How do I get customers to reorder?

Reach them the day before the pack runs out, with a one-tap reorder. Work out the consumption time of each product from pack size and how customers use it, then time an email and SMS flow to it. Ask for a review three days after delivery too, because reviews sell the next order.

What is a good repeat purchase rate for a food brand?

The 2026 compilations put twelve-month repeat rates for food and beverage at about 28% to 45%. The blended ecommerce figure is in the high twenties, and a strict cohort analysis of 156,000 direct-to-consumer customers found 18.8%. Food and drink sits at or near the top of every category table.

How soon do food and drink customers buy again?

Usually within three to five weeks. One analysis found about 64% of the year's repeat orders land in the first thirty days. If a customer has not reordered in five weeks, the odds they ever will have already dropped sharply.

Is subscribe and save worth it for a food brand?

Sometimes, but price it on your margin first. Take-up runs at 8% to 14% of first-time buyers when it is offered at checkout with a real discount, and replenishment subscriptions churn at 5% to 8% a month. A 15% discount on a 40% margin takes more than a third of the margin off every order, so a loyalty reward or free delivery threshold can hold the margin better.

11 NOVEMBER 2026 · 4 MIN READ · BEN FILDES

Repeat orders for food and drink stores: the 2026 benchmarks and the reorder window

Food and drink has the best repeat rates in ecommerce and most stores still spend everything on the first order. What the 2026 data says about who comes back and when, and how to build the store around the second pack.

Part of Shopify store growth →

A food and drink store has an advantage almost no other online business has. The product runs out. A bag of coffee, a pack of biltong, a case of soft drinks is gone in a known number of days, and the customer needs another one. Fashion stores would kill for that. Most food stores ignore it, and spend their whole budget winning the first order.

Here is what the 2026 data says about repeat buying in food and drink, and how to build the store around the second pack rather than the first.

The benchmarks

Definitions vary, so the ranges are wide. A twelve-month repeat purchase rate is the share of customers who ordered again within a year of their first order, and the compilations for 2026 put food and beverage somewhere between 28% and 45%, with one Shopify panel higher still. The blended figure across all of ecommerce is in the high twenties, and a strict 365-day cohort analysis of 156,000 direct-to-consumer customers found 18.8%.

Two things are consistent across sources. Food and drink sits at or near the top of every category table. And the repeat happens quickly: a typical second-purchase window of 21 to 35 days, with one analysis finding about 64% of the year's repeat orders land in the first thirty days.

That second finding is the one to build around. If a customer has not reordered in five weeks, the odds they ever will have already dropped sharply.

The reorder window is the whole strategy

Every product has a consumption time. Work it out per product, roughly, from pack size and how customers use it. Then the store's job is to be in front of the customer the day before the pack runs out, with a one-tap reorder.

That is an email and SMS flow, timed to the product, not a campaign sent on the first of the month. Klaviyo's 2026 data puts automated flows at several times the conversion of campaigns, and for food the reorder reminder is the flow that outperforms the rest. The flows to build, in order.

Subscriptions, honestly

Subscribe-and-save is the obvious answer and it is a good one, with caveats. The 2026 benchmarks put take-up at 8% to 14% of first-time buyers when it is offered at checkout with a meaningful discount, and monthly churn on replenishment subscriptions at 5% to 8%, with the top quartile under 5%.

Run the numbers before you lead with it. A 15% subscription discount on a product with a 40% contribution margin takes more than a third of the margin off every order, and a subscriber who churns at month three has cost more in discount than a customer who reordered twice at full price. For many food and drink stores a loyalty reward on every third order, or free delivery over a threshold, holds the margin better than a blanket subscription discount. Model both on your own margins.

What this means for ad spend

The first order from Google Shopping often loses money against break-even. How to work out whether yours does. The repeat rate is what decides whether that loss is an investment or a leak. A store with a 40% twelve-month repeat rate and a reorder flow can afford a first-order loss. A store with no flow and a 20% repeat rate is paying for every customer twice.

Which is why ads, the site and the email flows cannot be judged separately. The ads buy the first order. The site makes it easy. The flows bring the second one. One plan, one person.

Four things to do this month

Work out the consumption time per product and build the reorder reminder to it.
Check the thirty-day repeat rate in Shopify, by first-order channel. Ads customers and email customers behave differently.
Ask for the review three days after delivery. Reviews sell the next order.
Price any subscription or loyalty offer on contribution margin, not on what competitors do.

Or have it run

We took The Original Biltong Company from £96k to £265k in 12 months, and the repeat order was most of it. The audit is free: your repeat rate by channel, the flows that are firing and the ones that are not, and the three changes we would make first. Yours to keep.

Sources

Repeat rates and windows: 2026 repeat-purchase benchmark compilations for food and beverage (Elogic, RetentionLab, The DTC Playbook); strict cohort figure from a February 2026 analysis of 156,000 DTC customers. Subscription take-up and churn: The DTC Playbook 2026 benchmarks. Flows versus campaigns: Klaviyo 2026 benchmarks. Vendor compilations, measured differently; read November 2026.

Questions people ask

How do I get customers to reorder?: Reach them the day before the pack runs out, with a one-tap reorder. Work out the consumption time of each product from pack size and how customers use it, then time an email and SMS flow to it. Ask for a review three days after delivery too, because reviews sell the next order.
What is a good repeat purchase rate for a food brand?: The 2026 compilations put twelve-month repeat rates for food and beverage at about 28% to 45%. The blended ecommerce figure is in the high twenties, and a strict cohort analysis of 156,000 direct-to-consumer customers found 18.8%. Food and drink sits at or near the top of every category table.
How soon do food and drink customers buy again?: Usually within three to five weeks. One analysis found about 64% of the year's repeat orders land in the first thirty days. If a customer has not reordered in five weeks, the odds they ever will have already dropped sharply.
Is subscribe and save worth it for a food brand?: Sometimes, but price it on your margin first. Take-up runs at 8% to 14% of first-time buyers when it is offered at checkout with a real discount, and replenishment subscriptions churn at 5% to 8% a month. A 15% discount on a 40% margin takes more than a third of the margin off every order, so a loyalty reward or free delivery threshold can hold the margin better.

This is one of the long answers behind shopify store growth. If you would rather we ran it for you, book a 1-to-1 and we work out your numbers live.