The Q4 Benchmark for Consumer Brands: What Last Year's Peak Season Cost, and What It Was Worth
Q4 2025 unit economics from the Shopify orders, Amazon orders, and P&Ls of 82 consumer brands, each set against the same brand's January to September. Discount depth, contribution margin, and how Cyber Week customers behaved six months later. The 2026 planning edition, built for setting this year's Cyber Week offer.
How much of my year should land in Q4, and how much of Q4 comes after Cyber Monday?
How deep do other brands discount in Cyber Week, compared with the rest of the year?
Do Cyber Week customers come back as often as customers I acquire the rest of the year?
How much more does a customer cost to acquire in Q4?
Did Q4 make money, or just revenue, once discounts and marketing are counted?
Every metric covered in this report.
A Cyber Week day is worth 2.4 normal days on Shopify, Amazon peaks on Prime Big Deal Days, and about 30% of Q4 lands after Cyber Monday.
Cyber Week and Q4 discount rates, the share of orders discounted, and discount depth, each brand against its own Jan to Sep.
Net AOV, new-customer share, CAC for customers acquired in Q4, marketing spend, MER, and Amazon TACoS.
Repeat rate at day 30 to 180 for Cyber Week, October, and December customers, 180-day net sales, and whether discount buyers come back.
Gross margin and contribution margin before and after marketing, Q4 against Jan to Sep, at company level and for Shopify and Amazon.
Refund rates, free-shipping share, shipping and fulfillment cost per order, and the net shipping subsidy.
Beauty, food and beverage, supplements, home, and apparel, wherever each clears the 5-brand floor.
Five numbers to check against your own books before Cyber Week, with the quartile thresholds to score yourself against.
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