Average Ecommerce Customer Acquisition Cost: Benchmarks

Acquiring a customer can involve several visits, an ad campaign, a product comparison and a follow-up email before the first order arrives. Customer acquisition cost brings the spending behind that journey into one number.

Knowing what other stores spend can help you put your own results in perspective. But the useful comparison depends on what you sell, the costs included and how much the customer contributes after buying.

Below, we'll look at published ecommerce CAC benchmarks, a more recent view of paid advertising costs, and how to set a target that fits your store.

What is the average customer acquisition cost for ecommerce?

First Page Sage's published ecommerce industry averages range from $53 for food and beverage to $91 for jewelry. Its 2026 report draws on more than 80 clients between 2020 and 2025. Source: First Page Sage.

Those figures offer a category-level reference rather than a single average for every online store. Your closest comparison will usually be a retailer with a similar product price, buying cycle and route to market.

Ecommerce CAC benchmarks by industry

The category breakdown gives you a closer comparison for your store, from everyday consumables to higher-priced purchases.

Source: First Page Sage's ecommerce CAC report. Amounts are in US dollars.

A higher acquisition cost can be workable when an order leaves more contribution or the customer returns regularly. It can be much harder to support on a low-margin product that people buy only once.

For example, a specialist retailer may need more education and product advice before someone commits to a purchase. That extra work can increase acquisition spending, even when the resulting customer relationship is valuable.

What do recent paid advertising benchmarks show?

For a more recent view of advertising performance, Triple Whale reports a median paid-ad CPA of $23.20 across more than 53,000 brands from August 2025 through July 2026, up 5.1% from the previous period. Source: Triple Whale.

Advertising CPA measures the cost of the conversion being tracked. Full customer acquisition cost includes the wider work of winning a new buyer, such as creative production, agency fees and acquisition-related staff time. An ad report can also include purchases from existing customers.

Use the advertising figure to assess campaigns, and your own CAC calculation to understand what acquiring customers costs the business. The two views are useful for different decisions.

How to calculate your ecommerce CAC

Start with the spending associated with acquiring customers during a period, then divide it by the number of first-time buyers acquired in that period.

CAC = Customer acquisition spending ÷ New customers acquired

Suppose you spend $12,000 on advertising and $3,000 on acquisition-related creative, agency support and tools. If you acquire 250 new customers, your CAC is:

$15,000 ÷ 250 = $60

That broader cost view follows the approach in Shopify's CAC guide. It gives you a fuller picture than dividing ad spend alone by the orders shown in an advertising dashboard.

When the same team or tool supports both acquisition and retention, allocate a reasonable share to each and keep the approach consistent. Discounts can stay in your net revenue calculation, so they aren't deducted again as acquisition costs when you assess profitability.

For a monthly report, use a consistent reporting period and remember that some spending produces customers later. A rolling quarterly view can help you understand campaigns with a longer consideration cycle.

What is a good CAC for your store?

A good CAC leaves enough value after the cost of winning and serving the customer to support the business. Your product margins and repeat-purchase history give you a more useful target than the industry average alone.

Start with the contribution from the first order

Imagine an average first order generates $80 after discounts and refunds. Product, fulfillment and transaction costs total $42, leaving $38 before acquisition spending.

At a $25 CAC, that order leaves $13 toward overhead and profit. At a $45 CAC, it starts the customer relationship $7 behind.

The first-order profitability guide walks through this calculation in more detail. It's a practical starting point when you want acquisition to pay for itself quickly.

Look at what customers contribute afterward

Repeat purchases can support a higher acquisition budget when they produce enough additional contribution within a timeframe your business can fund.

Use actual customer groups to see how that develops. If customers acquired through a particular offer rarely return, the storewide lifetime-value average may overstate what you can expect from that campaign.

The LTV-to-CAC ratio helps connect acquisition spending with longer-term customer value. A contribution-based calculation is particularly useful because it accounts for the cost of fulfilling those later orders.

Leave room for the rest of the business

Recovering acquisition costs is one milestone. Your store also needs to cover fixed expenses and keep enough cash available for inventory and operations.

That means your target CAC will usually sit below the full contribution you expect a customer to generate. The difference creates room for overhead, profit and variation in customer behavior.

Why CAC changes as you grow

Your first customers may come from a small, interested audience that already knows the brand. Reaching the next group can require more advertising, a different message or a longer buying journey.

Campaign costs also move with seasonality, competition and the mix of products you're promoting. A change in CAC doesn't always point to one problem in the ad account.

Look at new customer counts alongside spending, conversion and first-order contribution. If acquisition costs rise while the value of those customers rises too, the campaign may still be working well. If spending rises without a corresponding change in customer quality, investigate where the additional budget is going.

How to bring acquisition costs down

The clearest opportunities are usually in the journey between the ad and the first purchase. A more relevant landing page, clearer product information or an easier checkout can help more interested visitors become customers.

You can also compare acquisition sources and offers to find where spending produces useful new business. Referrals, content and creator partnerships can add customers, but their production, reward and management costs still belong in the calculation.

For a practical walkthrough, our guide to reducing ecommerce CAC covers the changes worth considering and how to evaluate them.

Final thoughts

CAC benchmarks give you a reference point for understanding acquisition costs. The more valuable target comes from your own store: what customers buy, what those orders contribute and how reliably people return.

With those pieces in place, you can assess marketing spending with more confidence. You'll have a clearer idea of where a higher CAC is justified and where improving the buying experience or changing an offer could make growth more affordable.