How do I start Flipkart ads as a new seller?

In Seller Hub, open the Ads tab and create a product listing ads campaign. Start with a CPC campaign on one or two well-listed products, set a small daily budget and an end date, use automatic targeting for the first week, then build a manual keyword campaign around the searches that converted.

What is the difference between CPC and Smart ROI on Flipkart?

In a CPC campaign you set the bid and pay per click. In Smart ROI you set a target return on ad spend and Flipkart adjusts bids to aim for it. CPC suits testing and control; Smart ROI suits products whose break-even ROI you already know.

What ROI should I target on Flipkart ads?

At least your break-even ROI: sale price divided by your margin before ads. A Rs 600 product that leaves you Rs 150 before ads breaks even at an ROI of 4. Anything below that loses money on every ad order.

What is the Top of Search bid boost?

On manual keyword campaigns you can raise the Top of Search bid by a percentage. A 50% boost on a Rs 2.13 bid becomes about Rs 3.19 per click. Use it only on keywords that already convert.

Are Flipkart ad credit offers worth it?

Only if you would spend that amount anyway. In offers sellers report, Rs 10,000 buys Rs 12,000 of credit, but with 18% GST you pay Rs 11,800, so the real bonus is Rs 200, and the credit expires if not used within about a month.

How to Run Flipkart Ads in 2026: Step-by-Step Guide

Flipkart Ads can put a new listing in front of buyers on day one, but they can also burn a month's margin in a week. This guide walks through setting up a campaign in Seller Hub in the order you will actually do it, then shows how to tell whether it is making money. For the wider strategy — which products deserve ads at all, and how to read ROAS against profit — see our Flipkart ads management guide.

Before you spend: is the listing ready?

Ads bring clicks; the listing has to turn them into orders. Before you start a campaign, check that the product has complete attributes, clear images from several angles, a competitive price, stock across the pincodes you serve, and ideally a few ratings. An ad on a weak listing just pays Flipkart to show buyers a page they leave.

The campaign types

Type	What it does	Best for
PLA — CPC	Product listing ads in search and browse; you set the bid and pay per click	Control over bids and keywords; testing new products
PLA — Smart ROI	You set a target return and Flipkart adjusts bids to aim for it	Proven products where you know the return you need
PCA (and PCA Spotlight)	Product contextual ads shown on related product pages	Catching buyers comparing similar products
Display and brand ads	Banner-style placements for awareness	Established brands with budget for awareness

Most sellers should start with PLA CPC on one or two products, move proven products to Smart ROI, and leave display and brand ads until they have a brand worth building.

Step by step: your first CPC campaign

Open the Ads tab in Seller Hub and choose to create a new product listing ads campaign.
Pick CPC for your first campaign, so you control the bid.
Set a daily budget you can afford to lose while learning — a small fixed amount per product per day — and a campaign end date, so nothing runs forever by accident.
Select one or two products with good listings and healthy margins. Don't put your whole catalog into the first campaign; you won't be able to tell what worked.
Choose targeting. Automatic targeting lets Flipkart pick where the ad shows. Manual targeting lets you choose keywords. Start with automatic for a week to learn which searches convert, then build a manual campaign around those.
For manual keywords, mix match types. Creator tutorials in 2026 show phrase and exact match options and negative keywords in the panel. Use exact match for the searches that already convert, phrase match to discover more, and add negative keywords for searches that bring clicks but no orders.
Set bids per placement. The panel shows separate bids for the home page, Top of Search, rest of search and browse pages, with the minimum bid pre-filled. Search placements now show a bid range rather than one exact figure.
Use the Top of Search boost carefully. On manual campaigns you can raise your Top of Search bid by a percentage — a 50% boost on a Rs 2.13 base bid becomes about Rs 3.19 per click. Boost only keywords that already convert.
Launch and leave it for several days before judging it. One day of data is noise.

Choosing keywords

Use the words buyers type, not your internal product name: product type + material + audience + key feature.
Prefer specific phrases ("cotton straight kurti for women") over one-word terms ("kurti"): fewer clicks, but far more buyers.
Check the search volume, conversion rate and share-of-voice figures the panel shows for a keyword before bidding high on it.
Our free keyword research tool suggests title keywords for your product and flags words that get listings rejected.

Is the campaign making money? A worked example

Take a product that sells for Rs 600. After Flipkart fees, shipping, product cost and packing, you keep Rs 150 per order before ads. That Rs 150 is the most you can spend on ads per order and still break even.

Week's figures	Value
Ad spend	Rs 2,000
Clicks (at about Rs 4 each)	500
Orders from ads	16
Ad sales (16 × Rs 600)	Rs 9,600
ROI (ad sales ÷ spend)	4.8
ACoS (spend ÷ ad sales)	20.8%
Ad cost per order (2,000 ÷ 16)	Rs 125
Profit per ad order (150 − 125)	Rs 25

An ROI of 4.8 looks good, but the campaign only makes Rs 25 an order — and returns will eat into that. Your break-even ROI here is sale price ÷ margin before ads: 600 ÷ 150 = 4. Below 4 you lose money on every ad order; well above 4 you can raise bids. Set your Smart ROI target from this number, not from a guess. Run your own figures through the free Flipkart Ad ROI Calculator.

When to pause or cut

Keywords with many clicks and no orders after a fair test: pause them or add them as negatives.
ROI below break-even for a full week: lower the bid, fix the listing, or stop.
Stock running low: pause before you run out — paying for clicks to an out-of-stock page wastes money and hurts the listing.
High return rates on ad orders: work out ROI on kept orders, not booked orders.

Mistakes that waste ad money

Accepting ad credit offers without the GST maths. Sellers report wallet offers like "pay Rs 10,000, get Rs 12,000 of credit". If 18% GST is charged on the Rs 10,000 you pay Rs 11,800, so the real bonus is Rs 200, and sellers report the credit expires in about a month.
Enrolling in programmes that lock in spend. Sellers report ad programmes that commit a percentage of gross sales to ads with a three-month lock-in, sometimes enrolled with one button. Gross sales are counted before returns and RTO. Read the opt-out terms first.
Judging by clicks or impressions instead of profit per order.
Using last year's bids. Sellers who have run Flipkart ads for years report winning bids roughly tripling in many categories; recalculate from your own current data.
Advertising a listing with incomplete details or poor images. Fix the listing first — see how to grow organic visibility on Flipkart.

For everything else that changed for Flipkart sellers this year, see Flipkart seller updates 2026.

Sources

Checked on 2 November 2026. Ad panel screens change often; confirm the current options in your own Seller Hub. Points marked "creators" or "sellers report" come from seller educators describing their panels, not from Flipkart.

How to Run Flipkart Ads in 2026: A Step-by-Step Guide for Sellers