Free tool · Robert × Dor
Retail break-even
calculator.
Add your monthly fixed costs and gross margin to see the sales you need to break even, then translate that into transactions per day and the number of visitors who need to walk in.
Retail break-even calculator
Break-even sales per month
$37,000
That’s $1,233 a day over 30 days open.
- Transactions per day
- 26
- 771 a month
- Visitors per day
- 103
- At 25% conversion
- Monthly fixed costs
- $18,500
- Gross profit per transaction
- $24.00
The traffic test
You need about 103 people a day walking in to hit break-even. If you converted 5 points better (30%), you’d need 86. Do you know your real daily visitor count?
What to do next
- Every $1 off fixed costs lowers break-even by $2.00. Wages is your biggest line ($9,000).
- A $5 bigger average transaction cuts the sales you need to about 23 a day, from 26.
Show your work
Fixed costs = rent + wages + utilities + other= $18,500Required sales = (fixed costs) ÷ gross margin($18,500) ÷ 50% = $37,000Transactions = required sales ÷ average transaction$37,000 ÷ $48.00 = 771 a month, 25.7 a dayVisitors per day = transactions per day ÷ conversion rate25.7 ÷ 25% = 103
Worked example.
A boutique has $18,500 a month in fixed costs ($6,500 rent, $9,000 base wages, $900 utilities and insurance, $2,100 other), a 50% gross margin, a $48 average transaction, 25% conversion and 30 trading days.
- Break-even sales: $18,500 ÷ 50% = $37,000 a month, or $1,233 a day.
- Transactions: $37,000 ÷ $48 = 771 a month, about 26 a day.
- Visitors: 25.7 ÷ 25% = about 103 people a day through the door.
The last line is the one most owners have never checked. If the street delivers 80 people a day, no amount of discounting fixes the gap; you need more traffic or better conversion. If it delivers 200, the problem is inside the store.
Why break-even sales aren’t enough.
Break-even in dollars tells you the target. Breaking it into transactions and visitors tells you whether it’s reachable and which lever to pull: traffic (marketing, signage, location), conversion (staffing, stock, layout) or average transaction (pricing, bundles, add-ons).
Remember that wages here are the base rota you pay regardless of sales. Commission and wages that rise with sales are better treated as variable costs, which lower your effective margin.
Questions retailers ask.
How do I calculate break-even for a retail store?
Divide monthly fixed costs by your gross margin as a decimal. $18,500 of fixed costs at a 50% margin means $37,000 in monthly sales to break even.
What counts as a fixed cost?
Costs that don’t change with sales in the short term: rent, base wages, utilities, insurance, software, loan payments and the owner pay you need. Cost of goods sold is not a fixed cost; it’s covered by the margin.
How do I find my gross margin?
Take net sales minus cost of goods sold, divided by net sales. If you price at keystone (double the cost), your margin before discounts is 50%; markdowns and shrink bring it down.
How many customers do I need a day to break even?
Divide break-even sales by your average transaction to get transactions, divide by days open, then divide by your conversion rate to get visitors per day.
What is margin of safety?
How far sales could fall before you hit break-even, as a share of current sales. A 20% margin of safety means a 20% drop in sales takes profit to zero.
Know if the traffic is there.
Dor counts every visitor at the door, so your break-even plan uses a measured visitor count instead of a guess.
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