Names and aliases
repeat buyer share, buyer repurchase rate
Formula
buyers_with_subsequent_success / eligible_buyers_with_initial_success × 100%
Metric card
| Unit | % of buyers |
|---|---|
| Data source | Buyer cohorts, deduplicated identifiers, qualified terminal success events, and event dates. |
| Frequency | By first-success cohort after the repeat window closes. |
| Segments | micro-market, category, channel, first-success cohort, buyer type, price band |
Interpretation errors
- Dividing repeat transaction count by buyer count and labelling it a share of buyers.
- Comparing cohorts with different repeat-window maturity.
- Treating naturally infrequent purchasing as weak retention without category context.
Example
Illustrative example: 45 of 120 buyers with an initial success repeat within the window, producing a 37.5% rate.
Use
Form cohorts on the first qualified success rather than registration. Report several preregistered windows and the time-to-repeat distribution separately.
Anti-example
More orders from a small group of heavy buyers do not raise buyer repeat rate when the share of buyers who repeat is unchanged.
Limitations
- The result depends on window length, identity resolution, and the category's natural purchase cycle.
- A repeat action does not establish satisfaction or incrementality.
Related metrics
buyer-retention, demand-frequency, repeat-transaction-rate, seller-repeat-rate
Context sources
These works provide two-sided-market context; the formula above remains an author-defined working definition.
- Geoffrey G. Parker, Marshall W. Van Alstyne. Two-Sided Network Effects: A Theory of Information Product Design (2005).
- Mark Armstrong. Competition in Two-Sided Markets (2006).