New VS Returning customer

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Topic summary

A Shopify store owner is confused about customer analytics for March, where the numbers don’t add up: 191 new + 45 returning customers = 236, but the total shows 225 customers. Additionally, 302 products were sold that month, creating further confusion about the metrics.

Shopify’s Customer Classification:

  • New customers: Counted on their first order only
  • Returning customers: Counted on their second and all subsequent orders

Why the numbers don’t match:
A single customer can appear in both categories within the same reporting period. The “45 returning” figure represents the number of orders from returning customers, not necessarily 45 unique individuals. This includes orders from existing returning customers plus any customers who made their second purchase (becoming “returning”) within March.

The discrepancy occurs because customers making multiple purchases in one month get counted multiple times in the returning category, while the total customer count reflects unique individuals.

Summarized with AI on October 29. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

Hi Shopify Community.

How does Shopify calculate the new VS returning customer? I don’t understand the numbers, as it’s not matching our sales.

For example, in March, we had 225 customers : 191 new customers and 45 returning customers. For of all, total of 191 + 45 = 236 and not 225. And second, in March, we had 302 product sold. I know that product sold shouldn’t be equal to number of customers, but still the difference is important here.

Thank you very much !

Léa

2

Hi. To answer your question, here are some definitions and calculations:

How Shopify defines New vs. Returning Customers:

  • New Customers: Customers are considered “New” for the first order they place in your store.
  • Returning Customers: Customers are considered “Returning” for their second, third, fourth, and all subsequent orders. They must have at least one previously completed order in their history before the order is analyzed.

Why might “New” + “Returning” not equal “Total Customers” for a period? The reason this happens is that a single customer could be counted in both categories in the same reporting period. Returning Customers (45): This number may not represent 45 unique returning customers. Instead, it typically reflects the number of orders placed by customers who were already returning customers OR orders placed by customers who became returning customers in the same month.

Hope this information is helpful! If you find it helpful, please like and accept the solutions.

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