What's a Good ROAS for Premium Fashion Brands in India? (₹5,000-25,000 AOV)

A brand selling ₹12,000 sarees asks me: is 2x ROAS good?

A brand selling ₹800 t-shirts asks me the same question.

The answer for both is completely different — and that's the whole problem with how ROAS gets discussed in Indian D2C circles.

If you're selling premium fashion in India — ₹5,000 to ₹25,000 per order — here's what ROAS actually means for your business, and what numbers you should actually be targeting.

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Why ROAS Benchmarks From the West Don't Apply to You

Most ROAS benchmarks you'll find online are US-based. 3x to 5x is the number thrown around most. But those numbers assume a very different cost structure — higher AOVs in dollar terms, higher CPMs, different customer behaviour.

In India, you need to build your own benchmark. It starts with one number: your contribution margin.

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The Only ROAS Benchmark That Actually Matters

Your break-even ROAS.

Break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ Contribution Margin

Contribution margin is what's left after cost of goods and variable costs — before marketing spend.

Example

You sell a kurta set at ₹8,000. Cost of goods is ₹2,500. Shipping and packaging is ₹300. That leaves ₹5,200 contribution margin — about 65%.

Break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ 0.65 = 1.54x

Any ROAS above 1.54x and you're making money on ads. Below that, you're losing.

Now you have a real number to work with — not a benchmark someone in New York came up with.

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What's a Good ROAS for Premium Fashion in India?

With AOVs between ₹5,000 and ₹25,000, here's what I typically see in practice:

₹5,000 to ₹8,000 AOV

Margins are tighter at this price point. You usually need 2.5x to 4x ROAS to run profitably. Anything below 2x and your ad spend is eating your margins.

₹8,000 to ₹15,000 AOV

This is where premium fashion starts to breathe. Margins tend to be 55% to 70%. A 2x to 3x ROAS can be genuinely profitable. Some brands I've worked with run at 1.8x ROAS and still make money because margins are strong.

₹15,000 to ₹25,000 AOV

High AOV changes the game. Conversion rates are lower — customers take longer to decide — but each conversion is worth significantly more. A 1.5x to 2x ROAS can be profitable at this level if your margins are healthy.

Don't optimise for ROAS in isolation at this price point. Optimise for profit per order.

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The Hidden Problem: Return Rates

Premium fashion in India has a return rate problem that most brands underestimate.

If your reported ROAS is 3x but 25% of orders get returned, your actual effective ROAS is closer to 2.25x. And if returns come with reverse logistics costs, it's lower still.

Always calculate ROAS on net revenue — after returns — not gross revenue. The gap between the two can be the difference between a profitable campaign and a loss-making one.

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New Customer ROAS vs Returning Customer ROAS

This distinction matters enormously for premium fashion.

Acquiring a new customer at 1.5x ROAS might look bad. But if that customer buys again twice in the next six months, the lifetime value changes everything.

Separate your ROAS reporting into new customers and returning customers. You should be willing to accept lower ROAS on new customer acquisition — especially if your retention numbers are strong.

If you don't have retention numbers yet, that's the thing to fix first. CAC without LTV is just a cost.

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What to Do When ROAS Drops

ROAS dropping on a premium fashion brand usually comes from one of three places.

First — creative fatigue. The same ad running for too long stops converting. Refresh your creatives before frequency gets too high.

Second — wrong audience. Premium fashion requires premium audience targeting. If your CPM is too low, you're probably reaching the wrong people. Better audiences cost more to reach — and convert at higher rates.

Third — landing page mismatch. Your ad promises one thing, your product page delivers another. Premium customers are sensitive to this disconnect. The experience from ad to product page to checkout needs to be seamless and high-quality.

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The Bottom Line

There is no universal 'good ROAS' for premium fashion in India.

Your number is: 1 ÷ your contribution margin. That's your floor. Everything above it is profit. Everything below it is a problem.

Build from there — account for returns, separate new vs returning customers, and don't chase ROAS at the cost of margin.

If you're running ads for a premium fashion brand and the numbers aren't making sense — book a free strategy call. I'll go through your unit economics and tell you exactly where the leak is.

Book your slot below.