POAS Agency
The POAS agency: Google Ads managed to profit, not revenue
We optimise for POAS, not ROAS.
JudeLuxe is a UK Google Ads agency that uses SKU-level contribution to inform bids. Budget, bid and pause decisions consider Profit on Ad Spend alongside your real cost of goods, fulfilment cost and return rate. We work with £3M to £100M ecommerce brands. Typically £10k+ a month on Google Ads, not a minimum.
Trusted by leading brands
What a POAS agency actually does
POAS (Profit on Ad Spend) measures the contribution before advertising per pound of ad spend (see our definition of POAS in Google Ads). ROAS measures attributed revenue. The two diverge the moment product margins vary across your catalogue, which is every catalogue.
POAS = (Revenue net of VAT where applicable − COGS − fulfilment and shipping − returns − payment and transaction fees) ÷ ad spend
A POAS agency rebuilds the account so that number, not blended ROAS, drives the machine: margin data in the product feed, contribution values in the conversion layer, and bid targets set per SKU role rather than per campaign average. Contribution after advertising subtracts ad spend from the numerator; neither measure is net company profit. For catalogue-led brands, most of that work lands in Shopping and PMax, which is why our Google Shopping agency engagements start with the feed rather than the bid.
ROAS agency vs POAS agency
Typical ROAS-led agency
- Reports blended account ROAS
- Scales whatever campaign shows the highest revenue multiple
- Treats every SKU as interchangeable
- Percentage-of-spend fee, rewarded for spending more
- Discount-driven revenue counted as a win
JudeLuxe: POAS-led
- Reports contribution margin after ad spend
- Scales only where POAS holds at higher volume
- Assigns every SKU a commercial job under BOI®
- Fixed monthly fee, independent of media spend
- Discounted revenue treated as margin erosion, not growth
How we implement POAS
1. Margin ingestion
SKU-level cost of goods, shipping cost, payment fees and return rate are pulled from your ERP or store and mapped to the Merchant Centre feed as custom labels.
2. Profit values in the conversion layer
Conversion values are sent as contribution margin rather than order value, so smart bidding optimises against profit natively instead of being corrected after the fact.
3. SKU jobs under BOI®
Every product is assigned one of five commercial roles (Scale, Profit, Protect, Recovery, Gateway) under our registered BOI® (Bid On Intent) framework. Bid targets follow the role.
4. POAS targets per role, not per account
A Gateway SKU is allowed to run near break-even because it buys a customer. A Profit SKU is not. One blended target hides both.
5. Reporting the CFO recognises
Monthly reporting leads with contribution margin after ad spend, not a revenue multiple. If profit is flat, the report says so.
More detail: how BOI® works, POAS vs MER vs ROAS, POAS targets by category and calculating POAS in Shopify.
POAS agency FAQs
What is a POAS agency?
A POAS agency manages Google Ads against Profit on Ad Spend rather than Return on Ad Spend. Bids, budgets and SKU decisions are calibrated to contribution before advertising (revenue net of VAT where applicable, minus cost of goods, fulfilment and shipping, returns, and payment and transaction fees) instead of gross revenue. This is not net company profit. JudeLuxe works with ecommerce brands turning over £3M to £100M.
Why optimise for POAS instead of ROAS?
ROAS reports attributed revenue per pound of ad spend; it does not account for VAT where applicable, product costs, fulfilment, returns or fees. POAS relates contribution before advertising to ad spend. It is a more useful commercial decision input, but it is not net company profit or the entire P&L.
How is POAS calculated?
POAS = contribution before advertising ÷ ad spend. Contribution before advertising is revenue net of VAT where applicable, minus COGS, fulfilment and shipping, returns, and payment and transaction fees. Discounts reduce revenue. A 2x POAS means two pounds of contribution before advertising per pound of ad spend; it is not net company profit. No single sustainable target fits every catalogue.
Do you need margin data to run POAS bidding?
Yes. We need SKU-level cost of goods, shipping cost and return rate. Most brands already hold this in their ERP, Shopify cost fields or a finance spreadsheet. Where the data is incomplete we start with category-level margin bands and tighten them as the feed improves.
What does a POAS agency cost?
JudeLuxe works on a fixed fee from £2k/month fixed fee. Typically £10k+ a month on Google Ads, as guidance rather than a minimum. Fees are not a percentage of spend.
Which platforms does POAS bidding apply to?
Google Shopping, Performance Max, Search and Demand Gen, plus Microsoft Ads. Profit data is pushed into the feed and the conversion layer so smart bidding optimises against margin-weighted values rather than raw revenue.
Find out what your Google Ads actually make you.
Start with a free 30-minute conversation about where the account may be losing contribution. A deeper written analysis is agreed separately, not promised by the initial review.
POAS is how we enforce a profit-first mandate: read what profit-first actually means in practice.
Book a commercial review