Which products should you stop advertising?

Look past revenue

The product that books the most revenue is often not the one that makes the most money. It may sell at a discount, cost a lot to make or ship, or come back often. Advertising it grows the top line and very little else.

Work out contribution per product: price paid, minus fees, product cost, fulfilment, shipping you pay and returns. That is the number ads should chase.

Give every product a role

A hero first purchase has a high margin, low returns and buyers who come back. Spend more on it, and lead new-customer ads with it.

A high volume, low profit product sells a lot but leaves little. Fix price, bundles or fulfilment cost before you spend more on it.

A returns drag comes back far more than the rest. Stop scaling it until you have read the return reasons and fixed the page, the sizing or the packaging.

Dead stock barely sells and ties up cash. Ads rarely save it. Bundle it with a hero or clear it.

Pause before a stockout

Advertising a product that is about to run out pays for customers you cannot serve. They wait, open support tickets and often ask for refunds. When days of stock left drop below your reorder lead time, cut spend on that product and move it to one with plenty of stock.

Decide it once a week

Bring the profit cards to a weekly meeting with marketing, finance, operations and support. Each product gets one of four calls: scale, hold, fix or stop. Write each call down with an owner and a date to check it.

A product can move back. Once a returns drag is fixed or a margin is repaired, it earns its place in the ads again.