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Latest / Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth

Q1 2026 vs 2025: What Changed in Ecommerce (The Data)

Steve Rekuc, Director of Data at Common Thread Collective, joins Richard to break down the Q1 2026 vs Q1 2025 year-over-year data from the DTC Index.

The headline: Meta spend is up 25% year over year while ROAS only degraded 3%. Google ROAS actually increased 12% despite higher spend. The platforms are getting more elastic.

In this episode:

Total revenue up 13.6% YoY with more coming from returning customers

Meta spend up 25.28% with only 3% ROAS degradation

Google ROAS up 12% with 3.65% more spend

Why AI-driven ad delivery is making both platforms better

CPMs are up but click-through rates…

The skinny

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