Repeat purchase rate
Repeat purchase rate is the share of customers acquired in a period who buy again within a defined window, such as 90 or 365 days. It is the input that decides how much a brand can afford to pay for a first order.
Always state the window and the cohort. "30% of customers repurchase" means little until you know whether it is within 90 days or ever, and whether it is measured on the customers acquired last quarter or on the whole database. Measured by cohort, it can be compared month to month; measured on the whole base, it drifts with the mix.
A worked example, as arithmetic. Of 1,000 customers acquired in January, 220 buy again by the end of April. The 90-day repeat purchase rate for the January cohort is 22%. If each repeat order contributes $40, the cohort has earned $8,800 of repeat contribution, or $8.80 per customer acquired, which is the amount the business could have added to January CAC and still broken even by April.
Promotions and peak season distort the rate. Customers acquired on a deep Black Friday discount often repeat at a different rate from customers acquired at full price, so read peak cohorts separately rather than letting them move the annual figure.
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