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Repeat purchase rate

Repeat purchase rate is the share of a store's customers who placed two or more orders within a chosen period.

How it works

It counts customers, not orders: a customer with five orders counts once, like one with two. Only orders inside the period count, so the figure depends on the period. A longer period gives slow buyers time for a second order.

The data comes from the store’s order history; an ad account sees conversions, not each customer’s orders. Customers with a second order are those whose customer lifetime value goes beyond the first purchase. There is no single benchmark: it depends on the category, how fast products get used up and the period chosen. To raise the rate, see repeat purchases and time between orders.

Formula

Customers with 2+ orders in the period ÷ all customers with an order in the period

Ways to calculate

  • Within the period. Shopify divides customers who bought more than once by all unique customers (What are Repeat Customers and How to Increase Them).
  • By order history. Shopify’s “New vs returning customers” report counts a customer as returning when their history already includes an order, even one placed before the period (Customers reports).

Example

Example store, not client data.

Over 12 months, 2,700 customers placed 3,600 orders at the tableware shop. 600 of them ordered two or more times. Repeat purchase rate = 600 ÷ 2,700 = 22.2%. Purchase frequency = 3,600 ÷ 2,700 = 1.33 orders per customer.

Not to be confused with

  • Purchase frequency — the average number of orders per customer, 1.33 in the example. It mixes one-time buyers with frequent ones.
  • Customer retention rate — the share of customers from the start of a period who are still buying at its end. It follows a fixed group; repeat purchase rate looks at everyone who ordered.

Right and wrong readings

  • Wrong: “1.33 orders per customer means a third of customers ordered twice.” Right: 2,100 customers (77.8%) ordered once; the 600 repeat buyers placed the other 1,500 orders, 2.5 each.
  • Wrong: “77.8% of customers bought from the shop only once ever.” Right: the formula sees only those 12 months. A customer who first ordered before the period and once within it counts as a one-time buyer.

Sources