What Is Repeat Purchase Rate? Formula, Examples and Why It Drives LTV
Repeat purchase rate is the percentage of customers who have placed more than one order within a given period, calculated as customers with two or more orders divided by total customers. It shows how well you turn first-time buyers into returning ones.
If a store had 1,000 customers in a year and 250 of them ordered at least twice, the repeat purchase rate is 25%. Define the window clearly (12 months, for example) and whether you count customers who first bought in that window or all active customers, because the definitions produce different numbers. Newer customers have had less time to reorder, so cohort views are fairer than one blended figure.
It matters because it feeds customer lifetime value (see what-is-ltv-for-ecommerce). A business with a high repeat rate can pay more to acquire a customer, since the first order is not the only revenue. A business with a low rate depends on first-order profit and needs tighter acquisition costs (see what-is-roas-vs-cac). It also varies by product: consumables and subscriptions naturally repeat more than one-off purchases.
Levers include post-purchase email (see what-is-an-email-sequence), replenishment reminders, loyalty offers, subscriptions and product quality or fit. Measure whether the repeat customers you gain are profitable after discounts, since heavy discounting can raise the rate while lowering margin.
Why it matters
Infinall AI turns a product URL into research, strategy, ad copy and creative that land in an Approval Queue for you to review before export. It does not connect to your store or calculate repeat purchase rate, and it does not buy media or run email automation, so that figure comes from your commerce platform. Knowing it helps you brief the work: a high rate supports acquisition-focused campaigns, while a low one may point toward offers that encourage a second purchase. Infinall can draft those angles for you to edit and approve.
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate repeat purchase rate?
Divide the number of customers who have ordered more than once in a period by the total number of customers in that period, then multiply by 100. For example, 250 repeat customers out of 1,000 is 25%. Fix the time window and customer definition so results stay comparable.
What is a good repeat purchase rate?
It depends on what you sell. Consumables and subscriptions repeat more than furniture or one-off gifts, so comparing to a general figure is misleading. Track your own rate by cohort over time and judge it against how many repeat orders you need for acquisition to pay back.