[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":1297},["ShallowReactive",2],{"site-chrome-ph":3,"site-chrome-en":-1,"site-chrome-th":-1,"blog-page-ph":287,"blog-categories-ph":345,"blog-posts-ph":365,"article-blog-ph-\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-calculate-true-shopee-roas":722,"og-copy-ph":1254,"og-posts-ph-none":1296},{"id":4,"extension":5,"footer":6,"header":116,"indexFacets":202,"meta":243,"notFound":244,"stem":250,"ui":251,"__hash__":286},"chrome_en\u002Fen\u002Fchrome.yml","yml",{"columns":7,"legal":83,"quote":84,"askAi":87,"socials":103},[8,29,47,65],{"label":9,"children":10},"Product",[11,14,17,20,23,26],{"label":12,"to":13},"Ads optimization","\u002Fph\u002Fblog\u002Fads-optimization",{"label":15,"to":16},"Unit economics","\u002Fph\u002Fblog\u002Fprofit-margin",{"label":18,"to":19},"Agentic KAM","https:\u002F\u002Flearn.dataglasslabs.com\u002Fdocs\u002Fai-and-api\u002Fassistants",{"label":21,"to":22},"One-click deploy","https:\u002F\u002Flearn.dataglasslabs.com\u002Fdocs\u002Fgrowth\u002Factions\u002Faction-flow",{"label":24,"to":25},"Integrations","https:\u002F\u002Flearn.dataglasslabs.com\u002Fdocs\u002Foverview\u002Fget-started\u002Fsupported-platforms",{"label":27,"to":28},"Pricing","\u002Fph\u002Fpricing",{"label":30,"children":31},"Resources",[32,35,38,41,44],{"label":33,"to":34},"Blog","\u002Fph\u002Fblog",{"label":36,"to":37},"Customer stories","\u002Fph\u002Fcustomers",{"label":39,"to":40},"Research","\u002Fph\u002Fresearch",{"label":42,"to":43},"Glossary","\u002Fph\u002Fglossary",{"label":45,"to":46},"Docs","https:\u002F\u002Flearn.dataglasslabs.com\u002Fdocs",{"label":48,"children":49},"Company",[50,53,56,59,62],{"label":51,"to":52},"About","\u002Fph\u002Fcompany",{"label":54,"to":55},"Contact","\u002Fph\u002Fcontact",{"label":57,"to":58},"Book a demo","\u002Fph\u002Fbook-a-demo",{"label":60,"to":61},"Privacy","\u002Fph\u002Flegal\u002Fprivacy",{"label":63,"to":64},"Terms","\u002Fph\u002Flegal\u002Fterms",{"label":66,"children":67},"DataGlass for",[68,71,74,77,80],{"label":69,"to":70},"Agencies","\u002Fph\u002Ffor\u002Fagencies",{"label":72,"to":73},"Brands","\u002Fph\u002Ffor\u002Fbrands",{"label":75,"to":76},"Planners and optimizers","\u002Fph\u002Ffor\u002Fplanners",{"label":78,"to":79},"Managers and analysts","\u002Fph\u002Ffor\u002Fmanagers",{"label":81,"to":82},"Sellers and shop owners","\u002Fph\u002Ffor\u002Fsellers","© 2026 DataGlass Labs. All rights reserved.",{"text":85,"caption":86},"Measure what you keep, and then grow what you measure.","The DataGlass team",{"label":88,"prompt":89,"assistants":90},"Ask AI about DataGlass","I want to understand DataGlass, a decision engine for Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop sellers that optimizes ads, pricing and promotions for true profit. Use web search to read their website at https:\u002F\u002Fwww.dataglasslabs.com (with an agent-readable summary at https:\u002F\u002Fwww.dataglasslabs.com\u002Fllms.txt), then explain what DataGlass does, who it is for and how it differs from an analytics dashboard.",[91,95,99],{"label":92,"icon":93,"url":94},"ChatGPT","chatgpt","https:\u002F\u002Fchatgpt.com\u002F?prompt={prompt}",{"label":96,"icon":97,"url":98},"Claude","claude","https:\u002F\u002Fclaude.ai\u002Fnew?q={prompt}",{"label":100,"icon":101,"url":102},"Perplexity","perplexity","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.perplexity.ai\u002Fsearch?q={prompt}",[104,108,112],{"label":105,"icon":106,"to":107},"LinkedIn","i-lucide-linkedin","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.linkedin.com\u002Fcompany\u002Fdataglass-labs",{"label":109,"icon":110,"to":111},"Facebook","i-lucide-facebook","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.facebook.com\u002Fdataglasslabsth",{"label":113,"icon":114,"to":115},"Instagram","i-lucide-instagram","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.instagram.com\u002Fdataglasslabs\u002F",{"links":117,"cta":196,"secondaryCta":199},[118,152,191,193,194,195],{"label":9,"to":119,"menu":120},"\u002Fph",{"layout":121,"heading":122,"cards":123,"groups":135,"footer":142},"cards","What DataGlass does",[124,128,132],{"label":125,"description":126,"to":13,"ui":127},"True profit ads optimization","Budgets, pacing and Target ROAS tuned for profit.","budget-tomorrow",{"label":129,"description":130,"to":16,"ui":131},"Unit economics breakdown","What you actually earn from every sale.","unit-economics",{"label":18,"description":133,"to":19,"motif":134},"An AI agent that knows your shops.",true,[136],{"label":137,"size":138,"links":139},"More","secondary",[140,141],{"label":21,"to":22},{"label":24,"to":25},[143,148],{"lead":144,"label":145,"icon":146,"to":147},"DataGlass v.2.6.","See what's new","i-lucide-box","https:\u002F\u002Flearn.dataglasslabs.com\u002Freleases",{"lead":149,"label":150,"icon":151,"to":37},"Read our","customer 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us",{"label":192,"to":37},"Customers",{"label":27,"to":28},{"label":48,"to":52},{"label":54,"to":55},{"label":197,"to":198},"Start for free","https:\u002F\u002Fapp.dataglasslabs.com\u002Fsign-up",{"label":200,"to":201},"Sign in","https:\u002F\u002Fapp.dataglasslabs.com\u002Fsign-in",{"clear":203,"groups":204},"Clear filters",[205,218],{"key":206,"label":207,"options":208},"platforms","Platform",[209,212,215],{"value":210,"label":211},"shopee","Shopee",{"value":213,"label":214},"lazada","Lazada",{"value":216,"label":217},"tiktok","TikTok Shop",{"key":219,"label":220,"options":221},"format","Format",[222,225,228,231,234,237,240],{"value":223,"label":224},"guide","Guide",{"value":226,"label":227},"article","Article",{"value":229,"label":230},"comparison","Comparison",{"value":232,"label":233},"calculator","Calculator",{"value":235,"label":236},"paper","Paper",{"value":238,"label":239},"survey","Survey",{"value":241,"label":242},"dataset","Dataset",{},{"title":245,"description":246,"cta":247,"errorTitle":249},"Page not found","The page may have moved, or it never existed.",{"label":248,"to":119},"Back to home","Something went wrong","en\u002Fchrome",{"previous":252,"next":253,"pause":254,"play":255,"goTo":256,"expand":257,"close":258,"readMore":259,"learnMore":260,"seeAll":261,"menu":262,"back":263,"share":264,"shareOn":265,"copyLink":266,"copied":267,"onThisPage":268,"minRead":269,"sources":270,"viewMore":271,"searchPosts":272,"allPosts":273,"all":274,"filters":275,"search":276,"searchClose":277,"searchPlaceholder":278,"searchSuggested":279,"searchResults":280,"searchNoResults":281,"searchLoading":282,"relatedTitle":283,"mainNav":284,"footerNav":285},"Previous","Next","Pause","Play","Go to item","Expand","Close","Read more","Learn more","See all","Menu","Back","Share","Share on","Copy link","Link copied","On this page","{n} min read","Sources","View more","Search posts","All posts","All","Filters","Search","Close search","Search DataGlass","Suggested","Results","No results for","Loading","More to discover","Main","Footer","HZQSEulcpFGY0nWnUTNYhG2n06nO97XnUBc_pEVOFxo",{"id":288,"title":33,"blog":289,"body":327,"customers":334,"description":335,"draft":336,"draftReason":334,"extension":337,"glossary":334,"industry":334,"meta":338,"navigation":336,"ogImage":339,"path":340,"research":334,"robots":334,"schemaOrg":334,"seo":341,"showcase":336,"sitemap":342,"stem":343,"__hash__":344},"pages_en\u002Fblog.md",{"emptyLabel":290,"labels":291,"indexLabels":296,"listenLabels":307,"indexCta":320,"ctaButtons":323},"No posts match yet. Try another category or a shorter search.",{"tldr":292,"published":293,"updated":294,"related":295},"In short","Published","Updated","Keep reading",{"categories":297,"sort":298,"newest":299,"oldest":300,"grid":301,"list":302,"loadMore":303,"results":304,"result":305,"clearSearch":306},"Categories","Sort","Newest first","Oldest first","Grid view","List view","Load more","{n} results for “{q}”","1 result for “{q}”","Clear search",{"listen":308,"loading":309,"play":310,"pause":311,"back":312,"forward":313,"speed":314,"seek":315,"player":316,"close":317,"follow":318,"of":319},"Listen to article","Loading…","Play audio of this article","Pause audio","Back 15 seconds","Forward 15 seconds","Playback speed","Seek","Audio player","Pause audio and close player","Follow the text","{a} of {b}",{"headline":321,"subline":322},"Turn every post into a decision","See the numbers behind these notes for your own shops, with a demo on your data.",{"primaryCta":324,"secondaryCta":325},{"label":57,"to":58},{"label":326,"to":28},"See pricing",{"type":328,"value":329,"toc":330},"minimark",[],{"title":331,"searchDepth":332,"depth":332,"links":333},"",3,[],null,"Notes on profit, pricing and ads for sellers on Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop, with the numbers behind them.",false,"md",{},{"component":33},"\u002Fblog",{"title":33,"description":335},{"loc":340},"blog","VuN4_Knpp3IpkJqH-kRoXag4vgoPV2p71ZFiR-VpgzQ",[346,349,351,354,357,360,363],{"slug":347,"label":348},"profit","Profit",{"slug":350,"label":27},"pricing",{"slug":352,"label":353},"ads","Ads",{"slug":355,"label":356},"operations","Operations",{"slug":358,"label":359},"market","Market",{"slug":361,"label":362},"data-science","Data Science",{"slug":364,"label":48},"company",[366,373,379,383,388,393,397,402,407,412,418,423,428,433,438,444,450,456,462,469,475,480,486,491,496,501,506,511,517,523,528,534,540,546,551,557,563,569,574,578,583,588,594,601,607,613,619,625,631,637,643,649,655,661,667,673,679,685,690,695,700,705,710,716],{"title":367,"description":368,"category":352,"date":369,"readMinutes":370,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":371,"draft":336,"slug":372},"E-commerce ads optimization for Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop, on profit","E-commerce ads optimization on profit: True ROAS, margin-based Target ROAS and nightly budget allocation for Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop ads, applied for you.","2026-10-23",4,[210,213,216],"ads-optimization",{"title":374,"description":375,"category":352,"date":369,"readMinutes":376,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":232,"platforms":377,"draft":336,"slug":378},"What ROAS is break-even? Calculate break-even ROAS and your maximum ad spend per order","Break-even ROAS is 1 ÷ your contribution-margin ratio. It does not depend on how much you spend on ads. This calculator derives it from a dated Shopee Thailand fee rate — or one you type in — then tells you the number sellers actually need: the most baht one order can pay for ads before it stops making money.",9,[210],"break-even-roas-calculator",{"title":380,"description":381,"category":364,"date":369,"readMinutes":332,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":229,"platforms":334,"draft":336,"slug":382},"DataGlass vs a marketing agency for marketplace profit","When an agency is the right hire, where the agency model has structural blind spots for marketplace profit, and how DataGlass complements an agency engagement.","dataglass-vs-agency",{"title":384,"description":385,"category":364,"date":369,"readMinutes":386,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":229,"platforms":334,"draft":336,"slug":387},"DataGlass vs an ERP for marketplace decision-making","When an ERP is the right tool, where it falls short for marketplace ad\u002Fpricing decisions, and how DataGlass complements (not replaces) the ERP for SEA sellers.",2,"dataglass-vs-erp",{"title":389,"description":390,"category":364,"date":369,"readMinutes":386,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":229,"platforms":391,"draft":336,"slug":392},"DataGlass vs Shopee Seller Center for profit-aware operations","Shopee Seller Center is essential for running a Shopee shop, but it does not show profit-aware metrics or cross-platform views. How DataGlass complements it.",[210],"dataglass-vs-shopee-seller-center",{"title":394,"description":395,"category":364,"date":369,"readMinutes":386,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":229,"platforms":334,"draft":336,"slug":396},"DataGlass vs spreadsheets for marketplace sellers","When spreadsheets are enough, where they break for marketplace sellers, and how DataGlass connects ads, COGS, fees, and inventory into one decision-ready view.","dataglass-vs-spreadsheet",{"title":398,"description":399,"category":355,"date":369,"readMinutes":386,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":400,"draft":336,"slug":401},"Prevent stockouts and overstock across Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop","Prevent Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop stockouts with demand-aware forecasting, campaign-day planning, and cross-platform inventory unification.",[210,213,216],"inventory-stockout",{"title":403,"description":404,"category":355,"date":369,"readMinutes":386,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":226,"platforms":405,"draft":336,"slug":406},"Lazada integration for marketplace profit optimization","DataGlass integrates with Lazada to model true profit per SKU, detect ad waste, evaluate voucher impact, and forecast stockout risk.",[213],"lazada-integration",{"title":408,"description":409,"category":347,"date":369,"readMinutes":376,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":232,"platforms":410,"draft":336,"slug":411},"Shopee raised its fees on 4 August 2026 — how much more is your shop paying?","The new rate table is everywhere. Your number is not. Enter last month’s GMV by category and this page computes the baht difference between the schedule effective 1 June 2026 and the one effective 4 August 2026 — including the extra hit for shops that were on the discounted-commission programme.",[210],"marketplace-fee-impact-calculator",{"title":413,"description":414,"category":347,"date":369,"readMinutes":415,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":416,"draft":336,"slug":417},"Optimize e-commerce profit across Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop","How to optimize e-commerce profit across Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop: one objective, five decision variables, and the constraint that binds each.",7,[210,213,216],"optimize-ecommerce-profit",{"title":419,"description":420,"category":350,"date":369,"readMinutes":386,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":421,"draft":336,"slug":422},"Price and promote without destroying margin","Optimize Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop discounts, bundle deals, and campaign-day pricing on true margin. Project promotion impact before publishing.",[210,213,216],"pricing-promotions",{"title":424,"description":425,"category":347,"date":369,"readMinutes":370,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":232,"platforms":426,"draft":336,"slug":427},"E-commerce profit calculator for Shopee sellers","Calculate true Shopee profit per SKU with a per-order breakdown covering commission fees, ads, COGS, and fulfillment.",[210],"profit-margin",{"title":429,"description":430,"category":355,"date":369,"readMinutes":386,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":226,"platforms":431,"draft":336,"slug":432},"Shopee integration for profit, ads, stock, and promotion decisions","DataGlass connects to Shopee to model true profit per SKU, detect wasted ad spend, and surface daily decisions. Live integration, no manual exports.",[210],"shopee-integration",{"title":434,"description":435,"category":355,"date":369,"readMinutes":386,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":226,"platforms":436,"draft":336,"slug":437},"TikTok Shop integration for ads, inventory, and profit decisions","DataGlass integrates with TikTok Shop for True ROAS on video and live ads, margin-aware discount analysis, and stock prioritization before live events.",[216],"tiktok-shop-integration",{"title":439,"description":440,"category":352,"date":441,"readMinutes":415,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":442,"draft":336,"slug":443},"Shopee ROAS protection and TikTok ROI protection: when the credit actually protects profit","Shopee ROAS protection credits campaigns back to 80% of target, TikTok to 90%. Why that protects profit only above 1.25× break-even, with a worked example.","2026-10-08",[210,216],"roas-protection",{"title":445,"description":446,"category":352,"date":441,"readMinutes":447,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":448,"draft":336,"slug":449},"Shopee Ads optimization: set Target ROAS, budget and timing from profit","How to optimize Shopee Ads for profit: break-even ROAS per SKU, which lever binds, and CPC by hour from 9.11M Thai clicks. Worked THB example.",10,[210],"shopee-ads-optimization",{"title":451,"description":452,"category":347,"date":441,"readMinutes":453,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":454,"draft":336,"slug":455},"Shopee seller fees in the Philippines 2026: every fee, what it is charged on, and your break-even ROAS","Shopee Philippines seller fees 2026: commission, 2.24% transaction fee, 5.6% platform shipping, seller growth support and ₱5 order fee, worked on one order.",5,[210],"shopee-seller-fees",{"title":457,"description":458,"category":352,"date":441,"readMinutes":459,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":460,"draft":336,"slug":461},"TikTok Shop ads optimization: set GMV Max ROI from margin and affiliate mix","How to optimize TikTok Shop GMV Max for profit: break-even ROI after TikTok fees, the affiliate commission trap, and the 3% commission rule. Worked THB example.",8,[216],"tiktok-shop-ads-optimization",{"title":463,"description":464,"category":352,"date":465,"readMinutes":466,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":226,"platforms":467,"draft":336,"slug":468},"How Shopee ads bidding works: what your Target ROAS and budget actually do to a bid","How Shopee ads bidding works, derived: GMV Max gives you two boxes — a Target ROAS and a daily budget — and every guide treats them as two levers. They are not. Both collapse into a single threshold on value-to-cost before any bid is placed, only one is binding at a time, and the other is doing nothing at all. Here is the derivation, the three regimes a campaign can be in, and the one-line test that tells you which of your two levers is switched off.","2026-09-01",13,[210],"how-shopee-ads-bidding-works",{"title":470,"description":471,"category":352,"date":465,"readMinutes":472,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":473,"draft":336,"slug":474},"Break-even ROAS is the zero line: the Target ROAS that actually maximizes Shopee profit","Setting your Target ROAS to your break-even ROAS does not protect profit — it targets exactly zero, for every possible volume. The target that maximizes profit is break-even marked up three times: by the demand your ads did not create, by the price your own expansion pays, and by the gap between your average click and your last one. On mid-market parameters those compound to 3.3×, moving the correct target on a 20%-margin product from 5.00 to 16.67.",12,[210],"profit-maximizing-target-roas",{"title":476,"description":477,"category":361,"date":465,"readMinutes":466,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":241,"platforms":478,"draft":336,"slug":479},"Shopee ad benchmarks 2026: what a click and a thousand impressions actually cost","Across 333.9 million Shopee impressions