Commercial collaboration
By Nadine Koutsou-Wehling, Data Journalist
Analyzing the revenue of eCommerce companies is just the first step. ECDB goes deeper into the core of company performance by offering a view on how often customers buy from a given retailer in a year. Purchase frequency measures how often a unique customer buys products from a website in a year.
Across different categories, purchase frequency takes on varying forms. For grocery, consumers purchase products more often in a year than for electronics. Having that distinction in mind, analyzing the development of purchase frequency across retailers sheds further light on the reasons for success or failure in eCommerce.
Here are three conclusions we at ECDB drew from examining purchase frequency across varying eCommerce categories.
Fast Fashion Inspires Consumers to Repeat Buy Up to 5 Times a Year
Online fashion has always been competitive, but with the advent of retailers overhauling the usual production process, the market was disrupted. What has always been clear is that fast fashion is a perfect fit for eCommerce: Quick turnarounds for products of affordable prices speak to a broad range of consumer segments.
The concept of updating styles every few weeks facilitates high purchase frequencies, inspired by customer loyalty and FOMO (fear of missing out). High purchase frequencies of retailers H&M and Shein contrast with the likes of Nike and Lacoste, namely retailers with pricier products. But price is not the only determining factor.
Shein’s rise over recent years did not merely come about by an increase in the number of customers; the frequency with which users bought from Shein surged as well. More precisely, Shein’s purchase frequency rose from 1.7 times a year in 2019 to 4.3 times in 2024, surpassing H&M’s rate of 4.1 times.
More Buzz, More Recognition, Higher Trust, Higher Purchase Frequency
Popularity and notoriety enhanced the steep rise of Shein by increasing the times customers felt compelled to try out the site. First-time users ordered a small amount and then bought more often throughout the year when they were satisfied with the purchase experience.
H&M and Shein are on a similar level with a high purchase frequency of around 4 times a year. The other retailers in the depiction lag in that regard.
Uniqlo is the only domain in the chart that has a similar price level to H&M. Still, Uniqlo saw a decline in frequency since 2019, despite growing revenue. The reason for Uniqlo’s growth over recent years is therefore due to an increase in its customer base. Uniqlo’s brand recognition improved steadily, accounting for the revenue increase.
Nike and Lacoste With Higher Price Levels and a Lower Purchase Frequency
On a similar level to Uniqlo are Nike and Lacoste, both with a much higher price level than the formerly mentioned stores. Neither retailer inspires customers to buy more often than a few times a year: Lacoste’s purchase frequency has stagnated where Nike’s declined.
Lacoste increased its eCommerce revenues steadily over the past few years, meaning that more shoppers bought at the same frequency over time. Nike, on the other hand, is struggling with shrinking revenue. The decline in purchase frequency is reflective of a highly competitive environment.
Trendy emerging brands like Hoka and Brooksrunning lure consumers away from market leader Nike. Given the fact that users need to buy running shoes or sneakers only so much in a year, the purchase frequency is meeting a glass ceiling that is hard to overcome realistically.
Online Supermarkets Are Becoming a More Frequent Routine for Consumers
Grocery is an entirely different story. As an essential product category and indispensable to survival, grocery need regular restocking. Of course, eCommerce and physical stores are interchangeable in that regard. However, who prefer online shopping will frequent online supermarkets more often than other categories, though.
All three supermarket chains in this depiction saw revenue increases since 2019, but their purchase frequencies underwent varying developments. Ocado benefited from social distancing measures during the pandemic, when its purchase frequency increased from an average of 9.9 times in 2019 to 12.7 times in the year after.
After the Pandemic: Ocado Declined, Rewe Surged, Sainsbury’s Remained Stable
Store re-openings led to a decrease in both purchase frequency and revenue. While Ocado’s revenue recovered in 2022, customers remained at an average of 10 purchases per year. The same story applies to Rewe: Revenues saw a temporary peak in 2021, only to decrease in the following year due to a physical store revival.
Other than Ocado, however, customers bought more often at rewe.de after the pandemic. Purchase frequency surged in 2022 and reached an all-time high of 8.8 annual purchases last year, in 2024.
Sainsbury’s is the only online supermarket in this comparison that increased revenues steadily since 2019. In contrast to the other two supermarkets, however, Sainsbury’s purchase frequency remained more or less stable, with only minor changes over the course of the years. A temporary peak of 6.8 times in 2021 was met with only small declines of 6.1 in 2022.
Various reasons account for different purchase frequencies: Market characteristics, marketing, customer conveniences such as speed of delivery or minimum order amount, and an improved perception of online supermarkets.
Personal Care eCommerce Grows Through Increasing Customer Base and AOV, Not Frequency
Personal care belongs to one of the categories that are bought infrequently throughout the year. Hygiene products need to be restocked regularly, but as of now the primary purchase channel tends to remain offline.
In the German market, the depicted retailers Douglas, Sephora and Nivea are less about toothbrushes and more about fragrances and creams. Of those, Douglas takes the lead in the frequency with which consumers buy, at a rate of 2.4 times in 2024.
Sephora, one of the leading Personal Care brands, is being hyped globally by users of all ages for the range of luxurious products on offer. Accordingly, sephora.de revenues exploded since 2019.
However, the revenue surge wasn’t necessarily because customers bought significantly more often throughout the year. Rather, an increase in awareness, hype and subsequent buyers occurred.
Nivea has been struggling with declining revenues from 2019 to 2024. The frequency with which online shoppers buy from Nivea remained at around 1.8 times, but it is safe to suspect that the overall number of buyers declined steadily.
Purchase Frequency Across Categories: An Outlook
Examining the purchase frequency of retailers over a variety of categories led us to draw three data-driven conclusions on trends, preferences and reasons for growth.
- Fast fashion customers buy up to 5 times a year from leading retailers
Shein and H&M inspire customers to visit the site more often than other retailers with higher price levels and a less often changing assortment. The competition among affordable retailers has become more intense over the years, though.
- Online supermarkets have survived the pandemic hype to convince users of lasting benefits to their grocery shopping
A few larger players are taking the lead in online grocery shopping. Grocery is a category with high maintenance costs and hard to fulfill consumer expectations such as product quality and speed of delivery. But for those players staying in the market, a loyal customer base buys often throughout a year.
- Leading personal care eCommerce retailers grow because of an increasing customer base willing to buy more, but not necessarily more often
There are so many times one needs to buy a new fragrance or body lotion. Personal care is booming, but not because of an incentive to increase the frequency through purchases that are happening more often. Where Sephora booms, Nivea is on the decline.
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