CSS Partner Case Studies: What Up to 25% More Bid Power Looks Like in 90 Days

The one number here that is not a worked example

Everything else in this article is a worked example. This part is not: it is a measurement from a real e-commerce client that switched to our CSS in March 2026.

On that account, impression share on Google Shopping rose 25.3% and the average CPC fell 10.1% in the two months after the switch, while spend fell about 8%.

The caveat that belongs with this number, every time it is mentioned: it is one account, not a controlled trial. There is no control group, because a CSS switch affects the whole Merchant Center account at once. We tested all thirteen possible switch points in the period ourselves, and March ranked third to fourth. Take it as a signal, not as proof.

We would rather say it this way than round up. A provider that promises you a precise number for your own account has not measured it.

How the saving shows up

A CSS gives every bid up to 25% more power. When that lands as lower click prices, you can take it in two directions, and shops choose differently:

• Bank the saving. Keep bids and budget the same, and your monthly Shopping spend falls in line with the lower click prices while you keep the same traffic.
• Reinvest the saving. Keep your budget the same and raise bids or volume, so you get more clicks and more conversions for the same spend.

Most of the scenarios below assume a mix, which is what shops tend to do in practice once they see the headroom.

Scenario A: small shop, €800 per month Shopping spend

Example figures.

A small homeware shop spends €800 per month on Google Shopping at an average CPC of €0.40, so roughly 2,000 clicks per month.

In this scenario, the extra bid power lands entirely as lower click prices: the average falls by around 20% to €0.32.

• If the shop banks the saving: the same 2,000 clicks now cost about €640, a saving of around €160 per month, or roughly €480 over the first 90 days.
• If the shop reinvests: holding the €800 budget steady at €0.32 per click yields about 2,500 clicks, roughly 25% more traffic for the same spend.

Against a CSS subscription from 11.66 € per month, the net gain is positive from the first month at this spend level.

Scenario B: mid-size shop, €5,000 per month Shopping spend

Example figures.

A mid-size fashion retailer spends €5,000 per month on Shopping at an average CPC of €0.50, so about 10,000 clicks.

Here too, the extra bid power lands as lower click prices: the average falls by around 20% to €0.40.

• Banking the saving: the same 10,000 clicks now cost €4,000, a saving of about €1,000 per month, or roughly €3,000 over 90 days.
• Reinvesting: the €5,000 budget at €0.40 per click buys about 12,500 clicks, roughly 2,500 extra visits per month at no extra cost.

At this scale the saving dwarfs the subscription many times over, every month.

Scenario C: larger multi-country shop, €20,000 per month across five markets

Example figures.

A larger shop sells across five CSS countries and spends €20,000 per month on Shopping at an average CPC of €0.45, about 44,000 clicks.

Here too, the extra bid power lands as lower click prices: the average falls by around 20% to €0.36.

• Banking the saving: the same traffic now costs about €16,000, a saving of roughly €4,000 per month, or around €12,000 over 90 days.
• Reinvesting: the €20,000 budget at €0.36 per click buys about 55,000 clicks, roughly 11,000 extra visits per month.

Because a flat-fee CSS includes all countries in one subscription, this shop pays from 11.66 € per month in total, not per country, so the per-country overhead that a percentage-of-spend provider would add does not apply.

Why the gain varies from shop to shop

The scenarios use the full margin of up to 20%, which is the same as up to 25% more bid power, and let all of it land as lower click prices. In real accounts the gain often shows up as more clicks or better positions instead, because automated bidding spends the extra power on winning more auctions. How it lands depends on category competitiveness, current bid levels and bid strategy.

A shop that also reinvests the headroom into more volume can see a larger combined effect on traffic and efficiency over a quarter than the click prices alone would suggest. That is why we give no single guaranteed figure, and why every number here is explicitly an example.

What does not change in any scenario

Across all three scenarios, the things that stay identical are worth repeating:

• The ads look the same to shoppers. Same products, same prices, same placements.
• The Google Ads account, campaigns, bids and feed stay under the shop's control.
• There is no downtime, no relearning phase and no change to ranking or Quality Score.
• The only change is which CSS is linked to Merchant Center, and how much of every bid reaches the auction.

How to estimate your own numbers

You can sketch your own scenario in three steps:

1. Take your current monthly Shopping spend and average CPC from your Google Ads account. 2. Apply up to 25% more bid power. That gives you either the spend saving (same clicks, up to 20% lower cost) or the extra clicks (same budget, up to 25% more traffic). 3. Subtract the CSS subscription, from 11.66 € per month. For any shop spending more than a few hundred euros per month on Shopping, the net result is positive in month one.

For a more precise estimate tied to your actual account, the honest approach is to look at your real CPC and spend rather than rely on any example figures, including these.

The bottom line

Up to 25% more bid power is a meaningful number once you put it against real spend: hundreds of euros a month for a small shop, thousands for a larger one, every month, against a per-shop subscription from 11.66 € per month. The scenarios here are example figures to show the shape of the gain, not guarantees. Run your own spend and CPC through the same simple arithmetic and you will see what it means for you.

See how a CSS gives you up to 25% more bid power, check the pricing, or get started.