GMV Max

GMV Max is TikTok Shop’s automated ad campaign type. It optimizes for gross merchandise value (GMV), the total value of goods sold, against a target ROI that the seller sets. Since July 2025, it has been the default and only campaign type for sales ads that send shoppers to TikTok Shop.

What is GMV Max?

Before that, TikTok Shop sellers set up Product Shopping Ads, Video Shopping Ads and LIVE Shopping Ads themselves. Since July 2025, when you pick the Sales objective with TikTok Shop as the destination, you can no longer create, edit or duplicate those three types, although existing campaigns keep running (TikTok Business Help Center, About GMV Max migration, updated March 2026).

GMV Max comes in two types:

• Product GMV Max: automatically picks products, videos and placements to sell the products you add to the campaign.
• LIVE GMV Max: created in Seller Center at the shop level, it optimizes both paid and organic traffic into your livestream room (TikTok, Differences between LIVE Shopping Ads and LIVE GMV Max, September 2026).

How does GMV Max work?

The seller decides only three things: the products (or the LIVE room), the daily budget and the target ROI. ROI here means gross revenue divided by ad spend, the same as ROAS, not profit. The system does everything else. It uses every available video, including affiliate videos you have been authorized to use, creates and pauses ads on its own, and delivers them across the feed, search, the Shop tab and TikTok Ad Network (TikTok, About Product GMV Max, September 2026).

Since February 25, 2026, TikTok has offered ROI Protection: if a day’s ROI falls below 90% of the target and the campaign gets more than 20 orders a day, TikTok refunds ad credit. Days on which you raise the target ROI of a Product GMV Max campaign yourself, edit products, or use Max Delivery mode are not covered (TikTok, About ROI protection for GMV Max campaigns, September 2026).

Why do sellers in Vietnam need to understand GMV Max in 2026?

Because marketplace fees are now tied to ad spend. TikTok Shop Vietnam has charged a 6% transaction fee since May 9, 2026. From October 21, 2026, the transaction fee discount is tiered by the shop’s ad spend ratio over 30 days: a ratio from 4% to under 7% earns a 0.5% discount, and 20% or more earns 1.5% (TikTok Shop Seller University Vietnam, Transaction Fees, October 2026).

A quick calculation (hypothetical): a shop with 1 billion VND in monthly GMV spends 40 million VND on ads to reach the 4% tier and gets a 0.5% fee discount, or 5 million VND. If that 40 million does not pay for itself, the fee discount will not make up the difference.

TikTok credits every order for a product running Product GMV Max to the campaign, including orders from organic content and affiliates. So the reported ROI is usually higher than the revenue the ads actually add. The FAQ below shows how to work out break-even ROI after marketplace fees.

How is TikTok’s GMV Max different from Shopee’s Maximize Revenue?

Sellers in Vietnam often call Maximize Revenue (Tối đa Doanh thu in the Vietnamese interface) “Shopee’s GMV Max.” It is an automated bidding mode for Shopee’s Product Ads, delivered in Search and Discovery placements (Shopee Ads, Introduction to Maximize Revenue, accessed October 2026). Both belong to retail media.

Frequently asked questions

What target ROI should I set?

There is no universal number. Start from your margin before ads (after cost of goods and marketplace fees): break-even ROI = 1 / that margin. At a 25% margin, you need an ROI of 4 just to break even, and you have to set it higher to make a profit.

How do old Shopping Ads campaigns move to GMV Max?

Click Upgrade now in the notice inside TikTok Ads Manager. The upgraded campaign takes its historical ROI as the target ROI, so check that number right after you switch.

If you are running GMV Max and want to check your target ROI against each product’s margin, Adtek’s Brand Commerce team can talk it through with you via our contact page.