trends: premium Q4 pricing (November–December 2024) gave way to softer Q1 costs as auction pressure eased. Q2 was a holding pattern around the $1.00 mark, followed by the weakest stretch in Q3, when July posted the period low ($0.89). From there, CPCs rose in a measured staircase—August to October—before a firmer Q4 reset in November 2025 ($1.09).
This rhythm reflects rising competition into the holidays, a Q1 cooldown, and a late‑year climb as demand rebuilt.
Relative to the global benchmark, U.S. Retail CPCs started above market in late 2024, dipped below through most of 2025, and briefly moved back above in November 2025:
The global trend declined more smoothly (+/−$0.05 average monthly change) while the U.S. Retail path was choppier (+/−$0.08), especially around the post‑holiday reset and the late‑year recovery. Both series ultimately landed near the same year‑over‑year decline, but the U.S. exhibited deeper mid‑year discounts and sharper Q4 peaks.
In short, Facebook Ads benchmarks for cost‑per‑click show the Retail industry in the United States priced above global levels during the holidays, trended below market for most of 2025, and closed the year with a notable November rebound. This CPC analysis—anchored in country-specific ad costs and industry ad performance—helps frame how U.S. Retail stacks up against the global benchmark and how its volatility and seasonality differ from broader CPM analysis or CTR performance patterns worldwide.
Insights & analysis of Facebook advertising costs
Cost Per Click (CPC) is the amount advertisers pay each time a user clicks on their Facebook ad. In the Retail industry, Facebook ad costs can be influenced by seasonal trends and market competition. For campaigns targeting United States, advertisers often face higher costs due to high competition and purchasing power. Different campaign objectives lead to varying costs based on how Facebook optimizes for your specific goals. The data shown represents median values across multiple campaigns, and individual results may vary based on ad quality, audience targeting, and campaign optimization.
We use the median CTR because the underlying distribution of click-through rates is highly skewed, with a small share of campaigns achieving extremely high CTRs. These outliers can inflate a simple average, making it less representative of what most advertisers actually experience. By using the median—which sits at the midpoint of all campaigns—we provide a more rigorous and realistic benchmark that reflects the true underlying data model and helps you set attainable performance expectations.
Note: This data represents industry median values and benchmarks. Your actual costs may vary based on specific targeting, ad creative quality, and campaign optimization.
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All data is sourced from over $3B in Facebook ad spend, collected across thousands of ad accounts that use Superads daily to analyze and improve their campaigns. Every data point is fully anonymized and aggregated—no individual advertiser is ever exposed.
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Late November (Thanksgiving & Black Friday weekend), December (Christmas), Back-to-school (July–September), Summer travel season (Memorial Day onwards)
CPM and CPC might rise around major holidays like Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day, especially in travel and entertainment. Black Friday/Thanksgiving weekend triggers massive spikes in retail ad competition. December ad demand typically peaks—retail campaigns require significantly higher budgets. Back-to-school promotions drive increased competition. Juneteenth may see regional engagement rise.
CPC (Cost Per Click) is what you pay each time someone clicks on your ad, on any Facebook Ads placement. It's calculated by dividing your total spend by the number of clicks received. Facebook Ads lists Clicks, Link Clicks and Outbound Clicks separately. The former is the sum of all types of clicks (including, for example, clicks to your profile page, to a link or to a comment).
The truth is that varies, so play with our tool to get some benchmarks that are relevant to you. CPC values are highly dependent on the region, industry and campaign objective. The US is one of the most expensive markets.
Several factors affect CPC: your audience targeting, competition in your industry, ad relevance score, and creative performance. If your ad isn't getting engagement or relevance is low, CPC tends to spike.
CPC spikes usually happen because of increased competition in your target audience, seasonal trends (like holidays), poor ad relevance scores, or algorithm changes. Check if your audience targeting has become too narrow or if your creative is showing fatigue.
Yes, there's a noticeable difference between platforms. Mobile CPCs often run lower than desktop. How many times do check Instagram on your phone and how often do you open it in your computer? There's simply much more mobile inventory. Tip: segment your performance data by placement to understand where your clicks are coming from. Spoiler: it's likely all mobile.
For most businesses, optimizing for conversions will deliver much better ROI than focusing purely on CPC. A low CPC is meaningless if those clicks don't convert. However, if you're running awareness campaigns or some kind content promotion, CPC optimization might potentially make sense, although most experts have switched to conversion optimization by now.
Your specific audience targeting, creative quality, bidding strategy, and account history all influence your CPC. Industry averages provide a reference point, but your historical performance is a more reliable benchmark for setting expectations and measuring improvement.
Instagram CPCs are generally slightly higher due to stronger purchase intent and higher competition among advertisers. But it depends on the audience and creative.
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