Purchase Frequency
CRM & RetentionAlso: Repeat Purchase Rate · Order Frequency
Quick definition
Purchase frequency is how many times an average customer buys from you in a given period, usually a year. It's calculated by dividing total orders by the number of unique customers over that period. It's one of the three inputs used to work out lifetime value (LTV).
Compare this against your own category and against last year's number for the same cohort. A category benchmark tells you less than your own trend does.
How it varies across Australia
Purchase frequency varies enormously by category. Australian consumables and grocery-adjacent brands see customers return often, while considered purchases like furniture or mattresses might see one order every few years. Compare your frequency against your own category, not against ecommerce averages generally.
See retention benchmarks across Australian industries →What it actually means
Purchase frequency answers a question most acquisition-obsessed businesses forget to ask: once someone buys, do they come back? It's the average number of orders per customer over a set period, and it's one of the clearest signals of whether you've built a business or just run a series of one-off sales.
The metric matters because it's a direct multiplier on lifetime value. Average order value (AOV) tells you what a customer spends per visit. Purchase frequency tells you how many visits you get. Multiply those together across a customer's lifespan and you get LTV. A business with modest AOV but high frequency can out-earn a business with a bigger cart and no repeat business.
Where it gets tricky is the denominator. New customer growth mechanically drags the average down, because every new buyer starts at one order while your loyal base sits at five or six. A rising customer count and a falling purchase frequency can both be happening at once, and neither is necessarily bad news. You have to segment by cohort to see what's actually going on, rather than reading the blended number and panicking.
Purchase frequency is also where churn rate and retention rate show up in disguise. A customer with declining frequency is usually a customer drifting toward churn, just before it becomes visible on a cohort dashboard.
A customer who buys once and disappears isn't a customer. They're a transaction wearing a customer's clothes.
How to calculate it
Purchase Frequency = Total orders ÷ Number of unique customers
Worked example. Over the past year, your store processed 3,600 orders from 1,200 unique customers. Purchase frequency = 3,600 ÷ 1,200 = 3. The average customer bought three times in the year.
The Australian context
Australian ecommerce brands with a strong subscription or replenishment component (coffee, pet food, skincare) tend to report far higher purchase frequency than considered-purchase categories like furniture or electronics. Freight cost is part of the story here. Higher domestic shipping costs relative to the US push Australian brands toward bundling and larger basket sizes rather than more frequent smaller orders, which can quietly suppress frequency even as revenue per customer holds steady.
Where people get this wrong
Related terms
Common questions
What's a good purchase frequency for an ecommerce brand?
It depends entirely on your category. Consumables and replenishable goods should see multiple purchases a year. Considered purchases like furniture might see one every few years. Compare against your own category and your own historical trend rather than a general benchmark.
How does purchase frequency relate to lifetime value?
Lifetime value is typically calculated as average order value multiplied by purchase frequency multiplied by average customer lifespan. Purchase frequency is one of the three direct inputs, so a small improvement in frequency compounds into a meaningful lift in LTV.
Why is my purchase frequency dropping while revenue is growing?
This usually happens when new customer acquisition is outpacing repeat purchase growth. New customers start at one order and drag the blended average down, even while total revenue climbs. Segment by cohort to see if existing customers are actually buying less often.
Can I improve purchase frequency without discounting?
Yes. Replenishment reminders, subscription options, loyalty programmes and better post-purchase email sequences all lift frequency without training customers to wait for a sale. Discounting works short-term but tends to erode margin and can condition customers to delay purchases.
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About New Rebellion
New Rebellion is a marketing intelligence consultancy. We build tools, score Australian businesses on how their marketing actually performs, and publish Debrief every day. This dictionary is part of how we work in the open.
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