PPC Commentary
A3 Desk Pads & Weekly Planners · September 2026 (second month advertising)
September was the account's strongest month since January. Total sales rose 19% on August, the advertising ran at the same spend but returned a third more, and the plain desk pads kept leading. The limit now is stock. Two lines were out of stock the whole month.
Up 19% on August, and the advertising got sharper.
September, +19% MoM
ad cost of total sales
25% ACOS
where the ads work
September was the second month advertising. Total sales were £9,895, up 19% on August's £8,310 and the account's strongest month since January's planner peak of £12,450. Advertising cost 6.2% of total sales, down from 7.5%, so the account stayed about 75% organic. The ad spend barely moved from August (£610 against £622) but it worked much harder: blended ACOS fell from 35% to 25% and ad sales rose 36%.
Two things shaped the month. The plain desk-pad range kept leading on late back-to-school demand, and a mid-month budget cap, held to keep the account inside its £600 monthly limit, concentrated the remaining spend on the plain-pad winners, which is most of the efficiency gain. The one drag was stock. The purple pack of two and the rainbow pack of two were out of stock the entire month and sold nothing, after £549 between them in August.
The plain pads led again, the purple planner grew 59%, and two lines sat out of stock.
| September 2026 | Revenue | MoM | Conv. rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| CSM203, A3 Plain Pad (single) | £3,445 | 12% up | 26% |
| CSM103, A3 Planner, purple | £2,175 | 59% up | 17% |
| CSM203B, A3 Plain Pad (pack of 3) | £1,956 | 13% up | 50% |
| CSM203A, A3 Plain Pad (pack of 2) | £1,510 | 69% up | 47% |
| CSM123, A3 Rainbow Planner (single) | £810 | 21% up | 15% |
| CSM111, A3 Planner, purple (pack of 2) | £0 | out of stock | n/a |
| CSM123A, A3 Rainbow Planner (pack of 2) | £0 | out of stock | n/a |
| Total account | £9,895 | 19% up |
Every line that was in stock grew, and three grew hard. The plain single (CSM203) reached £3,445. The purple planner (CSM103) rose 59% to £2,175, and the plain pack of two (CSM203A) rose 69%. Conversion improved across the range as well: the purple planner lifted from 13% to 17%, the rainbow single from 8% to 15%, and the plain pack of two from 37% to 47%. The account total of £9,895 is the highest since January.
One point stays firmly in the account's favour. As sole seller, the featured offer (Buy Box) held at essentially 100% across every in-stock line all month, so nothing leaked at the buy button. The limiter was supply. CSM111 (purple pack of 2) and CSM123A (rainbow pack of 2) were out of stock for all 29 recorded days and sold nothing, after £150 and £399 in August. The rainbow single (CSM123) lost 11 days to a stockout and still grew. Reorders for all three are inbound for October.
Same spend as August, a sharper return, concentrated on the plain pad.
September
Advertising spent almost exactly what it did in August (£610 against £622) but returned far more: £2,432 in ad sales against £1,784, a 36% rise, at a 25% blended ACOS down from 35%. Blended return went from £2.87 to £3.99 for every £1. Two things drove it. The August launch waste, three weeks of Auto-campaign learning and spend on the rainbow single, was cut, and a mid-month budget cap concentrated the remaining spend on the plain-pad winners.
Plain single (CSM203): the engine
£501 of spend returned £2,196 in ad sales. That is a 23% ACOS, or £4.38 back for every £1, and nearly all the account's ad budget sat here. The tightest exact-match terms are the sharpest: the "A3 Pad Cluster" returned £7.20 per £1 and "a3 paper pad" £6.50. One caveat carries over from the launch report: because this listing ranks number one and its sponsored slot sits above its own organic result, a share of these ad sales is organic demand reattributed to the ad, so read the return as strong rather than exact.
Rainbow single (CSM123): held light on purpose
£110 of spend returned £236, a 46% ACOS. Better than August's 87%, but still the weakest advertised line, so we kept it on a light, organic-led footing rather than funding it harder. The bid is fine. The problem is conversion, and that is a listing job. Its conversion nearly doubled over the month, from 8% to 15%, partly because holding paid back cut the low-intent clicks and partly as the content work began to show.