and 9.11 million clicks on 80+ Thai shops, the price of a click varies 2.01× by hour of day while the rate at which people click varies 1.14×. CPC ranges THB 3.36 to THB 6.75, CPM ranges THB 89.16 to THB 200.15, and every behavioural input is nearly flat. The full table, the methodology, and the two ways a benchmark like this gets misused.",[210],"shopee-ads-benchmarks-cpc-cpm",{"title":481,"description":482,"category":364,"date":483,"readMinutes":484,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":229,"platforms":334,"draft":336,"slug":485},"DataGlass is not an OMS — what the difference is, and when to run both","An OMS makes the order happen. DataGlass decides what to do next. The daily-question boundary, an explicit list of what DataGlass does not do, and the one seam: price.","2026-08-25",6,"dataglass-vs-oms",{"title":487,"description":488,"category":352,"date":483,"readMinutes":415,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":489,"draft":336,"slug":490},"How much should you spend on Shopee Ads? Derive it from margin, not from feel","Break-even ROAS is 1 ÷ contribution margin ratio. Worked THB example: a fashion SKU allows THB 71 per attributed order and roughly THB 994 a day. Budget is an output.",[210],"shopee-ads-budget",{"title":492,"description":493,"category":347,"date":483,"readMinutes":415,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":494,"draft":336,"slug":495},"Losing money on Shopee — the leaks a fee calculator cannot see","Shopee deducts 7.49–17.12% plus a 3.21% payment fee — the half a calculator sees. Six month-level leaks turn a 28.6% \"profit\" into 1.6%. Sourced THB waterfall.",[210],"shopee-losing-money",{"title":497,"description":498,"category":358,"date":483,"readMinutes":415,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":229,"platforms":499,"draft":336,"slug":500},"Shopee vs TikTok Shop vs Lazada — what survives after fees and the ads it takes to sell","TikTok Shop's 11.77% fashion commission becomes a 23.2% take rate once the Commerce Growth and Transaction Fees stack. The crossover with Shopee sits near THB 3,720.",[210,213,216],"where-to-sell-shopee-tiktok-lazada",{"title":502,"description":503,"category":352,"date":504,"readMinutes":376,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":226,"platforms":334,"draft":336,"slug":505},"CTR and Target ROAS under CPM vs CPC: what changes when marketplaces bill for impressions","Under cost-per-click billing, a better creative is worth nothing to your unit economics — it buys the same clicks from fewer impressions, and your cost per click does not move. Under cost-per-impression billing the same improvement cuts the price of every click by g\u002F(1+g). Five lemmas on the transition, and why click-through rate is the input most marketplace sellers are least prepared to have priced.","2026-08-18","ctr-target-roas-cpm-vs-cpc",{"title":507,"description":508,"category":352,"date":509,"readMinutes":447,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":226,"platforms":334,"draft":336,"slug":510},"What is ROAS — and why a high ROAS doesn't always mean more sales or more profit","ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) is sales ÷ ad spend: spend THB 1, get THB 20 of sales back, and your ROAS is 20. But a high ROAS only means a high return per ad baht — not the highest total sales, and not real profit once you subtract COGS, platform fees, payment fees, vouchers, shipping, and returns. Here is what ROAS is, what it hides, and the number sellers should actually watch.","2026-06-01","what-is-roas",{"title":512,"description":513,"category":352,"date":514,"readMinutes":459,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":515,"draft":336,"slug":516},"What is Target ROAS? How to set it in Shopee GMV Max without burning profit","What is Target ROAS? It is the revenue-to-ad-spend ratio Shopee GMV Max optimises toward — and on the Shopee fee schedule effective 4 August 2026, a THB 1,000 product with THB 600 of COGS is left with 7.7% margin before ads, so a Target ROAS of 5 recovers THB 0.39 of contribution per THB 1.00 of ad spend while the campaign reports that it hit its target. What Target ROAS means, how to set it in GMV Max, and the two formulas — break-even ROAS and target-margin ROAS — that protect your margin.","2026-05-30",[210],"how-to-set-target-roas-gmv-max",{"title":518,"description":519,"category":352,"date":520,"readMinutes":484,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":226,"platforms":521,"draft":336,"slug":522},"Platform ROAS vs true ROAS: why your ads make sales but no profit","A ROAS of 5 feels like a win — until you notice the platform computed it on gross attributed sales, before fees, vouchers, shipping, and COGS, and while still counting orders that were later returned or cancelled. The dashboard number is a revenue ratio wearing a profit costume. A primer on what platform ROAS hides and how true ROAS is calculated across Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop.","2026-05-29",[210,213,216],"platform-roas-vs-true-roas",{"title":524,"description":525,"category":361,"date":520,"readMinutes":484,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":226,"platforms":526,"draft":336,"slug":527},"What is e-commerce optimization?","Optimization is not a marketing word — it is an operations-research discipline: use data and math to compute the best decision against an explicit objective. Point it at a Shopee, Lazada, or TikTok Shop store and the objective is true profit, not sales. A primer on why those two numbers stopped moving together, and what optimization actually answers.",[210,213,216],"what-is-ecommerce-optimization",{"title":529,"description":530,"category":347,"date":531,"readMinutes":376,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":532,"draft":336,"slug":533},"How to cut Shopee seller costs: the supply-side margin audit","The median gap between COGS refreshes on a top-50 Shopee catalogue is 87 days, and over that window supplier and packaging drift alone compresses contribution margin by 1.5–3.0 percentage points. The eight supply-side cost lines that compound against Shopee margin between audits, ranked by recoverable magnitude, with the review cadence that holds each one.","2026-05-08",[210],"how-to-increase-shopee-profit-without-more-sales",{"title":535,"description":536,"category":352,"date":531,"readMinutes":537,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":538,"draft":336,"slug":539},"How to sell more on Shopee without burning margin","The standard Shopee growth advice — discount harder, scale ad budget, opt into every campaign — works against the operator at scale. A research note on the lever order that actually compounds Shopee revenue, and the metric that tells you whether the lift was earned or bought.",11,[210],"how-to-sell-more-on-shopee",{"title":541,"description":542,"category":347,"date":543,"readMinutes":484,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":544,"draft":336,"slug":545},"Increase profit on Shopee without selling more","Shopee ROAS hides commission, fees, vouchers and shipping. Optimize Shopee profit with the per-SKU break-even framework that replaces it — 280 Thai accounts.","2026-05-07",[210],"increase-shopee-profit",{"title":547,"description":548,"category":358,"date":543,"readMinutes":484,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":549,"draft":336,"slug":550},"Increase sales on Shopee in 2026","Shopee CPC is climbing — buying demand got pricier while repeat demand stayed flat. The three levers that compound revenue, plus a 90-day operator cadence.",[210],"increase-shopee-sales",{"title":552,"description":553,"category":361,"date":543,"readMinutes":554,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":235,"platforms":555,"draft":336,"slug":556},"Mechanism-Aware Hierarchical Causal Elasticity Modeling for Platform E-Commerce","A methodological working paper proposing MA-HCEM: a hierarchical Bayesian, double-machine-learning, mechanism-aware estimator for SKU-level price elasticity on Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop, with Bundle Deal and voucher mechanisms treated as structured price discrimination.",27,[210,213,216],"mechanism-aware-hierarchical-causal-elasticity-modeling-platform-ecommerce",{"title":558,"description":559,"category":350,"date":543,"readMinutes":560,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":226,"platforms":561,"draft":336,"slug":562},"Price elasticity modeling for marketplace sellers — why Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop pricing decisions need it","A practical guide from DataGlass Labs Research on the most under-used lever in Southeast Asian e-commerce: knowing how customers actually respond to price changes.",14,[210,213,216],"price-elasticity-modeling-shopee-lazada-tiktok-shop",{"title":564,"description":565,"category":361,"date":566,"readMinutes":567,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":235,"platforms":334,"draft":336,"slug":568},"From Gut Feel to Posterior Inference: A Research Article on the DataGlass Decision-Intelligence System for E-Commerce Ad Budget Allocation","A rigorous public communication of the DataGlass decision-intelligence system for daily ad-budget allocation on platform-controlled marketplaces — the pre-algorithmic baseline, the analytical reasons it fails (the reported-vs-true ROAS gap and the rolling-mean bias), the Bayesian + bandits-with-knapsacks methodology, and the empirical 18–24% portfolio-profit lift with reduced reallocation frequency.","2026-05-04",20,"bayesian-budget-allocation-for-marketplace-ads",{"title":570,"description":571,"category":361,"date":566,"readMinutes":572,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":238,"platforms":334,"draft":336,"slug":573},"Decision