Repeat Purchase Rate

Repeat Purchase Rate (RPR): loyalty in e-commerce

RPR tells you what fraction of your customers came back to buy a second time, or more: RPR = customers with 2+ orders / total customers · 100%. If 120 of your 500 buyers placed another order, that works out to 24% RPR. A mature store tends to sit somewhere in the 20-40% range. When the number falls below 20%, you're usually looking at weak retention and too much leaning on paid acquisition to keep the lights on. The metric tracks closely with LTV, since every point of extra repeat business stacks up more revenue without pushing CAC any higher. What moves the needle? CRM segmentation, post-purchase email flows, loyalty programs, replenishment reminders. Run a cohort analysis by the month customers were acquired and you'll see whether RPR is climbing or slipping over time.

Applications

This is one of the workhorse numbers for customer success in e-commerce, and it often settles the argument over whether the next dollar should go toward acquisition vs retention. Marketplaces and consumer-goods retailers like Magalu Empório and Quero-Quero break RPR down by category to figure out which SKUs actually build a habit. In subscriptions and consumables, a low RPR paired with a high NPS is a telling combination: people like the product, but something in the reorder UX is getting in their way.

FAQ

RPR vs retention rate? RPR counts anyone who bought again at any point, while retention rate is usually tied to a window, say, customers active in the last 30 or 90 days.

Which time window? Pick one that fits how often people buy from you: roughly 6-12 months for fashion, 30 days for groceries, 24+ months for durable goods.

Is high RPR always good? Not when your total base is shrinking. A great repeat rate on a tiny cohort can quietly mask a top-of-funnel problem.