Cohort GMV
Buyer cohorts, retention, frequency, orders, GMV.
By Surojit Chakraverti, founder of L3VLUP and an investor running a long-short healthcare and technology equities strategy.
On this subject: cohort gmv.Updated 2 October 2026
Part of technology company financial models, with the models, labs and guides around it.
What it does
A marketplace’s GMV built from the buyers who generate it. Each year’s new buyers form a cohort; the share still active falls with each year of tenure, while the survivors order more often. Orders are active buyers times frequency, summed across cohorts and the buyers already on the platform, and GMV is orders times the average order value. The share of orders from buyers acquired this year says how much of the growth is being bought.
Where it lives
The same schedule in each model that carries it, with the rows to open. Open a model in the browser, go to the sheet, and click the lines.
- Assumptions, rows 8–20: New buyers acquired (m), Share of a cohort still active in its second year, Share still active in its third year, Share still active in its fourth year…
- Cohorts, rows 6–12: FY1 cohort: active buyers, FY2 cohort: active buyers, FY3 cohort: active buyers, FY4 cohort: active buyers…
- Cohorts, rows 15–23: FY1 cohort: orders, FY2 cohort: orders, FY3 cohort: orders, FY4 cohort: orders…
- GMV, rows 6–9: Orders (m), Average order value ($), GMV: orders x average order value, GMV growth
What a reviewer looks for
- One retention rate for the whole base.
- Frequency held flat with tenure, which understates mature cohorts.
- GMV grown at a rate rather than built from orders.
Learn it, then build it
Build · Lab · ~25 min
SQL Cohort Drill
Write the cohort, retention and rolling-active queries interviews ask for, and read each result without misreading it.
Build · Lab · ~12 min
Marketplace Economics
Turn GMV into net revenue and contribution per order, read a cohort’s GMV retention from retention and frequency, and find the payback year on a buyer.
Read · Guide · 11 min
SaaS Operating Models: ARR, Sales Capacity, Billings and the Metrics That Follow
Vocabulary: Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), Cohort GMV Retention.