How to calculate your repeat purchase rate.
Updated 17 October 2026
The repeat purchase rate tells you which share of your customers came back for a second order. It’s the simplest number for retention, and easy to get wrong.
The formula
Repeat purchase rate = customers with two or more orders ÷ all customers, over the same period.
Example: in the last 12 months, 1,800 people ordered from you. 540 of them ordered at least twice. 540 ÷ 1,800 = 30%.
Pick a fair period
Use a period that is at least a few times longer than your typical time between orders. For coffee that orders every month, a year is fine. For mattresses, the number tells you very little.
Leave out customers whose first order is too recent to have had a fair chance to reorder; otherwise every new campaign makes your rate drop.
Mistakes that flatter the number
- Counting orders instead of customers: one loyal customer with 20 orders looks like many.
- Mixing guest checkouts and accounts, so the same person shows up twice as two one-time buyers.
- Counting subscription renewals as “coming back”: they are automatic, not a decision.
- Looking at the whole store at once, while each product has its own rhythm.
What to measure next
Time between orders per customer and per product. The median is more useful than the average, because one customer who comes back after two years pulls the average up.
Then: how many of your regulars are late right now. That is the number you can act on today.