A product that loses money in the US can be profitable in another country, and the reverse happens just as often. The product and the supplier are the same; what changes is what customers cost to acquire, what they're willing to pay, and what it costs to get the parcel to them.
This article sets out the CAC estimates we use for each market, then the three factors that matter as much as ad costs.
Estimated CAC by market and channel
Product Score estimates CAC per research as channel base CAC × market multiplier, where the US is 1.00. These are the planning figures behind our CAC benchmarks:
| Market | Multiplier | TikTok Ads | Meta (FB/IG) | Google Shopping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 1.00 | $9.50 | $14 | $17.50 |
| United Kingdom | 0.90 | $8.55 | $12.60 | $15.75 |
| Germany | 0.80 | $7.60 | $11.20 | $14 |
| GCC / Arab Gulf | 0.70 | $6.65 | $9.80 | $12.25 |
| Morocco | 0.35 | $3.32 | $4.90 | $6.12 |
Read these as planning assumptions, not measured results. Your real CAC depends on your creative, offer, audience and the season. The figures are useful for comparing markets and for deciding whether a product has enough margin to be worth testing. They are not a forecast for your campaign. Click a market for its own page with notes on payments and import rules.
Same product, five markets
Take a product that costs $8.00 delivered and sells for $24.99. After a 2.9% + $0.30 payment fee and a 3% returns allowance, each order leaves $15.22 to pay for advertising: that's its break-even CAC.
Against the TikTok estimates in the table, that $15.22 leaves room in every market, and the room grows as ad costs fall. On paper, the cheapest market wins easily. In practice, three things narrow the gap.
Factor 1: What customers will pay
Lower ad costs usually come with lower purchasing power. A price that feels like an impulse buy in the US can feel expensive elsewhere, so you may need a lower retail price, which lowers contribution and break-even CAC with it.
Recalculate break-even CAC at the price the market will bear, not at your US price. A product that only works at $24.99 might not work at all in a market where the realistic price is $14.99.
Factor 2: How customers pay
Payment methods change what a "sale" is worth:
- US, UK and Germany: card and wallet payments dominate. An order is usually paid when it's placed.
- GCC: cash on delivery is still common, which raises the share of orders refused at the door. VAT is 5% in the UAE and 15% in Saudi Arabia.
- Morocco: cash on delivery is the dominant method. Every refused parcel costs you shipping both ways with no revenue.
With cash on delivery, the number that matters is cost per delivered and paid order, not cost per order placed. If a meaningful share of orders are refused, your effective CAC rises by the same proportion. Build that into your test before you judge a market on headline ad costs.
Factor 3: Taxes and import rules
Import taxes come out of your price or your customer's goodwill:
- United Kingdom: for parcels up to £135, UK VAT (20%) is charged at checkout by the seller or marketplace, so include it in your retail price.
- Germany and the EU: every import is subject to VAT (19% in Germany). Registering for IOSS lets you collect it at checkout on orders up to €150 and avoids surprise fees at delivery, which are a common cause of refused parcels.
- United States: import rules for low-value parcels changed in 2025, so check current duties on China-origin goods before you set a price.
None of these rules is a reason to avoid a market, but each one changes your real contribution per order. Rules change, so check the official sources before you launch.
How to choose a market for a product
- Start with the market you can serve best. Language, payment methods, customer service hours and delivery times matter more than a lower CAC multiplier.
- Recalculate break-even CAC at local prices, including VAT where it's collected at checkout.
- Adjust for payment risk. For cash-on-delivery markets, divide the expected CAC by your expected delivery success rate.
- Compare against the channel estimate for that market from the table above.
- Test small. A market with a low CAC multiplier is still a test until real orders say otherwise.
The break-even CAC calculator handles steps 2 and 4. Our pricing guide covers setting the local retail price.
Research for the market you sell in
When you run a research in Product Score, you pick the market and the ad channel. Each scored product then shows its estimated break-even CAC against that market's benchmark, so a product that only works in the US doesn't end up on your German shortlist. Some niches also have market-specific pages under winning products, and every market's benchmark is listed in the CAC benchmarks.
