TACOS (Total Advertising Cost of Sales) measures your advertising spend as a percentage of your total revenue — including both ad-attributed and organic sales. It gives a more complete picture of how advertising investment affects overall business performance compared to ACOS, which only measures ad revenue.
Formula: TACOS = (Ad Spend ÷ Total Revenue) × 100
Example: If you spend $200 on ads, generate $500 in ad sales, and $1,500 in organic sales ($2,000 total), your ACOS is 40% but your TACOS is 10%.
Why TACOS Is More Useful Than ACOS Alone
Amazon's advertising does not just drive direct click-attributed sales — it also boosts organic ranking. A product that ranks on page 1 because of sustained ad spend will continue generating organic sales even when ads are paused. ACOS cannot capture this halo effect; TACOS can.
If TACOS is declining over time while ACOS stays flat, it means your ads are building organic velocity — a sign of a healthy, scaling strategy.
If TACOS and ACOS are similar, your product has little organic traction — most of your revenue depends on paid ads. This is a warning sign for margin sustainability.
TACOS Benchmarks
There is no universal "good" TACOS — it depends on your margin, category, and growth stage:
- Established product, mature rank: TACOS of 5–12% is sustainable for most categories
- Launching a new product: TACOS of 20–35% is acceptable when building rank
- Brand defence on branded keywords: TACOS below 5% is achievable since conversion is high and organic rank is strong
Calculating TACOS
TACOS requires data from two sources:
- Ad spend and attributed revenue — from Amazon Advertising console
- Total revenue — from Seller Central Business Reports
Total Revenue = Business Report revenue; TACOS = Ad Spend ÷ Total Revenue × 100.