TL;DR
Platform ads mostly buy new customers. Profit comes when they return. Split your reporting by new vs repeat before you scale spend.
Grab ads look like they buy revenue. Often they mostly buy new customers — and new customers are expensive until they come back.
Split the cohort
Tag orders from ad clicks vs organic. Compare basket size, item mix, and repeat rate within 30 days. A campaign with great first-order ROAS can still be a loss if nobody returns.
What profit actually needs
Repeat buyers lift margin because you stop paying acquisition on every order. Optimize ads for items with strong second-order rates, not just hero dishes that photograph well.
Practical move
Fund keywords and creatives that bring people into your high-margin core. Use retargeting and push notifications to pull first-timers into a second order within two weeks.
Summary
Ads are a down payment on future profit. Track new vs repeat — otherwise you're cheering revenue that never compounds.
