Free tool · Robert × Dor

Pop-up shop
profitability calculator.

Add the rent, fit-out, staff and run length for your pop-up to see the daily sales and visitors you need, and what you’d make on a quiet, expected or busy run.

Visitors you need per day to break even

208

At 250 visitors a day you’d make about $2,186. You need 208 a day to break even.

Sales needed per day: $1,404; $19,651 over the run
Transactions per day: 31
Total costs: $10,808; Staff $3,808
Cost per day open: $772

Profit scenarios
Scenario	Visitors/day	Sales	Profit
Quiet (−30%)	175	$16,538	−$1,712
Expected	250	$23,625	+$2,186
Busy (+30%)	325	$30,713	+$6,084

Costs are treated as fixed for the run. Card fees and commission-based rent scale with sales; fold them into a lower margin if they apply.

Worked example.

A jewellery brand plans a 14-day pop-up: $3,500 rent, $2,500 fit-out, $1,000 for marketing and insurance, and 2 staff for 8 hours a day at $17 an hour. It runs a 55% margin and a $45 average transaction, and expects 15% of visitors to buy.

Staff: 2 × 8 × $17 × 14 = $3,808. Total costs: $10,808.
Break-even sales: $10,808 ÷ 55% = $19,651, or $1,404 a day.
That’s 31 transactions a day, and at 15% conversion about 208 visitors a day.
At an expected 250 a day the run makes about $2,186; at 175 it loses $1,712; at 325 it makes $6,084.

The pop-up only works if the location delivers 208 people a day through the door, not past it. Ask the landlord for measured footfall, and count passers-by yourself for an hour before signing.

What to check before you sign.

Door traffic, not street traffic. Footfall figures for a mall or street count people passing. The share who step in (your capture rate) is often a small fraction.
Day of the week. A run that misses a weekend loses its busiest days. Spread the daily target across the days you’ll actually be open.
Fit-out you can reuse. Fixtures that go to the next pop-up are partly an investment; only count the share this run uses up.
Learning has value. A small loss can still be worth it if you’re testing a location before a permanent lease, as long as you measure traffic and conversion while you’re there.

Questions retailers ask.

How do I know if a pop-up shop will be profitable?

Add up every cost for the run (rent, fit-out, staff, marketing), divide by your gross margin to get the sales you need, then divide by days, average transaction and conversion rate to get the visitors you need each day. Compare that with realistic traffic for the location.

How many visitors does a pop-up need?

It depends on costs, margin and conversion. Required visitors per day = (total costs ÷ margin) ÷ days ÷ average transaction ÷ conversion rate. In the worked example it is about 208 a day.

Should fit-out count as a cost of one pop-up?

Count the part this run uses up. If fixtures will be reused for future pop-ups, spread their cost across the runs you expect.

What conversion rate should I assume for a pop-up?

Use your own store’s rate if you have one, and lean lower: novelty draws browsers. Then measure it in the first days and update the plan.

Is a pop-up a good way to test a new location?

Yes, if you measure it. Counting visitors and pairing them with sales for the run shows whether the location has the traffic and buyers a permanent store would need.

Measure the location, not just the sales.

Dor’s battery-powered counter sticks above a door in minutes, so even a two-week pop-up can learn its real traffic and conversion.

Book a Dor demo

Pop-up shopprofitability calculator.