Many shop owners hit the same problem: busy selling all day, plenty of cash coming in, but nothing left at month end. And if you ask “how much profit did I make today?”, they can’t say. This article walks through how to calculate shop profit in a way that’s easy to follow, no accounting skills required, with formulas and real numbers.
What is profit, exactly?
A common mistake is thinking “sales = profit”. It isn’t. Sales is the money customers pay in, but profit is the money that is actually left after cost. The basic formula is:
Profit = sales − cost
Sounds simple, but the place people slip up is that “cost” is bigger than they think.
Gross profit vs net profit: what’s the difference?
There are two terms to keep apart:
- Gross profit = sales − cost of goods (what you bought to resell, or ingredients)
- Net profit = gross profit − other expenses (rent, water, electricity, wages, and so on)
Net profit is the money that actually stays in your pocket. Shops that look at gross profit alone often think they’re doing great, but after rent and electricity there may be almost nothing left.
Example (a coffee shop, one day)
Say a small coffee shop sells this today:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Total sales | ฿3,000 |
| − Ingredient cost (beans, milk, cups, lids) | ฿1,050 |
| = Gross profit | ฿1,950 |
| − Rent / electricity / water (per day) | ฿600 |
| − Part time wages | ฿400 |
| = Net profit | ฿950 |
So from ฿3,000 in sales, the real profit is only ฿950. Looking at gross profit alone (฿1,950) would make you think you have roughly twice as much left as you really do.
The numbers above are an illustration. Real costs differ from shop to shop.
Costs shops often forget to count
The reason many shops “think profit is good but nothing’s left” usually comes from forgetting these costs:
- Consumables: bags, straws, cups, ice, tissues (small each, but a lot together)
- Recurring expenses: rent, water, electricity, internet (spread them per day)
- Things bought without a receipt: morning ice, market vegetables
- Waste / expired stock: things you couldn’t sell in time and had to throw out
To know real profit, count these in too, or the numbers will look prettier than reality.
How to know real profit without doing the books
The catch is that a small shop has almost no time to record every bill. A practical way that actually works:
- Log sales the moment you sell: don’t wait to total up at closing, you’ll forget
- Capture cost every time you buy stock: snap the receipt, or note the amount right away
- Spread recurring expenses per day: ฿6,000 rent a month = ฿200 a day
- View summaries by period: day / week / month, to see whether profit is growing or shrinking
These days there are tools that do all four automatically through LINE, like Posless. Just pick what you sold and snap receipts as cost, and it works out your real profit (sales − cost) instantly, no jotting required (read next: Easy shop bookkeeping on your phone).
FAQ
Q: What profit percentage counts as good? A: It depends on the type of shop. Food and drink shops often aim for a net profit of around 15 to 25% of sales. But more important than a target is “knowing your own shop’s real numbers”, then adjusting gradually.
Q: How often should I calculate profit? A: At least check daily profit to catch anything odd, and review a monthly summary to plan. The more often you look, the faster you catch leaks.
Q: How do I price so there’s a profit? A: You need to know your per item cost first, then add the profit you want. Read the details in How to price products for profit.
In short: real profit is net profit (sales − all costs, including recurring expenses), not just sales or gross profit. Start by recording sales and costs fully every day, and you’ll know at once how much your shop “really has left”.