Regulars: Meaning and How to Spot Them in Your Shop

By Alva Chew · Updated 2026-11-07

Definition Regular customers are the people who buy from you again and again, often enough that staff recognise them. There is no standard cut-off, so pick one that fits your trade, such as three visits in 30 days, and count it from your loyalty records. A points balance gives you that count without a notebook.

What are regulars?

Regulars are customers who return to your shop often and at a steady pace. Staff know their name or their order. They make up the part of your sales that you can plan around, because they arrive without being asked.

The word describes behaviour you can observe. It does not say why the customer comes back. Someone may be a regular because you are on their commute, and would switch if a rival opened next door.

How do you decide who counts?

No body publishes a standard definition, so each owner sets one. A good rule uses a number of visits inside a fixed window and matches how often your customers would normally need what you sell.

Trade	Example rule
Cafe or bakery	3 or more visits in 30 days
Restaurant	2 or more visits in 60 days
Salon or barbershop	A visit every 6 to 8 weeks for 6 months
Retail shop	3 or more purchases in 90 days

These rules are examples for you to adjust, not benchmarks from a study. Our pages on visit frequency and active members cover the counting in more detail.

Why do regulars matter to a points programme?

A retail loyalty programme studied by Liu (2007) at a convenience store franchise ran for about two years. Light and moderate buyers gradually bought more and grew more loyal after joining, with the biggest change in the first three months. Heavy buyers claimed most of the rewards, but their spending did not rise.

Source: Liu, Journal of Marketing 71(4), 2007, one convenience store franchise. The page reports no headline figure.

The finding suggests that a programme does most for customers who are not yet regulars. Your existing regulars will collect points regardless, so the programme’s job is to move occasional customers towards the rule you set.

How do you tell a regular from a lapsed one?

Fader, Hardie and Lee (2005) modelled repeat buying on the basis that a customer buys at a steady rate and then, at some point you cannot see, becomes inactive. A regular who stops arriving looks the same as one who is only away for a week. A gap well beyond their normal pace is the sign to watch for. See lapsed customer for how to set that gap, and the guide to winning back lapsed customers for what to do about it.

Source: Fader, Hardie and Lee, Marketing Science 24(2), 2005, a methods paper on one online retailer’s data.

How Gimify fits

With Gimify, each member’s points balance and earn history sit in one list, so you can count how many people met your regular rule last month. The free plan covers one outlet with unlimited members.

Questions owners ask

What is a regular customer?

A customer who buys from you repeatedly within a short window, often enough that your staff know them. The exact number of visits is your own rule, because no official definition exists.

How many visits make someone a regular?

It depends on what you sell. A cafe might use three visits in 30 days, a salon one visit every 6 to 8 weeks. Write the rule down and keep it the same so you can compare month to month.

Are regulars the same as loyal customers?

Not always. A regular may be there because you are near their office, not because they prefer you. Loyalty is about preference, while regular is about behaviour you can count.

Should regulars get better rewards than new members?

Under a points programme, they already do. They earn more points because they spend more often, and no separate tier is needed.

How do I count regulars without a POS report?

Use the member list from your loyalty programme. Each member's earn history shows how many times they came in during the period you chose.