Intelligence for E-commerce: How Retailers Optimise Pricing, Demand Forecasting, Inventory, Promotions & Personalization","Pricing, forecasting, inventory, promotions, and personalization — a deep technical survey of the techniques large retailers use, the variants that matter, and how to deploy them",42,"decision-intelligence-playbook-for-e-commerce",{"title":575,"description":576,"category":361,"date":566,"readMinutes":332,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":226,"platforms":334,"draft":336,"slug":577},"DataGlass Research Methodology","A single canonical reference for the sample frame, time window, attribution rules, and exclusions that calibrate every \"in our data\" claim across the blog and research surfaces.","methodology",{"title":579,"description":580,"category":361,"date":566,"readMinutes":581,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":238,"platforms":334,"draft":336,"slug":582},"Prediction and Risk Optimization Under Uncertainty: A Cross-Domain Meta-Review","Mature decision systems in finance, operations, insurance, energy, healthcare, causal inference, and e-commerce share the same four primitives — a calibrated probabilistic model, a coherent risk-aware objective, an operational constraint set, and a principled exploration mechanism. Eleven worked cases ground the framework, with the DataGlass marketplace ad-budget system as the connecting tissue.",49,"prediction-and-risk-optimization-meta-review",{"title":584,"description":585,"category":355,"date":566,"readMinutes":560,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":226,"platforms":586,"draft":336,"slug":587},"Shopee optimization in 2026 is a feedback loop, not a checklist","The popular \"10 ways to optimize your Shopee shop\" advice optimises the wrong objective. The lever that actually moves margin is the tightness of the diagnose → decide → operate loop — and most checklists skip the diagnose stage entirely.",[210],"shopee-optimization-in-2026",{"title":589,"description":590,"category":358,"date":566,"readMinutes":591,"featured":134,"cover":334,"format":241,"platforms":592,"draft":336,"slug":593},"Shopee Sellers in 2026: Southeast Asia E-commerce Market Research, GMV & Seller Economics","Market growth has resumed; seller economics have become more exacting. Southeast Asia's platform e-commerce reached US$157.6B in 2025 (up 22.8% YoY), top-three platforms now control about 98.8% of platform GMV, and content commerce accounts for ~32% of platform GMV. The 2026 question for sellers is no longer \"how big is the market?\" — it is \"who controls the decision loop?\"",22,[210],"southeast-asia-seller-market-research-2026",{"title":595,"description":596,"category":355,"date":597,"readMinutes":598,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":599,"draft":336,"slug":600},"Shopee fee structure and commission calculation in 2026: the six layers, the four-term formula","Most 'Shopee fees' explainers stop at commission and transaction fee. The four layers underneath — voucher co-funding, Free Shipping Program subsidy, Mall premium, payment-channel pass-through — are where the gap between dashboard revenue and bank deposit actually lives. With a sourced layer-by-layer breakdown, the four-term commission-per-order formula, two worked THB examples, a sensitivity table, and the reconciliation procedure.","2026-05-03",18,[210],"shopee-fee-structure-2026",{"title":602,"description":603,"category":352,"date":604,"readMinutes":537,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":605,"draft":336,"slug":606},"Cross-platform ad budget allocation for SEA marketplace sellers","Most multi-platform sellers split ad budget across Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop by historical revenue share. The math says that's wrong. Optimal allocation equalises marginal ROAS, not historical share — and the gap between the two on a typical account is 4–7 percentage points of net contribution margin per quarter.","2026-04-29",[210,213,216],"cross-platform-ad-budget-allocation",{"title":608,"description":609,"category":352,"date":610,"readMinutes":415,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":611,"draft":336,"slug":612},"Why scaling Shopee ad budget grows revenue and shrinks profit","A Shopee account moving its monthly ad budget from THB 40,000 to THB 100,000 commonly grows revenue 60% and loses a third of its net profit — and not one decision in that sequence looks wrong on the dashboard. The arithmetic of the scaling trap, why platform-reported ROAS is blind to it by construction, and the per-SKU break-even bar that stops it.","2026-04-22",[210],"how-to-increase-profit-on-shopee",{"title":614,"description":615,"category":347,"date":616,"readMinutes":466,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":617,"draft":336,"slug":618},"How to increase profit on Lazada in 2026","The LazMall badge lifts conversion. It also raises commission, mandates free-shipping subsidies, and pulls the price ceiling down through the platform's own competitive-parity rules. Whether the badge pays is a per-SKU question. A research note on the LazMall economics, why Sponsored Discovery leaks more margin than Sponsored Search, and the audit that recovers 4–6 percentage points of margin in 30 days.","2026-04-15",[213],"how-to-increase-profit-on-lazada",{"title":620,"description":621,"category":352,"date":622,"readMinutes":466,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":623,"draft":336,"slug":624},"How to reduce Shopee ad waste without killing sales","On a typical Shopee account, 20–30% of ad spend runs at a structural loss the platform dashboard ranks as winning campaigns. Pausing \"underperformers\" misses the leak. A research note on the two structural defaults that cause hidden ad waste — and the audit that surfaces it without losing revenue.","2026-04-08",[210],"how-to-reduce-shopee-ad-waste",{"title":626,"description":627,"category":347,"date":628,"readMinutes":537,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":629,"draft":336,"slug":630},"How to calculate Shopee seller margin","The math, the inputs, and the program-specific traps. Why Shopee's in-dashboard income view almost always overstates margin — and how to reconstruct true contribution margin per SKU using the order-line data Shopee already exposes via Open Platform.","2026-04-05",[210],"how-to-calculate-shopee-seller-margin",{"title":632,"description":633,"category":347,"date":634,"readMinutes":537,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":635,"draft":336,"slug":636},"How to calculate Lazada seller margin","The math, the inputs, and the program-specific traps. Why Lazada's in-platform P&L summary almost always overstates margin — and how to reconstruct true contribution margin per SKU using the order-line data Lazada exposes via the Open Platform.","2026-04-01",[213],"how-to-calculate-lazada-seller-margin",{"title":638,"description":639,"category":352,"date":640,"readMinutes":560,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":641,"draft":336,"slug":642},"How to calculate true Shopee ROAS for profit","A methodology note. Shopee's in-platform ROAS is gross-revenue based and structurally biased toward overspend at scale. True ROAS is the same formula with one input substituted — and that substitution flips winners into losses on roughly half the typical Shopee catalog. With charts, three SKU profiles, sensitivity analysis, and the operating procedure that applies the substitution at production cadence.","2026-03-25",[210],"how-to-calculate-true-shopee-roas",{"title":644,"description":645,"category":352,"date":646,"readMinutes":537,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":647,"draft":336,"slug":648},"How to reduce Lazada ad waste","Lazada runs two structurally different ad products — Sponsored Search and Sponsored Discovery — with break-even economics that diverge by ~1.4–1.8× in true-ROAS terms. A single account-wide ROAS target misjudges both. A research note on the audit that surfaces the structural waste, the pruning order that recovers margin without losing revenue, and the per-placement framework that survives Pay Day and 11.11.","2026-03-18",[213],"how-to-reduce-lazada-ad-waste",{"title":650,"description":651,"category":347,"date":652,"readMinutes":466,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":653,"draft":336,"slug":654},"How to find low-margin SKUs on Shopee","On a typical Shopee account, the top-10 SKUs by revenue and the top-10 by contribution profit overlap by roughly 50%. Half of every shop's bestsellers are not the most profitable products. A research note on the audit that surfaces the gap, the patterns hiding inside it, and the per-SKU operating decisions that recover margin.","2026-03-12",[210],"how-to-find-low-margin-skus-on-shopee",{"title":656,"description":657,"category":350,"date":658,"readMinutes":560,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":659,"draft":336,"slug":660},"How to plan Lazada campaigns around profit","Pay Day, Mega Sale, 11.11, and the long tail of category windows make participation feel mandatory. The platform documents the eligibility tiers; the seller absorbs them. A research note on what each campaign actually costs, when participation pays, and the margin-first rubric that survives all three.","2026-03-04",[213],"how-to-plan-lazada-campaigns-around-profit",{"title":662,"description":663,"category":347,"date":664,"readMinutes":472,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":223,"platforms":665,"draft":336,"slug":666},"How to increase