Setting Up Other Business Costs

Beyond product costs, marketing, and staff, your business has many other operational expenses that impact profitability. The Other Business Costs feature lets you track these expenses to see your true net profit accurately.

Navigate to Settings > Business Costs > Other Costs to begin tracking your operational expenses.

What Are Other Business Costs?

These are operational expenses that don't fit into other cost categories but are essential for running your business.

Common Categories

• Office & Facilities - Rent, utilities, office equipment

• Software & Technology - Business software and tools beyond marketing platforms

• Professional Services - Legal, accounting, consulting fees

• Insurance - Business liability, product liability, property insurance

• Banking & Financial - Bank fees, loan interest, merchant account charges

• Subscriptions & Memberships - Industry associations, professional development

• Licenses & Permits - Business licenses and regulatory costs

• Other Operating Expenses - Miscellaneous operational costs

Keep It Simple

StoreHero is not accounting software—we're here to help you understand profitability, not replace your bookkeeper. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

Multi-Faceted Business? Use a Blended Approach

If you run multiple revenue streams (e.g., retail store + ecommerce + wholesale) and you're not sure how to allocate shared costs:

Simple Solution: Add a portion of your total operational expenses (OPEX) based on how much revenue your web business represents.

Example:

• Total business OPEX: €10,000/month

• Web store revenue: 60% of total revenue

• Add to StoreHero: €6,000/month (60% of €10,000)

This gives you a reasonable approximation of web business profitability without needing to perfectly allocate every expense.

How to Add a Business Cost

Step 1: Navigate to Other Costs

1. Go to Settings > Business Costs > Other Costs

2. You'll see a list of previously added costs, including their status and recurrence

Step 2: Add a New Cost

1. Click the Add Costs button in the top right corner

2. A modal will appear with the following fields

Step 3: Fill Out the Cost Details

Recurrence: Choose how often this expense occurs:

• One-time - Single expense (e.g., legal consultation, equipment purchase)

• Daily - Rare, but useful for specific tracking

• Weekly - Some service contracts or subscriptions

• Monthly - Most common for rent, subscriptions, utilities

• Yearly - Annual insurance premiums, licenses, memberships

Status:

• Active Expense- Currently incurring this cost

• Past Expense - Past expense or temporarily suspended

• Active Expense with End Date - A currently running expense with a fixed end date

Use inactive status for seasonal expenses or costs that have ended while preserving historical data.

Expense Name: Add a clear, descriptive title that anyone on your team will understand.

Examples:

• "Office Rent - Main Street Location"

• "QuickBooks Subscription"

• "Business Liability Insurance"

• "Legal Retainer - Corporate Counsel"

• “Shopify & Apps”

• “StoreHero”

Category: Select the most appropriate category for this expense:

• Office & Facilities

• Software & Technology

• Professional Services

• Insurance

• Banking & Financial

• Subscriptions & Memberships

• Licenses & Permits

• Other

Consistent categorization makes reporting and analysis much easier.

Amount: Enter the cost value in your store's currency. This amount should match your selected recurrence.

Examples:

• Monthly office rent: €2,500 (select "Monthly")

• Annual insurance premium: €3,600 (select "Yearly")

• One-time legal consultation: €800 (select "One-time")

First Payment: Select the date when this expense started or will start. This ensures costs are allocated to the correct time period for accurate profitability tracking.

Last Payment (Optional): Keep Last Payment blank if it’s a recurring cost. Only add this if the expense has a set end date.

When to use:

• Fixed-term contracts (e.g., 12-month software trial)

• Time-limited expenses (e.g., seasonal storage)

• Known end dates (e.g., moving offices in 3 months)

When to leave blank:

• Ongoing subscriptions with no end date

• Open-ended contracts

• Indefinite expenses like rent or utilities

Step 4: Save Your Entry

• Click Submit to save and close

• Or click Save and Add Another to quickly add multiple expenses

How To Add Business Costs In Bulk

If you have a number of costs to add, or are adding historical spend, we recommend using the CSV import. 

1. Select Import from the top right corner and export a copy of the CSV template

2. Open the CSV in either Excel or Google Sheets

3. Add your expenses ensuring the Category, Status, Amount, Recurrence, and Dates are accurate

4. Export the file as a CSV

5. Return to the Settings > Order Costs > Marketing Costs and import your CSV

How To Import Marketing Costs With Zapier

See our How to Connect Zapier guide here!

Note: the example shows how to add shipping costs using Zapier, however, you can use a copy of the other costs sample CSV template and follow the same instructions for mapping the expenses. Zapier will detect when new line items are added and will import them automatically into StoreHero

Great for pulling variable costs from the source like variable business expenses, connecting to QuickBooks or Xero, and more! See all Zapier integrations here

Why This Matters

Including all your business costs—not just cost of goods sold and marketing—gives you an accurate picture of net profit.

True Net Profit Calculation

Without tracking operational expenses, you're only seeing contribution margin, not actual net profit.

Example:

• Revenue: €100,000

• COGS: €40,000

• Marketing: €20,000

• Contribution Margin: €40,000 ← This is NOT your net profit

Adding Other Costs:

• Staff: €15,000

• Rent & utilities: €3,000

• Software subscriptions: €1,000

• Insurance: €500

• Professional services: €1,500

• Net Profit: €19,000 ← This is your TRUE profit

That's a €21,000 difference—these "other" costs represent over 50% of what looked like profit!

Better Financial Planning

With complete cost tracking, you can:

• Set realistic revenue targets

• Understand true break-even points

• Plan for growth accurately

• Identify cost-cutting opportunities

• Make informed pricing decisions

Accurate Cash Flow Forecasting

Knowing when recurring costs hit helps you plan cash flow and avoid surprises.

Best Practices

Keep Categories Consistent

Use the same categories for similar expenses to enable clean reporting. This makes it easy to see total spending by category and identify trends.

Use Descriptive Names

Include enough detail that anyone reviewing expenses understands what they're for. Include vendor names, locations, or purpose when relevant.

Review Monthly

Set a calendar reminder to:

• Add new business expenses as they're committed

• Mark canceled subscriptions or ended contracts as inactive

• Update amounts if pricing changed

• Verify all active costs are still accurate and necessary

Don't Delete—Deactivate

Instead of deleting expired costs, mark them as "Inactive." This preserves historical data for:

• Year-over-year comparisons

• Understanding total cost of operations over time

• Complete financial records

• Tax and accounting purposes

Add Costs Promptly

Don't wait until month-end. Add new expenses as soon as you commit to them so your real-time profitability view stays accurate.

Allocate Properly

If a cost could fit multiple categories:

• Marketing contractors → Additional Marketing Costs

• Fulfillment staff → Staff Costs (Shipping/Fulfillment)

• General business insurance → Other Costs

This keeps your reporting clean and prevents double-counting.

Impact on Your Metrics

Adding other business costs affects your bottom-line profitability:

Contribution Margin: Revenue - COGS - Marketing = Contribution Margin

Net Profit: Contribution Margin - Staff Costs - Other Costs = Net Profit

Net Profit Margin: Net Profit ÷ Revenue = Your true profitability percentage

With complete cost tracking, you'll see realistic margins that guide better decisions about pricing, spending, and growth.

Don't Forget to Save

After making any changes to your other business cost settings, always click the Submit or Save and Add Another button to ensure your updates are applied.

Need Help?

If you have questions about which expenses to track or how to categorize your business costs, our support team is here to help. Contact us at support@storehero.ai.