The 2026 Ecommerce Retention Report, free
Download Report2026 Report · The Mail Cohort
Benchmarks, trends and insights from modern ecommerce brands
Our annual read on the state of ecommerce retention, drawn from 1,200+ brands. Where the medians sit, what's moving, and the levers separating the brands that compound from the ones that leak.
Download ReportExecutive summary
Acquisition got harder. Retention got decisive.
The headline of 2026 is simple: with acquisition costs up nearly a fifth year over year, the brands pulling ahead are the ones turning first-time buyers into repeat revenue, and leaning into the owned channels they control. The gap between the brands that retain and the ones that churn has never paid out more. This report maps where that gap sits today, and the levers that close it.
Key findings
Five things the data made clear
The second order is still the cliff
Across the dataset, a median 71% of first-time buyers never placed a second order. The single largest, and most addressable, leak in ecommerce remains the jump from one purchase to two.
Email's share of revenue is rising
As acquisition costs climb, brands are leaning into owned channels. Email-attributed revenue reached a median 31%, with the top quartile clearing 40%.
Replenishment is the most underused lever
Among brands selling consumables, fewer than a third timed reorder reminders to consumption. Those that did reported reorder-rate gains well into double digits.
The open rate has quietly broken
With machine opens now close to half of all recorded opens, brands still optimizing on open rate are tuning to noise. The leaders have moved to clicks, conversions, and replies.
SMS is widespread but uneven
Adoption is now majority, but ROI varied enormously. The brands winning on SMS used it sparingly for urgency, not as a second channel to blast the same promotions.
Charts & visualizations
A preview of the data
Three charts from inside the report. The full version includes breakdowns by category, price band, and region.
Email-attributed revenue share, by brand age
Retention levers, ranked by reported impact
Median cohort retention, by months since first order
The steep drop from month one to month two is the second-order cliff. Where your curve flattens is your durable revenue base.
About the research
How we put this together
The report combines anonymized, aggregated performance data with a direct survey of operators. Every figure is a median or range across the sample; no individual brand's data is ever exposed.
- Sample
- 1,200+ brands
- Models
- DTC, subscription, marketplace
- Categories
- Beauty, apparel, home, food
- Revenue band
- $1M – $100M+
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