profit on TikTok Shop in 2026","TikTok Shop is the only SEA marketplace with a stacked second commission — affiliate commission (10–25% via the Open Affiliate Plan) layered on top of platform commission. A 6.0 platform ROAS routinely becomes ~1.4 true ROAS once the full four-line cost stack is subtracted. A research note on the affiliate-stack arithmetic, live-stream pricing discipline, and the per-SKU framework that recovers margin without retreating from the platform.","2026-02-26",[216],"how-to-increase-profit-on-tiktok-shop",{"title":668,"description":669,"category":358,"date":670,"readMinutes":671,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":226,"platforms":334,"draft":336,"slug":672},"The SEA marketplace in 2026: a fragmented arena with one survival rule","Eighteen distinct platform-market cells, six countries, three platforms, and roughly a million sellers competing on a saturated product surface. The aggregate is growing; the per-cell margin distribution is compressing. A research note on the structural shifts and the operating rule that survives them.","2026-02-22",16,"sea-marketplace-2026",{"title":674,"description":675,"category":361,"date":676,"readMinutes":537,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":226,"platforms":677,"draft":336,"slug":678},"Data ingestion for Shopee sellers: why zero-setup analytics matters","Most Shopee sellers don't have a strategy problem first. They have a data plumbing problem — orders, ads, COGS, fees, vouchers, inventory, pricing, and returns live in seven different surfaces, and by the time the seller has stitched them together the campaign is over. A research note on the data-source matrix, the canonical-entity model, and the zero-setup architecture that recovers ~10 hours per week.","2026-02-18",[210],"data-ingestion-for-shopee-sellers",{"title":680,"description":681,"category":358,"date":682,"readMinutes":415,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":226,"platforms":683,"draft":336,"slug":684},"The race to zero margin — and how Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop got there","Read the platform documentation end-to-end and the conclusion is uncomfortable: the discounts buyers see, the free shipping that drives conversion, and the affiliate spend that drives reach are all paid by the seller. The race-to-zero is the equilibrium output of that design.","2026-02-08",[210,213,216],"race-to-zero-margin",{"title":686,"description":687,"category":361,"date":688,"readMinutes":560,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":226,"platforms":334,"draft":336,"slug":689},"ML demand forecasting for e-commerce sellers","Machine learning in e-commerce gets discussed in vague terms; for marketplace sellers the operating question is concrete — how many units of this SKU will sell in the next N days, with what confidence, and what decision flows from the answer? A research note on the practical model architecture, the stockout-distortion problem, sensitivity analysis, and the operating decisions forecasts feed.","2026-02-04","ml-demand-forecasting-for-ecommerce",{"title":691,"description":692,"category":358,"date":693,"readMinutes":484,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":226,"platforms":334,"draft":336,"slug":694},"Complexity is the new tax on small sellers","A multi-shop seller in 2026 logs into seven platforms, reconciles four fee schedules, exports six CSVs, and re-enters COGS by hand. Big brands absorb the cost with a data team. Small sellers absorb it with their evenings — and it's the single biggest reason multi-shop operators stall before they reach scale.","2026-01-25","complexity-is-the-tax",{"title":696,"description":697,"category":355,"date":698,"readMinutes":472,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":226,"platforms":334,"draft":336,"slug":699},"Stockout math for e-commerce sellers","A stockout is not one cost; it is five compounding costs. Lost contribution profit on the missed unit, plus wasted ad spend during the stockout window, plus algorithmic ranking demotion, plus repeat-buyer trust erosion, plus distorted forecasting that increases the likelihood of the next stockout. A research note on the multi-line stockout cost function, the per-SKU reorder-point math that accounts for it, and the campaign-aware adjustment that survives Pay Day and 11.11.","2026-01-18","inventory-stockout-math-ecommerce",{"title":701,"description":702,"category":350,"date":703,"readMinutes":537,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":226,"platforms":334,"draft":336,"slug":704},"Dynamic pricing for marketplace sellers","Discounting is easy. Profitable pricing is hard. A 30% volume lift on a 10% price cut routinely lowers total contribution profit — the math says volume must lift by ~33% just to break even, and most SKUs underperform that bar. A research note on the price-elasticity arithmetic, the inventory × demand four-quadrant framework, and the per-SKU pricing decision that survives campaign-window pressure.","2026-01-04","dynamic-pricing-ecommerce-marketplaces",{"title":706,"description":707,"category":361,"date":708,"readMinutes":472,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":226,"platforms":334,"draft":336,"slug":709},"E-commerce Decision Engine: How Marketplace Sellers Turn Data Into Profit Recommendations","A dashboard tells you what happened. A decision engine tells you what to do next, ranks the options by projected profit lift, and surfaces the math behind every recommendation. A research note on the five-layer architecture that separates the two, why marketplace commerce now requires the latter, and where the operating model breaks.","2025-12-12","how-ecommerce-decision-engines-work",{"title":711,"description":712,"category":355,"date":713,"readMinutes":459,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":226,"platforms":714,"draft":336,"slug":715},"Multi-shop analytics for Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop sellers","Modern marketplace sellers rarely operate on one channel. They have multiple dashboards but not one operating view. They know sales by channel — but not profit by channel.","2025-11-26",[210,213,216],"multi-shop-analytics-lazada-shopee-tiktok",{"title":717,"description":718,"category":358,"date":719,"readMinutes":720,"featured":336,"cover":334,"format":226,"platforms":334,"draft":336,"slug":721},"The new competitive world of commerce","A research note on what changed in marketplace commerce between 2022 and 2026. Platforms became active algorithmic counterparties; sellers who treat them as passive listing markets are competing against optimization systems they cannot see. The fix is to run your own optimization layer on top.","2025-11-12",15,"new-competitive-world-of-commerce",{"entry":723,"document":770,"toc":1244},{"id":724,"title":638,"category":352,"cover":334,"cta":725,"date":640,"description":639,"draft":336,"draftReason":334,"extension":337,"featured":336,"format":223,"listen":334,"math":336,"meta":728,"navigation":334,"ogImage":334,"path":729,"platforms":730,"readMinutes":560,"related":731,"robots":334,"schemaOrg":334,"seo":732,"sitemap":735,"sources":736,"stem":761,"tldr":762,"topic":334,"updatedAt":483,"__hash__":769},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-calculate-true-shopee-roas.md",{"title":726,"body":727},"Stop judging Shopee Ads by revenue alone.","DataGlass calculates True ROAS so sellers can see which campaigns create real profit after product costs, fees, vouchers, and ad spend.",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-calculate-true-shopee-roas",[210],[474,468,624],{"title":733,"description":734},"How to Calculate True Shopee ROAS for Profit | DataGlass","Learn how to calculate True ROAS for Shopee Ads using COGS, fees, vouchers, ad spend, and contribution margin. Formula, worked example, and break-even ROAS.",{"loc":729,"lastmod":483},[737,741,745,749,753,757],{"title":738,"url":739,"note":740},"Shopee Ads Thailand — ROAS definition and Target ROAS options","https:\u002F\u002Fads.shopee.co.th\u002Flearn\u002Ffaq\u002F493\u002F1641","Shopee's in-platform definition of ROAS as ad-attributed revenue divided by ad spend, and the Target ROAS controls exposed to sellers.",{"title":742,"url":743,"note":744},"Shopee Ads Thailand — Target ROAS setup and optimization behaviour","https:\u002F\u002Fads.shopee.co.th\u002Flearn\u002Ffaq\u002F493\u002F1523","How Target ROAS bidding directs automatic keyword selection and bid adjustment over the campaign learning window.",{"title":746,"url":747,"note":748},"Shopee — Seller commission and fee schedule","https:\u002F\u002Fhelp.shopee.co.th\u002Fportal\u002Farticle\u002F77790","Shopee Help Center documentation of commission rates, transaction fees, and the seller-funded mechanics of Shop Vouchers.",{"title":750,"url":751,"note":752},"Shopee — Free Shipping Program documentation","https:\u002F\u002Fhelp.shopee.co.th\u002Fportal\u002Farticle\u002F77792","Shopee's seller-side documentation of the Free Shipping Program subsidy, including the seller-funded portion that does not appear in the platform's ROAS numerator.",{"title":754,"url":755,"note":756},"Sea Limited — Investor Relations","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.sea.com\u002Finvestor\u002Fhome","Sea Limited's 4Q25 and 1Q26 disclosures documenting Shopee's ad-revenue trajectory and the platform-side AI investment driving the auction-cost trajectory referenced in the sensitivity section.",{"title":758,"url":759,"note":760},"Google, Temasek & Bain — e-Conomy SEA 2025: retail media","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.bain.com\u002Finsights\u002Fe-conomy-sea-2025\u002F","Bain