Calculating Repeat Purchase Rate For Segments — Formulas, Examples, And Excel Steps

Repeat Purchase Rate The percentage of customers who make another purchase within a defined period. This article shows precise formulas, worked examples, cohort variants, and Excel steps to calculate RPR for channels, SKUs and customer segments.

RPR calculations are simple in principle but easy to get wrong in practice because of timing, returns, and subscriptions. Below are multiple formulas and a step-by-step Excel approach that works with common eCommerce order tables.

Basic Periodic Formula

The standard period formula is:

RPR (%) = (Number of customers with at least 2 purchases in the period / Number of customers with at least 1 purchase in the period) × 100

Example: In Q2 2026, 1,200 unique customers purchased. Of those, 300 made at least one additional purchase during Q2. RPR = (300 / 1,200) × 100 = 25%.

Cohort-Based Repeat Purchase Rate

Cohort RPR looks at customers who made their first purchase in a baseline period and checks how many of them made another purchase in a follow-up window. This is useful for acquisition channel analysis.

Example: 500 customers first purchased in January. By April (90 days), 150 of those made a second purchase. Cohort RPR (90-day) = (150 / 500) × 100 = 30%.

Excel Steps Using Order Table

Assume you have an orders table with columns: OrderID, CustomerID, OrderDate, SKU, Channel.

• Step 1: Filter orders to the measurement period (e.g., 2026-01-01 to 2026-03-31).
• Step 2: Create a unique list of CustomerIDs who ordered in that period (use UNIQUE in Excel 365 or a pivot table).
• Step 3: For each customer, count orders in the period (use COUNTIFS on CustomerID and date range).
• Step 4: Count customers with count >= 2 and customers with count >= 1.
• Step 5: Apply the formula: RPR = customers_with_>=2 / customers_with_>=1.

Practical Excel formula example (Excel 365):

=LET(orders, FILTER(Table1, (Table1[OrderDate]>=startDate)*(Table1[OrderDate]<=endDate)), customers, UNIQUE(INDEX(orders,,ColumnNumberOfCustomerID)), counts, MAP(customers, LAMBDA(c, COUNTIFS(INDEX(orders,,ColumnNumberOfCustomerID), c))), rpr, (COUNTIF(counts, ">=2")/COUNT(counts))*100, rpr)

Segment And SKU-Level RPR

To calculate RPR by channel or SKU, add the segment filter to your pivot or COUNTIFS. For SKU-level RPR you may want to define repeat as repurchase the same SKU vs repurchase any SKU—choose the definition that matches your business question.

Handling Subscriptions, Returns And Cancellations

Subscriptions: Decide whether subscription renewals count as repeat purchases. If your goal is to measure cross-sell potential rather than recurring billing, exclude automatic renewals.

Returns/Cancellations: Exclude refunded orders from counts or count only net orders. Clearly document this choice because returns can artificially inflate apparent repeat behavior if not corrected.

Common Pitfalls And How To Avoid Them

• Window Mismatch: Ensure numerator and denominator use the same period definition and inclusion rules.
• Double Counting: Use unique customer counts, not order counts, when calculating RPR.
• Skew From High-Frequency Buyers: Consider reporting median reorder interval or segmenting out very high-frequency buyers for clarity.

In short, the Repeat Purchase Rate is a straightforward percentage when defined consistently: count customers who returned to buy and divide by customers who bought in the baseline period. Use period-based RPR for operational planning, cohort RPR for acquisition channel analysis, and clear inclusion rules (subscriptions, returns) to avoid misleading results.