Original look at Growthegy Ecommerce Simulator niche baselines for conversion, AOV, CAC, LTV, and retention—method, tables, and how to use them without treating them as industry benchmarks.
Key takeaways
- Ecommerce Simulator Niche Baselines: What the Teaching Model Assumes (2026) — focus on one metric or lever at a time; validate with data before scaling spend.
On this topic: Ecommerce Simulator · How to Learn Ecommerce and Start an Online Business: What the Research Says (2026), Ecommerce Simulators and Learning Tools: What Each One Actually Teaches (2026)
We published the niche starting points used inside the Ecommerce Simulator so operators can see how fashion, supplements, and other niches are seeded—and why cash outcomes diverge even before you pick actions.
Method
Source: Growthegy simulation engine niche baselines and the default indexed cohort retention curve used in the advanced dashboard. Review date for this write-up: 2026-09-22. These are teaching defaults, not scraped industry studies. Full engine notes live on the simulator methodology page.
Niche baseline snapshot
Fashion opens at 2.5% CVR / $85 AOV / $35 CAC; supplements at 3.2% / $65 / $25—teaching seeds, not industry averages.
Source: Growthegy Ecommerce Simulator engine (NICHE_BASES) (2026)
| Niche | CVR % | AOV | Retention % | LTV | CAC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fashion | 2.5 | $85 | 25 | $120 | $35 |
| Supplements | 3.2 | $65 | 40 | $180 | $25 |
| Electronics | 2.0 | $250 | 20 | $400 | $60 |
| Beauty | 3.5 | $55 | 45 | $140 | $20 |
| Home & garden | 2.8 | $95 | 30 | $150 | $30 |
| Digital course | 1.8 | $297 | 15 | $350 | $50 |
Implied LTV:CAC at open ranges from about 3.4× (fashion) to 7.2× (supplements) before you spend. That does not mean supplements are “better”—harder inventory and refund profiles appear elsewhere in the model. It means the teaching seed starts subscription-leaning niches with stickier economics so players feel the difference when they neglect retention.
Illustrative retention curve
The advanced dashboard’s default cohort curve is indexed so month 1 = 100, then roughly 46, 31, 24, 19… down to ~7 by month 12. It is a shape for reading decay, not your brand’s cohort export. If your real M3 retention is 50 indexed points, the simulator is intentionally harsher so players learn to buy retention early.
What we observed running the teaching model
- Opening with two paid channels before any CRO action tends to exhaust cash faster on hard difficulty—even when early ROAS looks fine.
- Mixing one retention action with paid traffic in Act 1 usually keeps runway steadier than paid-only opens (same pattern documented in our in-product benchmark hints).
- High-AOV niches forgive fewer conversion mistakes; low-AOV niches require volume and repeat purchase to recover CAC.
How to use this without fooling yourself
- Play two niches with the same action sequence and note cash week by week.
- Replace every baseline with your trailing-90-day metrics before budgeting real ads.
- Read definitions for CAC, LTV, and contribution margin so vocabulary matches your finance team.
Related: seven simulator scenarios · lost-sales data study.