The percentage of customers who come back and buy again, tracked over defined windows (30, 90, 180 and 365 days), never as a single lifetime figure. It is the truest test of whether you are building a brand or running an acquisition treadmill, because keeping a customer is always cheaper than buying a new one. The founder mistake is quoting one blended number: it averages your best cohort and your worst into a figure that tells you nothing actionable. Measure it by cohort, and let your category set expectations - consumables repurchase on habit, electronics on multi-year replacement cycles.
Benchmark. 20-30% is typical for DTC; 30-40% is strong for non-consumables, 40%+ strong for consumables, 50%+ exceptional. On a 365-day window, food and beverage runs 40-60% and supplements 35-50%, while electronics and accessories sit at 10-20%, where cross-sell matters more than re-buy.