analyst commentary on retail-media inflation in SEA marketplaces — the macro driver of the cost-per-click trajectory underlying the worked examples.","blog\u002Fhow-to-calculate-true-shopee-roas",[763,764,765,766,767,768],"Thesis: true ROAS is the standard Shopee ROAS formula with one input substituted — gross attributed revenue replaced by contribution profit before ads. The substitution is the entire methodology; everything else is data plumbing.","Shopee's in-platform ROAS, per the Shopee Ads Help Center, is ad-attributed revenue divided by ad spend. The numerator excludes commission, transaction fees, seller-funded vouchers, the Free Shipping Program subsidy, COGS, packaging, and returns — every variable cost that compounds at scale.","A campaign reading platform ROAS 8.0 lands at true ROAS 0.70 on this post's worked profile once the order-line economics are reconstructed against the Shopee fee schedule effective 4 August 2026. The platform dashboard cannot distinguish profitable from break-even campaigns at that scale.","Break-even ROAS = 1 \u002F contribution margin rate. A 25%-margin SKU breaks even at ROAS 4.0; a 10%-margin SKU breaks even at ROAS 10.0. A single account-wide ROAS target is, by construction, wrong somewhere in the catalog every day.","In our data across ~400 Thai SEA-6 accounts, applying true ROAS per SKU surfaces 20–30% of ad spend running at a structural loss that the platform dashboard ranks as winning campaigns.","Limitation: the methodology assumes order-line data clean enough to reconstruct fees, vouchers, and COGS per order. Below ~THB 200K monthly revenue, the operating overhead of running it likely exceeds the recovered margin; simpler heuristics outperform.","uz0pshjiRP8BIEfvIwZ4jJWUpfdq0CuuqoFkkfaifQU",{"frontmatter":771,"meta":784,"nodes":813},{"title":638,"description":639,"seo":772,"category":352,"format":223,"platforms":773,"date":640,"updatedAt":483,"readMinutes":560,"tldr":774,"related":775,"sources":776,"cta":783},{"title":733,"description":734},[210],[763,764,765,766,767,768],[474,468,624],[777,778,779,780,781,782],{"title":738,"url":739,"note":740},{"title":742,"url":743,"note":744},{"title":746,"url":747,"note":748},{"title":750,"url":751,"note":752},{"title":754,"url":755,"note":756},{"title":758,"url":759,"note":760},{"title":726,"body":727},{"toc":785},{"title":331,"searchDepth":386,"depth":386,"links":786},[787,790,793,796,799,802,805,808,811],{"id":788,"depth":386,"text":789},"what-shopees-roas-actually-counts-visualised","What Shopee's ROAS actually counts — visualised",{"id":791,"depth":386,"text":792},"a-worked-example-same-campaign-two-views","A worked example: same campaign, two views",{"id":794,"depth":386,"text":795},"break-even-roas-per-sku","Break-even ROAS, per SKU",{"id":797,"depth":386,"text":798},"three-sku-profiles-same-campaign-three-outcomes","Three SKU profiles — same campaign, three outcomes",{"id":800,"depth":386,"text":801},"sensitivity-where-the-cost-stack-moves","Sensitivity — where the cost stack moves",{"id":803,"depth":386,"text":804},"what-shopee-target-roas-can-and-cannot-see","What Shopee Target ROAS can and cannot see",{"id":806,"depth":386,"text":807},"the-operating-procedure","The operating procedure",{"id":809,"depth":386,"text":810},"limitations-and-where-this-argument-breaks","Limitations and where this argument breaks",{"id":577,"depth":386,"text":812},"Methodology",[814,824,833,847,850,854,857,860,863,896,899,901,904,910,916,924,926,932,935,959,961,964,970,976,982,985,987,990,996,1120,1125,1127,1134,1137,1139,1142,1170,1173,1175,1178,1205,1207,1228,1236,1239],[815,816,819],"pre",{"language":817,"filename":818},"text","The substitution this entire post is about",[820,821,823],"code",{"class":822},"language-text","Shopee's ROAS (per Shopee Ads Help Center):\n   ROAS  =  ad-attributed revenue  \u002F  ad spend\n\nTrue ROAS:\n   ROAS  =  (attributed revenue  −  COGS  −  fees  −  vouchers  −  shipping subsidy  −  returns)  \u002F  ad spend\n\nSame formula. Different numerator. Every observation in this note is a consequence of that substitution.",[825,826,827,828,832],"p",{},"Shopee's in-platform ROAS definition, published in the Shopee Ads Help Center under the Target ROAS documentation, is \"advertising-attributed revenue divided by advertising expenditure.\" ",[829,830],"blog-cite",{"n":831},"1"," It is the metric the seller-side dashboard reports against every campaign, the metric Target ROAS automated bidding optimises toward, and the metric the third-party Shopee-Ads ecosystem (agencies, courses, blog posts) uniformly cites as the definition of campaign efficiency. The definition is mathematically clean.",[825,834,835,836,839,840,842,843,846],{},"It is also incomplete in a structurally important way. The numerator — ad-attributed revenue — is gross revenue, not contribution profit. Every variable cost that compounds at scale on a Shopee account sits below the line the platform draws: the Sale Transaction Fee (7.49–17.12% non-Mall, up to 19.26% Shopee Mall, varying by category, VAT-inclusive on the Thailand schedule effective 4 August 2026), the payment transaction fee (3.21%) and a THB 1 per-order infrastructure fee ",[829,837],{"n":838},"3",", seller-funded Shop Vouchers (the Help Center explicitly documents these as \"deducted from your sales as a marketing cost\") ",[829,841],{"n":838},", the seller-funded portion of the Free Shipping Program (typically 2–5% effective rate when active) ",[829,844],{"n":845},"4",", the cost of goods themselves (typically 35–65% of revenue depending on category), packaging (~0.5–2%), and the returns provision applied to the campaign's impulse-converted volume. Every one of these costs reduces the seller's actual margin per ad-attributed sale; none of them appear in the platform's ROAS numerator.",[825,848,849],{},"This note documents the substitution above, walks the chart-level visualisation of what the substitution does to the same campaign, runs three SKU profiles through the math to show how break-even ROAS varies across the catalog, applies sensitivity analysis to the cost-stack inputs, and ends with the operating procedure that applies the substitution at production cadence. The argument is empirical where it can be (citing Shopee's own published documentation and the cost-structure data observable in any Shopee Open Platform order-line export) and acknowledged where it cannot be (the \"in our data\" margin-distribution claims are aggregated across the accounts we model and explicitly excluded the bottom of the size distribution; the methodology section at the end describes the sample).",[851,852],"blog-pullquote",{"text":853},"Same formula. Different numerator. Everything else is a consequence of that substitution.",[825,855,856],{},"Thesis: applying the substitution at production cadence — order-line by order-line, SKU by SKU, campaign by campaign — surfaces the fraction of ad spend that is structurally loss-making while the platform dashboard ranks it as winning. In our data the loss-making share is 20–30% on a typical Shopee account. Recovering it is mechanical. The obstacle is the data plumbing that turns the substitution into an always-on signal rather than a quarterly spreadsheet exercise; that plumbing is the operating moat.",[858,859,789],"h2",{"id":788},[825,861,862],{},"The chart below decomposes a representative THB 20,000 ad-attributed sale on a typical SEA Shopee SKU. Each bar represents one cost line; the brand-orange bar at the bottom is the contribution profit before ads — the line item the platform's ROAS numerator effectively pretends does not exist. The platform's ROAS treats the THB 20,000 at the top as the seller's realised revenue. The seller's actual margin is what survives the cost stack below it.",[864,865],"blog-chart",{"kind":866,"title":867,"labels":868,"values":876,"notes":884,"unit":892,"max":893,"highlight":894,"caption":895},"bar","Cost-stack decomposition of a THB 20,000 ad-attributed Shopee sale",[869,870,871,872,873,874,875],"Ad-attributed revenue (Shopee's ROAS numerator)","COGS (typical 55%-cost-of-goods category)","Sale Transaction Fee + payment transaction fee","Seller-funded voucher (Shop Voucher)","Free-shipping subsidy (seller-funded portion)","Packaging + returns provision","Contribution profit before ads (true ROAS numerator)",[877,878,879,880,881,882,883],20000,11000,3852,1500,1200,700,1748,[885,886,887,888,889,890,891],"Gross — what the platform metric counts","Cost of producing \u002F sourcing the unit","19.26% effective — 16.05% non-Mall category rate on the schedule effective 4 Aug 2026, plus 3.21% on payment","Per Shopee Help Center: \"deducted from your sales as a marketing cost\"","~6% effective during campaign windows","Direct fulfillment + returns reserve","What the seller actually has to spend ads against"," THB","20000","6","The platform's ROAS numerator is the THB 20,000 top bar. The true-ROAS numerator is the THB 1,748 bottom (highlighted) bar. The arithmetic gap between them is the entire methodology of this post. The fee bar is the Shopee schedule effective 4 August 2026 (4 ส.ค. 2569); on the schedule it replaced, the same bar was THB 3,424 and the bottom bar was THB 2,176.",[825,897,898],{},"Read the chart literally. A campaign with ad spend of THB 2,500 generating the THB 20,000 ad-attributed sale produces a platform ROAS of 8.0 — comfortably above any default Target ROAS bar a seller would have set. The same campaign produces a true ROAS of 1,748 \u002F 2,500 = 0.70, because THB 18,252 of the gross revenue does not survive the cost stack to become ad-spending capacity. The two ratios are not approximately equal. They are different by a factor of ~11.4 on this profile, and the gap is structural rather than category-specific or seasonal.",[858,900,792],{"id":791},[825,902,903],{},"Take the same campaign and look at it two ways. The platform ROAS is the answer to \"did this ad campaign generate revenue I can attribute to it?