Why is Meta customer acquisition cost rising for ecommerce brands?
EnterpriseAM reports that Meta customer acquisition costs for Egyptian homegrown brands rose about sixfold in three years. The figure is an estimate from one market, but the pattern (rising cost per customer, account bans, no phone support) is worth checking in your own accounts.
Meta customer acquisition costs for Egyptian homegrown brands have risen roughly sixfold over three years, according to an EnterpriseAM report published on 25 October 2026. The clearest example in the article is Malouk Eats: three years ago, EGP 5,000 a month on Meta "would create crazy sales," and now the brand has to spend at least EGP 30,000 a month just to hit its targets.
What the source says
- Cost trend: Meta customer acquisition costs have "risen roughly sixfold" for Egyptian homegrown brands over three years, per EnterpriseAM. The article does not publish how it measured this.
- Malouk Eats (founder Malak Sekaly): about 80% of goods are sold online, with Meta driving traffic. The other 20% goes through physical stores. The brand's account has been disabled several times, and each time sales stopped for weeks.
- Support: Sekaly says you cannot reach Meta support by phone.
- Other channels: Up-Fuse says Meta is "no longer the only or even dominant channel." Its mix now includes organic content, email and SMS, word of mouth, and platforms such as TikTok. The article does not say which non-Meta channel brings the most customers, or whether any of them replaces Meta at a comparable cost per customer.
What it means for a media buyer
The article is about one market, so the sixfold figure is not a benchmark for your account. The useful part is the pattern, and it has three parts you can check this week.
1. Compare cost per customer with order value. Take Meta spend and new customers for the last three months, divide one by the other, and set the result next to your average order value. A rising cost per customer with flat order value means the same budget now buys less margin.
2. Count how much of your revenue depends on one account. If Meta is the main traffic source, one disabled ad account can stop sales. Write down what share of this month's orders came from Meta and what you would do if that account were gone for a week.
3. Build a customer list you own. Phone numbers, Viber, Telegram, email, and SMS let you reach buyers when ads stop. Start with the customers you already have. Do not wait for an outage to build the list.
For a broader view of how Meta's own changes affect your numbers, see our earlier note on Meta's GEM model and reported conversion lift. To track cost per customer and order value in one place, see ScaleForge.
What is not confirmed
- The "sixfold" figure is an estimate in the article. The method, sample, and time window are not given.
- Malouk Eats' numbers (EGP 5,000 to 30,000, 80% online sales, account bans) are the brand's own account, not audited data.
- The article does not show that offline or other channels recover the lost customers at a similar cost.
- Nothing in the source covers Ukraine or any market other than Egypt.
Frequently asked questions
- How much have Meta customer acquisition costs risen for Egyptian brands?
- EnterpriseAM reports that customer acquisition costs on Meta have risen roughly sixfold over three years for Egyptian homegrown brands. The article does not publish its method or sample, so treat the number as an estimate for that market, not a benchmark.
- Does this number apply to Ukrainian or other markets?
- Not directly. The source covers Egypt only. Use it as a warning about the pattern, then measure your own cost per customer over the last three months to see whether it is moving.
- How do I check whether my Meta customer cost is rising?
- Take your Meta spend and the number of new customers for each of the last three months, divide one by the other, and compare each month with the first. Put the result next to your average order value. If cost per customer is growing faster than order value, the same budget buys less margin.
- What should I do if a Meta account gets disabled?
- Keep a customer list outside Meta, such as phone numbers, Viber, Telegram, email, or SMS, so you can reach buyers when ads stop. Keep a second ad account ready as a fallback. The source says one brand lost sales for weeks each time its account was disabled, and it could not reach Meta support by phone.
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