The mid-month cap meant the two "Substitutes" Auto campaigns, one plain and one rainbow, were paused after spending about £197 between them at 35% and 52% ACOS. That was the bulk of September's inefficiency, and far less than the launch month's spread. The converting core, the plain exacts plus Close Match and the competitor campaign, ran between 14% and 26% ACOS all month.
Spend was capped mid-month to protect the monthly budget.
Unlike August's end-of-month ramp, September spend was held down on purpose. From 11 September daily spend was capped to around £10 a day to keep the account inside its £600 monthly budget, after the launch month showed how quickly new Auto campaigns spend before they learn. That cap is why spend is flat and efficiency is up: it forced budget onto the proven plain-pad terms and off the discovery tail. From October the pace lifts back to around £20 a day within the same £600 envelope, a re-pace rather than an increase, applied on 5 October.
The plain "a3 pad" family still does the selling.
The keepers are unchanged and getting sharper. "a3 pad", "a3 paper pad", "a3 pad of paper" and "a3 desk pad" converted between 14% and 26% ACOS, the tightest returning £6 to £7 per £1. These are the terms budget concentrates on, and where the plain single builds and holds its rank.
With the rainbow Auto campaigns capped, far less budget reached the off-product tail of broad planner, office and classroom terms that drained August. The negatives added at the end of August held, so September's wasted spend was a fraction of the launch month's.
The plain-pad campaigns carried the month, and the weak spend was paused.
Fourteen campaigns spent in September. The plain-pad set did the work, and the two underperforming "Substitutes" Auto campaigns were paused as the budget tightened, so spend sat where it converts.
Best performer
CSM · A3 Plain Pad · Auto · Close Match. £150 of spend returned £666 in sales, 66 orders at a 23% ACOS, converting at 30%. It is the strongest acquisition campaign in the account. The exact "A3 Pad Cluster" was the most efficient at £7.20 per £1 (£34 returning £245), and the competitor-targeting campaign returned £5.00 per £1 (£97 returning £484). These plain-pad campaigns are where the budget belongs.
Weakest with real spend
CSM · Rainbow Planner · Auto · Substitutes. £97 of spend returned £186, a 52% ACOS, matching into broad terms the rainbow single cannot convert. It was paused mid-month, along with the plain Substitutes campaign (£100 at a 35% ACOS). Those two paused lines are the account's only real inefficiency this month.
The plain pads are capped by stock, the rainbow one by conversion, the purple one grew 59% with no ads.
CSM203, A3 Plain Pad, single (the hero)
The number-one SKU at £3,445, up 12%, on 1,185 sessions converting at a strong 26%. It carries nearly all the profitable ad spend at a 23% ACOS. Its one problem is stock. Late back-to-school demand pulled it down to 14 days of cover by the end of the month. A reorder is inbound, and holding stock here through the restock matters more than any bid change, because advertising a SKU that is about to sell out only wastes spend.
CSM103, A3 Planner, purple single (the quiet winner)
£2,175, up 59%, on 995 sessions with conversion improving from 13% to 17%, and no ad spend at all. It grew on organic rank and trade demand, a sign the listing holds its position and the B2B channel is contributing. One watch-item: its listing is showing the old plain-pad title again, and we are handling the fix carefully to protect its rank and badge (covered under Actions).
CSM123, A3 Rainbow Planner, single
It pulled 441 sessions and converted at 15%, nearly double August's 8%, as the content refresh began to land. Sessions were down on August's 747 because paid support was held light, but each one worked harder. It lost 11 days to a stockout during the month. Paid support stays light and organic-led until the higher conversion holds, then there is a case to feed it.
The remaining lines come down to stock. CSM111 (purple pack of 2) and CSM123A (rainbow pack of 2) sold nothing all month and are both on reorder for October. The plain multipacks (CSM203A and CSM203B) convert very well, at 47% and 50%, and simply need to stay in stock. CSM203A grew 69% on that strength.