\" — a question the platform answers honestly. The true ROAS is the answer to \"did this ad campaign generate enough margin to justify its spend?\" — a different question that requires the seller-side cost stack.",[815,905,907],{"language":817,"filename":906},"The arithmetic, line by line",[820,908,909],{"class":822},"Ad-attributed revenue:              THB 20,000\nCOGS (55%):                         THB 11,000\nSale Transaction Fee (16.05%):      THB  3,210\nPayment transaction fee (3.21%):    THB    642\nSeller-funded voucher:              THB  1,500\nFree-shipping subsidy:              THB  1,200\nPackaging:                          THB    300\nReturns provision:                  THB    400\nAd spend:                           THB  2,500\n\nContribution profit before ads = 20,000 − 11,000 − 3,210 − 642 − 1,500 − 1,200 − 300 − 400\n                              = THB 1,748\n\nPlatform ROAS = 20,000 \u002F 2,500 =  8.00\nTrue ROAS     =  1,748 \u002F 2,500 =  0.70\nNet ad profit =  1,748 −  2,500 = THB −752\n\nFee lines are the Shopee schedules effective 4 Aug 2026 (Sale Transaction\nFee, non-Mall general-merchandise category, VAT-inclusive) and 7 Apr 2026\n(Payment Transaction Fee). On the superseded 1 Jun 2026 schedule the two\nlines came to THB 3,424, the true ROAS was 0.87, and the campaign still\nlost THB 324. It was never profitable; the old fee assumption of \"~10%\neffective\" was.",[825,911,912,913,915],{},"On this profile the campaign is not profitable. It burns THB 752 of contribution for every THB 2,500 of ad spend while the dashboard reads 8.0. That is a change of sign from what an earlier version of this post concluded, and only one input moved: the fee line. This post used to model marketplace commission and transaction fees at \"~10% effective\", a figure taken from a Shopee fee range that no longer exists. The published rate for a non-Mall general-merchandise category on the schedule effective 4 August 2026 (4 ส.ค. 2569) is 16.05% VAT-inclusive, with a 3.21% payment transaction fee on top ",[829,914],{"n":838}," — 19.26% together. Nothing about the campaign, the COGS or the voucher changed. A seller running on platform-ROAS targets alone got no signal at all: the dashboard read 8.0 before the schedule changed and reads 8.0 after it. The structural shape of that asymmetry is why the substitution matters in production rather than only in principle — and why every fee input in a margin model needs a date attached to it.",[917,918,920,921,923],"blog-question",{"question":919},"Is Shopee's ROAS the same as profit ROAS?","No. Shopee's in-platform ROAS, per the Shopee Ads Help Center documentation, is ad-attributed revenue divided by ad spend ",[829,922],{"n":831},". It is a gross-revenue metric, not a profit metric. The numerator excludes COGS, marketplace commission, transaction fees, seller-funded vouchers, the Free Shipping Program subsidy, packaging, and returns provisioning — the entire variable-cost stack that compounds at scale. True ROAS is the same formula with contribution profit before ads (revenue minus all of the above) substituted for gross revenue. On the 55%-COGS profile worked in this post, a campaign reading 8.0 platform ROAS lands at 0.70 true ROAS under the Shopee fee schedule effective 4 August 2026 — below 1.0, which means the ads are destroying contribution rather than buying it. The two numbers are different by a structural factor, and the platform dashboard does not display the difference.",[858,925,795],{"id":794},[815,927,929],{"language":817,"filename":928},"The operational complement to true ROAS",[820,930,931],{"class":822},"Break-even ROAS = 1 \u002F contribution margin rate\n\ncontribution margin rate = (revenue − COGS − fees − vouchers − shipping − returns) \u002F revenue\n\nExamples:\n   margin rate 30%  →  break-even ROAS  3.3\n   margin rate 25%  →  break-even ROAS  4.0\n   margin rate 18%  →  break-even ROAS  5.6\n   margin rate 12%  →  break-even ROAS  8.3\n   margin rate  8%  →  break-even ROAS 12.5",[825,933,934],{},"Break-even ROAS is the minimum ROAS a SKU needs to avoid losing money on its ads. It is one division per SKU and the chart below visualises why a single account-wide ROAS target is, by construction, wrong somewhere in the catalog every day. A 5.0 ROAS target is comfortably profitable on the 30%-margin SKU at the top of the chart, marginal on the 18%-margin SKU in the middle, and reliably loss-making on the 8%-margin SKU at the bottom — even though the platform dashboard would mark all three campaigns as \"above target.\"",[864,936],{"kind":866,"title":937,"labels":938,"values":944,"notes":949,"unit":955,"max":956,"highlight":957,"caption":958},"Break-even ROAS by SKU contribution margin rate",[939,940,941,942,943],"30%-margin SKU (premium-tier electronics, beauty)","25%-margin SKU (typical mid-tier consumer)","18%-margin SKU (commodity-tier, post-fees)","12%-margin SKU (low-margin attach SKU)","8%-margin SKU (clearance \u002F deep-discount tier)",[945,370,946,947,948],3.3,5.6,8.3,12.5,[950,951,952,953,954],"Account-wide target 5.0 = comfortable margin","Target 5.0 = profitable, modest buffer","Target 5.0 = STRUCTURALLY LOSS-MAKING","Target 5.0 = ad spend destroying margin","Target 5.0 = severe margin compression","×","14",[386,332,370],"A flat 5.0 ROAS target across the catalog is profitable on the top two profiles and destructively loss-making on the bottom three. The chart is the case for per-SKU Target ROAS, set as a function of each SKU's actual contribution margin rate rather than the account aggregate.",[858,960,798],{"id":797},[825,962,963],{},"The three formula blocks below run the same THB 20,000 ad-attributed campaign through three SKU profiles — high-margin, mid-margin, low-margin. The cost stack composition shifts, the contribution profit before ads shifts, and the true ROAS shifts proportionally. The platform ROAS, mechanically, is identical across all three: 8.0. The seller-side outcome is not.",[815,965,967],{"language":817,"filename":966},"Profile 1 — high-margin SKU (electronics, COGS 35%)",[820,968,969],{"class":822},"Revenue:                THB 20,000\nCOGS (35%):             THB  7,000\nCommission + fees (~10%):THB 2,000\nVoucher (5%):           THB  1,000\nShipping subsidy (4%):  THB    800\nPackaging + returns:    THB    600\nAd spend:               THB  2,500\n\nContribution profit before ads = THB 8,600\nTrue ROAS = 3.44   ·   Net ad profit = THB 6,100   ·   Healthy margin",[815,971,973],{"language":817,"filename":972},"Profile 2 — mid-margin SKU (apparel, COGS 50%)",[820,974,975],{"class":822},"Revenue:                THB 20,000\nCOGS (50%):             THB 10,000\nCommission + fees:      THB  2,000\nVoucher (6%):           THB  1,200\nShipping subsidy (5%):  THB  1,000\nPackaging + returns:    THB    800\nAd spend:               THB  2,500\n\nContribution profit before ads = THB 5,000\nTrue ROAS = 2.00   ·   Net ad profit = THB 2,500   ·   Profitable, thin buffer",[815,977,979],{"language":817,"filename":978},"Profile 3 — low-margin SKU (commodity beauty, COGS 65%)",[820,980,981],{"class":822},"Revenue:                THB 20,000\nCOGS (65%):             THB 13,000\nCommission + fees:      THB  2,000\nVoucher (8%, campaign): THB  1,600\nShipping subsidy (5%):  THB  1,000\nPackaging + returns:    THB    900\nAd spend:               THB  2,500\n\nContribution profit before ads = THB 1,500\nTrue ROAS = 0.60   ·   Net ad profit = −THB 1,000   ·   Loss-making at full economics",[825,983,984],{},"The same dashboard ROAS — 8.0 — produces a healthy margin on profile 1, a thin profit on profile 2, and a structural loss on profile 3. The campaigns are mechanically identical from the platform's perspective; the seller-side outcomes are not. A seller running a single account-wide ROAS bar is averaging across these profiles and absorbing the loss on the low-margin tail without seeing where it is concentrated. The fix is a per-SKU break-even ROAS bar, derived from the SKU's actual margin rate, used as the pause \u002F scale boundary for that SKU's campaigns.",[858,986,801],{"id":800},[825,988,989],{},"The worked examples above use modal cost-stack values. The table below stress-tests the profile-2 (mid-margin) example against single-input shifts to show which inputs matter most for true-ROAS sensitivity. The asymmetry is structural: voucher tier and ad-auction inflation are the levers the seller controls at the campaign-decision boundary, and they have outsized impact on contribution profit per unit at scale.",[825,991,992],{},[993,994,995],"em",{},"Sensitivity of profile 2 (mid-margin SKU) to single-input shifts",[997,998,999,1018],"table",{},[1000,1001,1002],"thead",{},[1003,1004,1005,1009,1012,1015],"tr",{},[1006,1007,1008],"th",{},"Input shift from baseline",[1006,1010,1011],{},"New true ROAS",[1006,1013,1014],{},"New net ad profit",[1006,1016,1017],{},"Conclusion",[1019,1020,1021,1036,1050,1064,1078,1092,1106],"tbody",{},[1003,1022,1023,1027,1030,1033],{},[1024,1025,1026],"td",{},"Baseline (worked profile 2)",[1024,1028,1029],{},"2.00",[1024,1031,1032],{},"+THB 2,500",[1024,1034,1035],{},"Reference",[1003,1037,1038,1041,1044,1047],{},[1024,1039,1040],{},"Voucher 6% → 10% (campaign tier escalation)",[1024,1042,1043],{},"1.68",[1024,1045,1046],{},"+THB 1,700",[1024,1048,1049],{},"Voucher discipline matters more than most sellers