INTRODUCTION
As an ecommerce marketer, you have a lot on your mind.
There’s the constant need to stay on top of the latest trends in the industry, and marketing strategies have to shift in an instant based on what your data is telling you. Not to mention the constant threat of Amazon always looming, as they continue to chip away at your once-loyal base of customers.
But in spite of all these challenges, good news abounds! In fact, there’s never been a better time to be a marketer in the ecommerce landscape. In 2017, overall retail ecommerce sales surpassed $453 billion, up from $391 billion just the year before.
Clearly, there’s no sign of the ecommerce market slowing down anytime soon. But this substantial growth also means competition is at an all-time high. In fact, 73 percent of first-time purchasers won’t make a second purchase from the same ecommerce brand. And considering how many options they’re faced with, that number is hardly surprising.
Customer loyalty as we once knew it is practically a thing of the past, and customers aren’t necessarily tied to a brand just because they had one good experience shopping with them.
In the hyper-competitive world of ecommerce, how can you attract loyal customers who will return to purchase from you time and time again? The key lies in engineering the repeat purchase.
From defining what repeat purchase rate is, to maximizing it to benefit your business, we’ll cover it all in this guide. Plus, we’ll see how businesses like Tea Forte are seeing extraordinary results—and more loyal customers—by focusing on this key metric.
Ready to see the magic of the repeat purchase in action? Let’s dive in.
WHAT IS REPEAT PURCHASE RATE?
Implementing a repeat purchase strategy is one thing, but measuring it is an altogether different issue. Tracking your repeat purchase rate isn’t a one-off deal: It’s something you have to continually optimize for.
Take, for example, Tea Forte, a luxury tea brand that boasts a wide assortment of loose-leaf teas and teaware. With both ecommerce and brick-and-mortar presences, the company has to cater to a diverse customer base with different needs.
Because much of its business is driven by holiday-fueled and gift sales, nailing down repeat purchasers is especially tough; turning one-time gift recipients into loyal customers is no small feat.