Ecommerce CAC Calculator
Divide acquisition spend by new customers to get ecommerce customer acquisition cost.
About Ecommerce CAC Calculator
Dividing spend by the number of customers gives the unit economics of the channel. The reciprocal — customers delivered per unit of currency — is shown alongside, because that is the figure to maximise when a budget is fixed. Unit cost is the only number that lets you compare channels with wildly different budgets, and it is the input every bid and budget decision ultimately rests on.
Formula
Ecommerce CAC
Customer Acquisition Cost = Marketing and acquisition spend ÷ New customers acquired
- Marketing and acquisition spend
- Total amount spent in the period
- New customers acquired
- Countable outcomes delivered for that spend
Worked example
With the default values below, Ecommerce CAC Calculator returns Customer Acquisition Cost of $37.5000. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Marketing and acquisition spendminimum 0
- 90,000
- New customers acquiredminimum 0
- 2,400
Results
- Customer Acquisition Cost
- $37.5000
- Customers per Unit of Spend
- 0.03
- Spend per 1,000 customers
- $37,500.00
- Customers Needed to Justify Spend at Current Rate
- 2,400
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2Ecommerce CAC
- 3Customer Acquisition Cost= 37.5000
- 4Customers per Unit of Spend= 0.03
- 5Spend per 1,000 customers= 37,500.00
- 6Customers Needed to Justify Spend at Current Rate= 2,400
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 2 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 4 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
- This is an estimate for general information and not professional financial, tax or legal advice. See the full disclaimer for the limits that apply to this kind of calculator.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is Ecommerce CAC calculated?
Customer Acquisition Cost = Marketing and acquisition spend ÷ New customers acquired Dividing spend by the number of customers gives the unit economics of the channel. The reciprocal — customers delivered per unit of currency — is shown alongside, because that is the figure to maximise when a budget is fixed.
Why does Ecommerce CAC matter?
Unit cost is the only number that lets you compare channels with wildly different budgets, and it is the input every bid and budget decision ultimately rests on.
What values do I need to enter?
This calculator takes 2 inputs: Marketing and acquisition spend, New customers acquired. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.