Returning Customer Units Per Order: Repeat Buyer Basket Size

The average number of product units included in each returning customer’s order.

Formula

Returning Customer Units Per Order = Returning Customer Units Sold ÷ Returning Customer Orders

Formula Components

Metric	Definition
Returning Customer Units Sold	Total product units purchased by repeat buyers
Returning Customer Orders	Count of orders placed by returning customers
customer_type = returning_customer	Filter applied to both numerator and denominator

Metadata
Type	Number
Data Source	Shopify
Aggregation	Ratio

Example

Your store’s returning customers averaged 3.1 units per order in January:

Segment	Units/Order	Orders	Total Units
Returning Customers	3.1	2,200	6,820
New Customers	2.4	1,850	4,440
All Customers	2.8	4,050	11,260

How It Works

This metric divides total units purchased by returning customers by the number of repeat orders. Higher values than new customers suggest that loyal buyers are more comfortable adding multiple items to their cart, indicating trust and familiarity with your product catalog.

When to Use

Scenario	Action
Measuring loyalty impact	Compare against new customers to quantify repeat buyer engagement
Evaluating retention programs	Track if loyalty perks increase basket size over time
Optimizing cross-sell strategies	Identify if returning customers respond to bundle offers
Forecasting inventory	Project unit demand from your retained customer base

Metric	Relationship
Returning Customer Units Sold	Numerator: total units from returning customers
Units Per Order	Overall average across all customer types
New Customer Units Per Order	Comparison metric for first-time buyers
Returning Customers	Count of repeat buyers

See all Order Counts metrics →

NC Units Per Order Subscription Initial

⌘I

​Formula

​Formula Components

​Example

​How It Works

​When to Use

​Related Metrics

Formula

Formula Components

Example

How It Works

When to Use

Related Metrics