Your marketplace sends tracking data to Meta and Google automatically once it's set up (see the three detailed guides linked below). This page explains why that's worth doing, and how it actually makes your advertising better.
The three systems
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Meta Pixel Ecommerce Tracking for Facebook/Instagram ad campaigns
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GA4 Ecommerce Tracking, Campaign Attribution & Cookie Consent your own analytics and reporting
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Google Ads Enhanced Conversions for Google Ads campaigns specifically
Why this matters
Without this tracking, you're running ads without knowing which ones actually lead to orders, just how much you've spent. Once it's set up, both Meta and Google can see the full picture: who viewed a menu, who added to basket, who abandoned checkout, and who actually ordered. That data doesn't just sit in a report, both platforms use it to actively improve your campaigns.
Seeing where customers drop off (funnels)
Because every stage of the ordering journey is tracked as a separate event, you can see exactly where customers are dropping off, how many viewed a menu, how many added to basket, how many started checkout, and how many actually completed the order.
In GA4, there's a dedicated Funnel Exploration tool built for exactly this; it visualises each step and the drop-off rate between them: [GA4] Funnel exploration.
In Meta, there isn't a direct equivalent funnel-builder tool; the closest is comparing event counts for each stage (ViewContent, AddToCart, InitiateCheckout, Purchase) against each other in Events Manager's Overview tab, which shows the numbers but not a visual funnel chart: Differences between event counts in Meta Ads Manager, Ads Reporting and Events Manager.
Retargeting
This same tracking data also lets you bring back customers who showed interest but didn't order, someone who viewed a menu or added an item to their basket without checking out can be shown an ad specifically because of that action. Both platforms build these audiences automatically from the events your marketplace already sends; no extra setup beyond what's in the three guides above is needed to make this available.
Meta's own documentation on this:
Google's own documentation on this:
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Create an audience segment that includes your website visitors
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About dynamic remarketing shows previous visitors ads for the specific outlets/items they viewed, not just a generic ad
How Meta uses this data
When you set up an ad set in Meta Ads Manager, you choose a performance goal, for example, maximising purchases, or maximising purchase value. Meta's delivery system then uses the events your marketplace sends (menu views, basket adds, purchases) to automatically decide who to show your ads to, which creative performs best for which customer, and where to spend your budget, all working towards the goal you set, without you having to manually target or test combinations yourself.
Meta's own documentation covers this in detail:
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About Value Sets (for optimising towards order value, not just order count)
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Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns Meta's most automated campaign type, which relies heavily on this tracking data to run
How Google uses this data
Google Ads works on the same underlying principle, applied to bidding. Smart Bidding strategies (Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximise Conversions, Maximise Conversion Value) use your conversion data to automatically set the right bid for every single ad auction in real time, rather than you manually guessing what a click is worth. The more complete and accurate your conversion data is, the better Smart Bidding performs, which is exactly what Enhanced Conversions (see the Google Ads guide above) is designed to improve.
Google's own documentation covers this in detail: