Repeat Purchase Rate

Read-only: calculates what percentage of customers place 2+ orders within N days, segmented by product or collection.

shopify-admin-repeat-purchase-rate


Purpose

Calculates the repeat purchase rate — the percentage of customers who return to place at least one more order within a defined window — and segments it by first-purchase product or collection. Identifies which products drive the highest repeat purchase behavior. Read-only — no mutations.


Prerequisites

  • Authenticated Shopify CLI session: shopify store auth --store --scopes read_customers,read_orders
  • API scopes: read_customers, read_orders

  • Parameters


    ParameterTypeRequiredDefaultDescription
    storestringyesStore domain (e.g., mystore.myshopify.com)
    days_backintegerno90Acquisition window — customers first purchased in this period
    repeat_windowintegerno90Days after first purchase to look for a repeat order
    segment_bystringnononeSegment repeat rate by: product, none
    formatstringnohumanOutput format: human or json

    Safety


    > ℹ️ Read-only skill — no mutations are executed. Safe to run at any time.


    Workflow Steps


  • OPERATION: customers — query
  • Inputs: query: "created_at:>=''", first: 250, select id, numberOfOrders, createdAt

    Expected output: Customers acquired in window


  • OPERATION: orders — query
  • Inputs: query: "created_at:>=''", first: 250, select customer { id }, createdAt, lineItems { product { id, title } }, pagination cursor

    Expected output: Orders to build per-customer purchase history and first-product mapping


  • For each acquired customer: if they have ≥ 2 orders within repeat_window days → repeat purchaser

  • Calculate overall rate; if segment_by: product, group by first-purchased product

  • GraphQL Operations


    # customers:query — validated against api_version 2025-01
    query AcquiredCustomers($query: String!, $after: String) {
      customers(first: 250, after: $after, query: $query) {
        edges {
          node {
            id
            createdAt
            numberOfOrders
            defaultEmailAddress {
              emailAddress
            }
          }
        }
        pageInfo {
          hasNextPage
          endCursor
        }
      }
    }
    

    # orders:query — validated against api_version 2025-01
    query CustomerOrderHistory($query: String!, $after: String) {
      orders(first: 250, after: $after, query: $query) {
        edges {
          node {
            id
            createdAt
            customer {
              id
            }
            lineItems(first: 5) {
              edges {
                node {
                  product {
                    id
                    title
                  }
                }
              }
            }
          }
        }
        pageInfo {
          hasNextPage
          endCursor
        }
      }
    }
    

    Session Tracking


    Claude MUST emit the following output at each stage. This is mandatory.


    On start, emit:

    ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════╗
    ║  SKILL: Repeat Purchase Rate                 ║
    ║  Store: <store domain>                       ║
    ║  Started: <YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM UTC>             ║
    ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════╝
    

    After each step, emit:

    [N/TOTAL] <QUERY|MUTATION>  <OperationName>
              → Params: <brief summary of key inputs>
              → Result: <count or outcome>
    

    On completion, emit:


    For format: human (default):

    ══════════════════════════════════════════════
    REPEAT PURCHASE RATE
      Acquisition window:  <days_back> days
      Repeat window:       <repeat_window> days
      Customers acquired:  <n>
      Repeat purchasers:   <n>
      Repeat rate:         <pct>%
    
      By First Product:
        "<product>"  Acquired: <n>  Repeat: <pct>%
      Output: repeat_purchase_<date>.csv
    ══════════════════════════════════════════════
    

    For format: json, emit:

    {
      "skill": "repeat-purchase-rate",
      "store": "<domain>",
      "acquisition_days": 90,
      "repeat_window_days": 90,
      "customers_acquired": 0,
      "repeat_purchasers": 0,
      "repeat_rate_pct": 0,
      "by_product": [],
      "output_file": "repeat_purchase_<date>.csv"
    }
    

    Output Format

    CSV file repeat_purchase_.csv with columns:

    customer_id, first_order_date, first_product, total_orders, is_repeat, days_to_repeat, total_spent


    Error Handling

    ErrorCauseRecovery
    THROTTLEDAPI rate limit exceededWait 2 seconds, retry up to 3 times
    Guest checkout customersNo customer record to link ordersExclude from analysis
    Insufficient historyStore newer than windowAnalyze available period

    Best Practices

  • A repeat rate of 25–35% within 90 days is a healthy baseline for most non-subscription ecommerce stores.
  • Products with high repeat rates are your "gateway" products — prioritize them in acquisition campaigns.
  • Use segment_by: product to identify which products create loyal customers vs. one-time buyers.
  • Pair with customer-cohort-analysis for a deeper view of long-term retention trends.