PPC Commentary
Beet It Sport & Zinger · October 2026 (vs September 2026)
Managed revenue fell 7% to £124,717. Beet It Sport fell 16% with ad spend down 29% and searches for its main terms down 24%. Zinger rose 27% on Amazon's ginger price cut.
Revenue fell 7% on flat ad spend
−7% MoM
−16% MoM
+27% MoM
BIS / Zinger
Ad spend was £5,400 against £5,451. Beet It Sport spend fell by about £1,000, as planned for the October test. Zinger spend rose by about the same while Amazon had the ginger shot at around £12.
The Beet It Sport test result is in section 04. Most of Nitrate 400's fall follows lower search demand. The test also showed where the ads are doing work: share held where they ran and fell on “beet it” and “beetroot juice” while they were paused.
Nitrate 400 stock has recovered from 19 days of cover to 38.
Beet It Sport fell 16%. Zinger rose 27%.
| Total sales | September | October | MoM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beet It Sport | £109,001 | £92,070 | −15.5% |
| Zinger | £25,605 | £32,647 | +27.5% |
| Managed total | £134,606 | £124,717 | −7.3% |
Nitrate 400 sold 3,597 units against 4,223, at the same average price of about £25. The ginger shot sold 1,277 units against 700. Turmeric fell from 396 units to 270.
Ordered revenue from Amazon Retail Analytics, matching the monthly dashboard. September figures are as Amazon reports them now, so a few differ slightly from last month's report.
Beet It Sport ACOS fell to 8.3%
BIS £2,459 · ZIN £2,942
−4% MoM
from 10.0%
from 32.4%
Beet It Sport spend fell 29% and its ad sales fell 14%, to £29,800 from 1,157 orders. We lowered bids during Prime Big Deal Days, when click costs doubled, to keep the month on budget.
Zinger ad sales are counted at Amazon's discounted price, so its ACOS reads high. James White was paid £16.00 a unit for the ginger shot all month (section 05).
Nitrate 400's share held where ads ran and fell where they were paused
Nitrate 400 ad spend, including brand defence, came down to £2,313 from £3,250. Brand defence reached its £500 monthly budget on 12 October, which gave us 19 days of brand searches without our ads to measure.
| Nitrate 400, per day | September | 1 to 11 Oct | 12 to 31 Oct |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ad spend | £108 | £130 | £44 |
| Units from ads | 45 | 60 | 25 |
| Units without an ad | 96 | 76 | 80 |
| Total units | 141 | 136 | 105 |
Total units in the last three weeks were 25% below September. Searches on Nitrate 400's five main terms fell 24% between the weeks to 26 September and 24 October, so most of that fall was coming anyway. The search data shows which searches the ads were protecting:
| Our share of purchases | w/e 26 Sep | w/e 3 Oct | w/e 10 Oct | w/e 17 Oct | w/e 24 Oct |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| “beet it sport nitrate 400” | 87% | 91% | 89% | 89% | 92% |
| “beetroot shots” | 65% | 74% | 72% | 73% | 69% |
| “beet it” | 66% | 69% | 68% | 55% | 52% |
| “beetroot juice” | 9% | 7% | 5% | 7% | 5% |
Share held where the beetroot shots campaigns kept running. It fell on “beet it” after brand defence reached its budget, and on “beetroot juice” during the holdback on the beetroot juice and Cawston Press campaign from 5 October. We estimate the difference at 15 to 25 sales a week by late October, about £400 to £600, against roughly £210 a week of ad spend saved.
So September's read holds for the product name and “beetroot shots”, where Nitrate 400 sells on its own. On brand and “beetroot juice” searches, competitors took a larger share while our ads were paused. That was the result we said last month would bring the beetroot juice campaign back, and it went live again on 29 October.
For November the Nitrate 400 budget is back at £2,500 and the efficient campaigns have more daily budget. Brand defence has its £500 again, paced to last the month. We'd like to discuss its budget on the next call.
Ginger shot units rose 82% at an average of £12.42
| Hero ginger shot | September | October | MoM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Units ordered | 700 | 1,277 | +82% |
| Sales at Amazon's retail price | £9,073 | £15,863 | +75% |
| Ad spend | £1,028 | £1,807 | +76% |
Amazon cut its price through the month and it was £11.14 at the end. James White was paid £16.00 a unit throughout, so ad spend was 9.2% of James White's revenue on the line, the same as September. The listing ranks second in its category.
Turmeric units fell 32%
Turmeric sold 270 units against 396, at an average of £14.99 against £12.78 in September. It was £12.10 at month end against its usual £24.75.
On “turmeric shots” it had 5% of impressions and 17% of purchases, so it sells well when it's seen. We raised Turmeric bids on 30 October to get it shown more.
Amazon holds 878 units with no open orders, and 416 of them are over 90 days old.
The beetroot shots and auto campaigns ran at 7% to 11% ACOS
| Campaign | Spend | Ad sales | ACOS | Sept ACOS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BIS brand defence (budget reached 12 Oct) | £501 | £8,006 | 6% | 5% |
| BIS phrase, beetroot shots (paused for pacing from 19 Oct) | £407 | £3,691 | 11% | 9% |
| BIS exact, beetroot shots | £254 | £3,477 | 7% | n/a |
| BIS auto, close and loose match | £607 | £8,564 | 7% | 8% |
| BIS beetroot juice and Cawston Press (test holdback 5 to 29 Oct) | £225 | £1,010 | 22% | 17% |
| ZIN exact, ginger shots (ranking) | £1,090 | £2,513 | 43% | 45% |
| ZIN Sponsored Brands, ginger shots | £485 | £1,133 | 43% | 31% |
| ZIN Sponsored Brands, immunity shots | £458 | £1,827 | 25% | 22% |
Cherry Regen and Energy Gel
Cherry Regen sold 110 units against 149, with ads at 12% ACOS. Energy Gel sold 22 units, but its ads were credited with 50 orders: most were Nitrate 400, bought through brand searches and ads on the gel's own listing. We've blocked the brand terms in both ranges so their budgets go on their own products.
Pickle It sold 67 units in its first month of ads
Pickle It ads went live on 6 October and Amazon halved the price a day later. It sold 67 units against 10 in September, with ads returning £470 on £184 (39% ACOS). Its best search, “pickle juice for cramps”, now has its own campaign. It still has no reviews.
Zinger Functional sold 21 units across the three lines, on £170 of ads. All the stock Amazon holds is over 90 days old. Spend stays at a floor until the listings have reviews.
Nitrate 400 has about 38 days of cover
| At 31 October | Units on hand | Open purchase orders | Received vs ordered | Days of cover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nitrate 400 | 4,399 | 187 | 80% | 38 |
| Zinger Ginger | 2,590 | 392 | 80% | 63 |
| Zinger Turmeric | 878 | 0 | 100% | 101 |
| Pickle It | 169 | 0 | 100% | 78 |
| Energy Gel | 34 | 18 | 25% | 48 |
Amazon received 80% of the Nitrate 400 it ordered in October, against 34% in September.