Repeat Purchase Rate
Repeat purchase rate is the percentage of customers who make more than one purchase within a defined time period. It measures customer loyalty and the effectiveness of your retention and re-engagement strategies.
Also known as: returning customer rate, repeat buyer rate, rebuy rate
Formula
(Customers with 2+ Purchases / Total Customers) x 100
Why repeat purchase rate matters
Repeat purchase rate is the heartbeat of a sustainable ecommerce business. Acquiring a new customer costs 5-7x more than retaining an existing one, so businesses with high repeat purchase rates enjoy dramatically better unit economics. Every repeat purchase amortizes the original acquisition cost further.
This metric also reveals product-market fit and customer satisfaction at scale. Customers vote with their wallets - if they come back and buy again, your product, pricing, and experience met their expectations. A low repeat purchase rate despite strong initial acquisition suggests that the first-time experience falls short.
Repeat customers are also worth more on each transaction. Studies consistently show that returning customers have higher AOV, lower cart abandonment rates, and higher conversion rates than first-time buyers. They know your site, trust your brand, and need less convincing. Investing in turning one-time buyers into repeat buyers is one of the highest-ROI activities in ecommerce.
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How to calculate repeat purchase rate
Divide the number of customers who made more than one purchase by the total number of customers in the same period. Multiply by 100. The time period matters significantly - a 30-day repeat purchase rate will be much lower than a 12-month rate. Choose a window appropriate to your product purchase cycle.
Repeat Purchase Rate Calculator
(Customers with 2+ Purchases / Total Customers) x 100
Repeat Purchase Rate examples
A specialty food brand discovers that customers who purchase from two or more categories in their first order have a 67% repeat purchase rate vs. 28% for single-category buyers, leading to a cross-category bundle promotion strategy.
Benchmark: Strong ecommerce repeat purchase rates: consumables 40-60%, fashion 25-40%, electronics 15-25%
A SaaS marketplace tracks repeat purchase rate for its template store, finding that customers who use their first purchase within 48 hours repurchase at 3x the rate of those who wait longer.
How to Track in KISSmetrics
KISSmetrics excels at repeat purchase analysis through its People-based tracking. Every customer is tracked across their entire lifecycle, making it easy to identify first-time vs. repeat buyers. Use cohort analysis to see what percentage of customers from each acquisition period make a second purchase, and how quickly. Set up behavioral triggers to launch re-engagement campaigns when customers approach their typical repurchase window.
Common Mistakes
- -Not defining a consistent time window for measuring repeat purchases, making trends impossible to compare
- -Counting multiple purchases in a single session as repeat purchases when they are really part of one shopping trip
- -Treating all repeat purchases equally when the time gap between first and second purchase is a critical variable
- -Not differentiating between subscription replenishment (automatic) and active repeat purchases (customer chose to return)
Pro Tips
- +Analyze the time gap between first and second purchase to identify the optimal window for post-purchase re-engagement
- +Segment repeat purchase rate by first product category - some entry points lead to much higher repeat rates
- +Implement a post-purchase email sequence that provides value (usage tips, care instructions) before asking for another sale
- +Create a loyalty or rewards program that incentivizes the second purchase specifically, since the jump from 1 to 2 purchases is the hardest
- +Use KISSmetrics to identify customers at risk of not repurchasing based on their behavioral patterns and trigger proactive outreach
Related Terms
Purchase Frequency
Purchase frequency is the average number of purchases a customer makes in a given period, calculated as total orders divided by unique customers over that period. Use a 12-month window unless your product has a shorter natural buying cycle. It is one of the three levers on revenue alongside average order value and customer count, and a direct input to customer lifetime value.
Customer Retention Rate
Customer retention rate is the percentage of existing customers who remain active and continue purchasing over a specific time period. It measures a business's ability to keep customers coming back.
Customer Lifetime Value
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV or LTV) is the total revenue a business can expect from a single customer over the entire duration of their relationship. It is the most important metric for understanding long-term customer profitability.
Average Order Value
Average Order Value (AOV) is the average dollar amount spent each time a customer places an order. It is calculated by dividing total revenue by the number of orders in a given period.
Revenue Per Visitor
Revenue per visitor (RPV) is the average revenue generated for each visitor to your website. It combines conversion rate and average order value into a single metric that measures the total monetary value of your traffic.
Further Reading
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