price",[1003,1051,1052,1055,1058,1061],{},[1024,1053,1054],{},"Ad spend 12.5% → 18% (auction inflation)",[1024,1056,1057],{},"1.31",[1024,1059,1060],{},"+THB 1,000",[1024,1062,1063],{},"Auction-driven CPC inflation eats most of the margin",[1003,1065,1066,1069,1072,1075],{},[1024,1067,1068],{},"COGS 50% → 55% (5pp supplier shock)",[1024,1070,1071],{},"1.60",[1024,1073,1074],{},"+THB 1,500",[1024,1076,1077],{},"Supplier renegotiation has real but smaller effect",[1003,1079,1080,1083,1086,1089],{},[1024,1081,1082],{},"Returns 1% → 4% (impulse-purchase profile)",[1024,1084,1085],{},"1.76",[1024,1087,1088],{},"+THB 1,900",[1024,1090,1091],{},"Returns reserve is under-modelled in most spreadsheets",[1003,1093,1094,1097,1100,1103],{},[1024,1095,1096],{},"Combined: voucher 10% AND ad 18%",[1024,1098,1099],{},"0.99",[1024,1101,1102],{},"−THB 25",[1024,1104,1105],{},"Two-input campaign-window stress flips campaign loss-making",[1003,1107,1108,1111,1114,1117],{},[1024,1109,1110],{},"Combined: all three softer (voucher 4%, ad 10%, COGS 47%)",[1024,1112,1113],{},"2.40",[1024,1115,1116],{},"+THB 3,500",[1024,1118,1119],{},"The \"audit-driven\" upside the methodology unlocks",[825,1121,1122],{},[993,1123,1124],{},"All other inputs held at the profile-2 baseline. The table shows the sensitivity is concentrated on voucher tier and ad-auction inflation, with COGS and returns as smaller secondary levers. The combined-stress row is the regime most accounts unknowingly enter during major campaign windows; the combined-soft row is the bound the audit-driven methodology can plausibly recover.",[858,1126,804],{"id":803},[825,1128,1129,1130,1133],{},"Shopee's Target ROAS bidding mode, documented in the Shopee Ads Thailand Help Center, automates keyword selection and bid adjustment toward a seller-defined ROAS target over a learning window typically described as 7–14 days ",[829,1131],{"n":1132},"2",". Used carefully, it removes a meaningful amount of manual bid management — the platform's relevance and ad-ranking models can outperform a seller adjusting bids by hand on most accounts. The substitution this post documents does not replace Target ROAS; it changes the value the seller hands to it.",[825,1135,1136],{},"The platform optimises against the metric it can see — ad-attributed revenue divided by ad spend — and the metric it can see is gross. Target ROAS cannot see the seller's supplier cost, the SKU's contribution margin rate, the bundle composition, the packaging cost, the inventory constraint that would invalidate scaling, or the strategic role each SKU plays in the catalog. It cannot see, in fact, anything below the platform's ROAS numerator. The seller-side fix is to derive Target ROAS per SKU from each SKU's break-even ROAS (1 \u002F contribution margin rate), with a margin buffer for the variance the platform optimisation introduces during the learning window. A blanket account-level target — 5.0, 6.0, 8.0 — is, by construction, mistargeted on the part of the catalog whose break-even ROAS sits above the target value.",[858,1138,807],{"id":806},[825,1140,1141],{},"Methodology in principle is methodology in production only when applied at sufficient cadence. The substitution is mechanical; the data plumbing to apply it across an account at production cadence is the work. The procedure below is the minimum implementation that produces always-on true-ROAS signal across a Shopee catalog of any size; below ~50 SKUs it is achievable with disciplined spreadsheets, above that it requires dedicated tooling.",[1143,1144,1145,1149,1152,1155,1158,1161,1164,1167],"ul",{},[1146,1147,1148],"li",{},"Reconstruct fees per order from order-line data (not the seller-centre summary). Fee schedule varies by category, by program (Shopee Mall vs. non-Mall), and by campaign window.",[1146,1150,1151],{},"Allocate seller-funded vs. platform-funded discount cost per order. Only the seller-funded portion enters the true-ROAS numerator subtraction.",[1146,1153,1154],{},"Maintain COGS per SKU. Long-tail SKUs without uploaded COGS require category-mean inference; flag them as approximate and refresh as data arrives.",[1146,1156,1157],{},"Apply a category-specific returns reserve to ad-attributed orders. Most spreadsheets understate returns by ignoring impulse-purchase elevation on campaign-window orders.",[1146,1159,1160],{},"Compute contribution margin per SKU on a rolling 30-day window. Compute break-even ROAS = 1 \u002F margin rate per SKU.",[1146,1162,1163],{},"For every campaign \u002F keyword: compute true ROAS = (post-attribution contribution profit) \u002F ad spend. Compare against the underlying SKU's break-even ROAS. Pause where true ROAS sits below break-even.",[1146,1165,1166],{},"Reconcile 14-day post-window rather than only at month close. Campaign-window cost dynamics shift inside two weeks; quarterly cadence is too slow to act on.",[1146,1168,1169],{},"Set Target ROAS per SKU rather than per account. Use the SKU's break-even ROAS as the floor; layer a margin-buffer above it for the platform's learning-window variance.",[851,1171],{"text":1172},"The substitution is mechanical; the data plumbing to apply it at production cadence is the work — and the work is the operating moat.",[858,1174,810],{"id":809},[825,1176,1177],{},"The methodology has explicit scope.",[1143,1179,1180,1183,1186,1192,1195,1202],{},[1146,1181,1182],{},"Account-size lower bound. The procedure above assumes order-line data clean enough to reconstruct per-order fees, vouchers, and COGS. Below ~THB 200K monthly revenue, the operational overhead of running it likely exceeds the recovered margin; simpler heuristics outperform — pick three or four highest-margin SKUs and apply ad spend only to those.",[1146,1184,1185],{},"COGS data quality. The methodology is only as good as COGS input freshness. Long-tail SKUs without uploaded COGS values default to category-mean inference, which is approximate and can mislead by 5–10 margin points on outlier categories. Refresh COGS quarterly; flag inferred values as such.",[1146,1187,1188,1189,1191],{},"Attribution-window mismatch. Shopee's ad-attribution window (7-day click, 1-day view in the typical Help Center documentation) ",[829,1190],{"n":831}," does not always align with the seller's order-realisation window (returns, refunds resolved 7–30 days post-order). The methodology treats the campaign as concluded at attribution; real net-of-returns reconciliation runs ~30 days later. Sellers comparing against bookkeeping should expect a small lag.",[1146,1193,1194],{},"Cross-platform applicability. The substitution is identical across Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop; the cost-stack values are not. Lazada's LazMall premium and Sponsored Discovery economics shift the breakdown; TikTok Shop's affiliate commission stack adds an additional 10–25% line item. The framework is portable; the input values require re-derivation per platform.",[1146,1196,1197,1198,1201],{},"Time horizon. Bain's 2025 commentary on retail-media inflation and the Sea Limited 4Q25 \u002F 1Q26 disclosures suggest auction-driven CPC inflation will continue trending upward through 2027 ",[829,1199],{"n":1200},"5",":blog-cite. The break-even ROAS bars in the chart above are static; under continued auction inflation, the same SKU profiles will require higher break-even ROAS bars to maintain the same true-ROAS outcome. Forecast confidence beyond 24 months is low.",[1146,1203,1204],{},"Internal-data scope. The \"in our data\" claims (the 20–30% loss-making ad-spend share, the typical cost-input ranges in the worked profiles) are aggregated from the SEA-6 Thai accounts we model directly. They are not population claims about all Shopee sellers; they explicitly exclude the bottom of the size distribution noted above.",[858,1206,812],{"id":577},[825,1208,1209,1210,1215,1216,1218,1219,1221,1222,1224,1225,1227],{},"Public-data citations are taken from the Shopee Ads Help Center (",[1211,1212,1214],"a",{"href":1213},"http:\u002F\u002Fads.shopee.co.th","ads.shopee.co.th"," and equivalent country domains; specifically the ROAS definition page and the Target ROAS setup documentation) ",[829,1217],{"n":831},":blog-cite, the Shopee general Help Center (Shop Voucher mechanics, Free Shipping Program documentation) ",[829,1220],{"n":838},":blog-cite, Sea Limited's 4Q25 and 1Q26 investor disclosures filed via SEC Form 6-K ",[829,1223],{"n":1200},", and the Bain e-Conomy SEA 2025 commentary on retail-media inflation in SEA marketplaces ",[829,1226],{"n":894},".",[825,1229,1230,1231,1235],{},"Internal-data claims — the cost-input ranges in the worked profiles, the \"20–30% loss-making ad-spend share\" figure, the sensitivity analysis baselines, and the \"in our data\" margin distributions — are aggregated across the Thai SEA-6 Shopee accounts we model directly. The current sample is approximately 400 active accounts across the ",[1211,1232,1234],{"href":1233},"\u002Fph\u002Fblog\u002Fmethodology","DataGlass research methodology"," sample frame (Jan 2024 – Apr 2026, 28-month observation window).",[825,1237,1238],{},"The methodology section exists to make every numerical claim in the note inspectable in principle. A reader who disagrees with any conclusion above should be able to point to the input that is wrong (the public-data citation, the sample, the cost-input range, the attribution model) rather than to the conclusion itself.",[1240,1241,1243],"blog-callout",{"title":1242},"True ROAS is one input substitution","True ROAS is the standard Shopee ROAS formula with one input substituted — gross attributed revenue replaced by contribution profit before ads. 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