Repeat purchase rate measures how many customers come back. In any business where the first order barely breaks even, this single number decides whether acquisition spend is an investment or a leak.

How to calculate repeat purchase rate

Repeat purchase rate = (Customers with more than one order / Total customers) x 100

Repeat purchase rate = (Customers with more than one order / Total customers) x 100

Repeat purchase rate = (Customers with more than one order / Total customers) x 100

A quick example

Of 8,000 customers who bought in the last twelve months, 2,240 placed at least two orders:

(2,240 / 8,000) x 100 = 28

(2,240 / 8,000) x 100 = 28

(2,240 / 8,000) x 100 = 28

Fix the window before quoting the figure. The same brand measured over 90 days instead of twelve months might report 11%, and both numbers are correct.

What counts as a good repeat purchase rate?

• Purchase cycle sets the ceiling. Coffee and skincare can repeat monthly; mattresses cannot, and should not be judged as if they could.

• Consumables should clear 30% or more over a year, and subscription-led brands considerably higher.

• Watch the second-order gap. The largest drop in any retention curve is between order one and order two, so that transition is where effort pays.

• Segment by acquisition source. This is where discount-driven traffic reveals itself, however good its first-order numbers looked.

Repeat purchase rate vs. retention rate

Retention rate usually tracks whether a user is still active; repeat purchase rate tracks whether they spent money again. Subscription businesses can lean on retention, but for transactional commerce only the purchase counts, because an engaged customer who never reorders contributes nothing.

How to improve it

• Target the second order specifically. A timed, relevant follow-up after the first delivery moves this number more than broad lifecycle email.

• Match timing to the consumption cycle. Reaching out when the product would realistically have run out beats a fixed 30-day cadence.

• Offer subscription where it fits. Converting repeat buyers to recurring plans turns a behaviour into a commitment.

• Fix the first experience. Delivery, packaging, and support problems suppress reorders no amount of remarketing recovers.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Quoting the rate without the window. It is meaningless without one, and easy to inflate by lengthening it.

• Counting the same order twice. Multiple items in one basket is one order, not a repeat purchase.

• Reading it before the cycle has elapsed. Recent cohorts have not had time to reorder and will drag the number down.