How Much Does It Really Cost to Run a Small Shop in Pakistan?
2026-06-16 · 7 min read
Most people think running a shop just means buying stock and selling it. The real cost is bigger — and the costs you can't see are the ones that quietly decide whether you make money. Let's add it all up honestly, with a sample monthly budget.
The Obvious Costs: Rent, Utilities, Staff
- Rent: usually your biggest fixed cost, and it's due whether sales were good or bad.
- Utilities: electricity (especially with refrigeration or AC), plus internet and phone.
- Staff: salaries, and the time cost of training and managing them.
- Packaging & supplies: bags, receipts, cleaning — small but constant.
These are easy to see because money physically leaves your hand. The dangerous costs are the ones that don't.
The Hidden Costs That Eat Your Profit
- Spoilage & expiry: unsold perishables thrown away are pure loss.
- Theft & shrinkage: a few items disappearing each week adds up to real money over a year.
- Unpaid udhaar: credit that never comes back is a sale that cost you stock but earned you nothing.
- Dead stock: money frozen in items that don't sell — cash you can't use.
These hidden costs often total more than rent — and because they're invisible without records, most owners never realise how much they're losing.
Software Cost vs Manual Losses
Owners often hesitate to spend PKR 2,800/month on software while losing many times that to untracked udhaar, theft, and spoilage. A system that catches even a fraction of those leaks pays for itself many times over. The real question isn't "can I afford the software?" — it's "can I afford to keep not seeing where my money goes?"
A Realistic Monthly Budget Example
For a small grocery shop, a rough month might look like: rent Rs. 40,000, utilities Rs. 12,000, one helper Rs. 30,000, supplies Rs. 5,000, software Rs. 2,800 — about Rs. 90,000 in running costs before stock. Add an honest allowance for spoilage and unrecovered udhaar, and you can see why knowing your real profit margin matters so much: you need enough margin across your sales to clear all of this and still take something home.
See where every rupee goes
PaakiShop tracks sales, expenses, udhaar, and stock so the hidden costs stop being hidden. Start free and run your shop on real numbers.
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