D
Retail Growth Economics

Customer Acquisition Cost

Published:
Jun 15, 2026
Updated:
May 17, 2026

Short answer

Paid acquisition costs rose 51% over 6 quarters

Source: Shopify

Key findings

  • Paid acquisition costs rose 51% over 6 quarters
  • Organic channels showing best cost efficiency trend
  • Referral programs delivering lowest CAC consistently

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# Customer Acquisition Cost

## Research Question
## Short Answer
## Key Findings
## Data Table
## How To Use This With AI
## Suggested Prompts
## Sources
## Caveats

Data table

Customer Acquisition Cost — data table
paid organic quarter referral
45 12 Q1 2023 8
52 14 Q2 2023 9
58 13 Q3 2023 10
48 15 Q4 2023 11
62 16 Q1 2024 10

1 more row + CSV download

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Analysis

Customer acquisition costs continue to rise across paid channels as competition intensifies and privacy changes reduce targeting effectiveness. The widening gap between paid and organic/referral CAC is driving brands to invest in content, community, and loyalty programs. Companies with strong organic acquisition show 3x better unit economics.

How to use this with AI

Use this context file to start a research conversation with an AI tool. It includes the key findings, chart data, sources, and caveats so the model starts from structured context instead of a blank prompt.

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  • Using this Deepstory context, create a market research memo with key findings, strategic implications, risks, and follow-up questions.
  • Using this dataset, explain the trend, identify the likely drivers, and list the caveats that should be checked before making a decision.
  • Turn this research into a 5-slide presentation outline for a business audience.
  • Create 10 follow-up research questions based on the data and identify what additional sources would be useful.

Sources

Source quality:
Primary source
Last reviewed:
Updated May 2026

Caveats

  • This research is based on available public data and should be used as context, not as professional advice. Check source methodology before making decisions.

How relevant was this information?

#cac #marketing-efficiency #growth