What's Actually Working in Ecommerce Google Ads in 2026

Ecommerce has changed. Tariffs, rising supplier costs, cautious consumers and relentless fulfilment costs have squeezed margins from every direction. Yet most Google Ads accounts still run the same way they did five years ago: one Performance Max campaign, one target ROAS, one definition of success - as though every product in the catalogue is commercially identical.

This session is about what the brands still growing through 2026 are doing differently. Not theory. Not "best practices". The actual mechanics.

We'll cover:
- Why ROAS is misleading you - the worked maths showing how a 700% ROAS category can make less money than a 400% one, and how a single blended target quietly moves budget from your most profitable products to your least
- Profit-first account structure - segmenting campaigns by margin band, stock position and product lifecycle instead of whatever Google's interface nudges you towards
- The feed as your biggest lever - using custom labels to turn your commercial strategy into signals Smart Bidding can actually optimise towards
- Setting targets from maths, not habit - breakeven ROAS by margin band, and why most accounts have their tightest targets on exactly the wrong products
- Keeping control of PMax - what to feed it, what to fence off, and when standard Shopping still wins
- Where Google Ads is heading - less about buying traffic, more about allocating capital, and what that means for how you run the channel

Whether you're spending £3k or £300k a month, you'll leave with a practical checklist you can apply to your own account the same week - and a much harder set of questions for whoever runs your ads.