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Why Your London DTC Brand’s ROAS Is Dropping in 2026 (And How to Fix It)

Why Your London DTC Brand’s ROAS Is Dropping in 2026 (And How to Fix It)

If your Meta return on ad spend dropped in 2026, you aren’t imagining it, and you’re not alone. In the first week of March 2026, Meta rolled out an unannounced delivery update, widely called Andromeda, and across retail and ecommerce, a lot of advertisers said their CPMs jumped 15 to 40 percent, while ROAS started sliding within just two weeks. Some of that drop is real cost, and some is tighter attribution making performance only look worse. This guide separates the two and gives London DTC brands a fix list that works.

Key takeaways

  • The March 2026 Andromeda update kind of pushed CPMs up 15 to 40 percent for a lot of advertisers, while the ROAS numbers got a bit shaky in the first two weeks, like reported, then even kind of lower.
  • Two things changed at once: delivery moved from audience led to creative led, and attribution tightened.
  • Some of the decline is measurement, not real sales loss, because iOS already hides 20 to 30 percent of conversions.
  • Creative variety and clean server side tracking are the main recovery levers.
  • Judge recovery on blended efficiency and new customer acquisition cost, not platform ROAS alone.

What actually changed with Andromeda

Two shifts landed together, which is why the drop confused so many advertisers.

First, delivery moved from audience led to creative led. Detailed interest targeting became more of a hint, and the system now reads your creative and finds buyers across Meta’s full base. If your creative library was thin or fatigued, delivery quality fell.

Second, attribution tightened. Reported performance looked 15 to 40 percent worse in some accounts even where actual sales held steady. In other words, part of the drop on your dashboard is a reporting change, not lost revenue.

How to tell real loss from measurement noise

Before you slash budgets, check whether sales actually fell. Compare your Meta reported revenue against your true store revenue over the same period. If total orders and revenue in your ecommerce platform held up while Meta’s reported ROAS fell, you are mostly looking at an attribution change, not a sales problem. This is why blended marketing efficiency, total revenue divided by total ad spend, is a more honest gauge than in platform ROAS.

The fix list for London DTC brands

1. Rebuild your creative pipeline

Since delivery is creative led, thin or stale creative is now the fastest way to lose money. Ship several distinct hooks and angles, refresh regularly, and let the system test variety. Treat creativity like an always running production line, not a one off spinoff, because it feels more real, and keeps going even when the novelty wears off, you know.

2. Fix your tracking with the Conversions API

With 20 to 30 percent of conversions hidden by iOS, you end up with incomplete data, so your ROAS is understated, and the algorithm gets the wrong idea. With server-side tracking, using the Conversions API and adding first party data in the mix, it comes back with a lot more of that signal, so Meta can optimize for real buyers more precisely.

3. Simplify and consolidate

Fragmented accounts with too many small ad sets starve the system of data. Consolidate so each ad set gathers enough conversions to exit the learning phase, roughly your target cost per acquisition multiplied by 50, divided by seven, in daily spend.

4. Recheck your break even math

Costs rose, so your old ROAS targets may no longer mean what they did. Recalculate break even ROAS as one divided by your contribution margin, and remember the new UK location fee of 2 to 5 percent from July 2026 adds to cost.

5. Protect your retargeting

Make sure high intent audiences, such as add to cart and recent visitors, are still being reached efficiently, since creative-led delivery can spread budget more broadly than you intend.

What not to do

Do not panic and turn everything off. Do not blame targeting and rebuild narrow audiences, since that fights the current system. And do not judge the account on a single ad’s ROAS. Diagnose calmly; start with blended revenue and then tracking health. After that, take a look at creative freshness too, like really.

Frequently asked questions

Why did my Meta ROAS suddenly drop in March 2026? 

The Andromeda delivery update raised CPMs 15 to 40 percent for many advertisers and tightened attribution, so part of the drop is real cost and part is reporting.

Is my ROAS drop real or just tracking? 

Compare Meta reported revenue with your actual store revenue. If store revenue held while reported ROAS fell, it is largely a measurement change.

What is the fastest fix? 

Fresh, varied creative plus clean Conversions API tracking address the two biggest causes at once.

Should I lower my budget?

 Not automatically. Check blended efficiency first. Cutting budget on misleading platform numbers can throttle a still profitable account.

Get a diagnosis, not guesswork

SOMS Media runs deep audits that separate real performance loss from attribution noise, then rebuild creative and tracking to recover ROAS. Book a free 20 minute audit, and we will pinpoint what is actually costing your London brand money.

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