First Contact by Category

First Contact by Category :Find Each Customer’s Earliest Purchase in Every Product Category Intermediate

Rank customers by total spending within each product category.

Xorthax wants to identify each customer's first purchase within every product category. Write a query to return only their earliest order per category.
Write Your Query
Next Problem →

It models purchase history analysis where businesses track customers’ first interactions within different product categories.

You’ll practice grouping and filtering data to isolate initial events or first-time transactions across defined categories.

This problem is labeled as Intermediate. It assumes you’ve written a few window function queries before, but you don’t need to be an expert. Use the hints and explanations if you get stuck — they’re there to help you think through the logic.

Yes. Every problem comes with optional hints you can reveal one at a time, plus a fully worked step-by-step solution. You decide how much help you want while practicing.

All problems on PracticeWindowFunctions.com are completely free and can be solved without creating an account. Right now there are over 80 practice problems, with new ones added regularly.
SQL for Data Analysis (O’Reilly)
SQL for Data Analysis (O’Reilly)

SQL techniques tailored for analytics and reporting workflows.

(Affiliate link – as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)