Setting Up Staff Costs

Staff costs are a significant expense that impacts your overall profitability. StoreHero allows you to track these costs in two flexible ways, depending on your team size and how you prefer to manage payroll data.

Navigate to Settings > Business Costs > Staff Cost to begin configuring your team expenses.

Available Methods

StoreHero offers two methods to track staff costs:

1. By Month - Set total monthly costs by category

2. By Staff Member - Track individual employee costs with recurring payments

You can use either method or combine both depending on your needs.

Method 1: By Month

Set a total monthly cost for each category of staff members. This approach is ideal for businesses with larger teams or variable staffing costs.

When to Use This Method

This method works well if:

• You have a large number of staff members

• Staff costs vary month to month

• You want a simple, high-level view without individual tracking

• You're entering historical data quickly

Staff Categories

You can set monthly costs for two categories:

Shipping/Fulfillment Staff: Team members involved in order processing, picking, packing, and shipping operations.

Other Staff: All other employees including marketing, customer service, admin, management, etc.

How to Set Monthly Costs

1. Navigate to Settings > Business Costs > Staff Cost

2. Select the By Month tab

3. Choose the month and year you want to set costs for

4. Enter the total cost for each category:

   • Shipping/Fulfillment - Total monthly cost for warehouse/fulfillment team

   • Other Staff - Total monthly cost for all other employees

5. Scroll to the bottom and click Save

6. Repeat for additional months as needed

Historical Data Entry

You can set up to 4 years of retroactive staff costs, making it easy to:

• Import historical payroll data

• Update past months when bringing on StoreHero

• Correct previous entries

• Analyze year-over-year trends

Method 2: By Staff Member

Track individual employee costs with recurring payment schedules. This approach provides detailed visibility into your team composition and costs.

When to Use This Method

This method works well if:

• You have a smaller team where individual tracking is manageable

• You want detailed cost breakdowns by employee

• You need to track different pay schedules (hourly, salary, contractor)

• You want to see the impact of individual hires on profitability

How to Add a Staff Member

1. Navigate to Settings > Business Costs > Staff Cost

2. Select the By Staff Member tab

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

4. A modal will appear with the following fields

Staff Member Details

Recurrence: Choose how often this staff cost occurs:

• One-time - Single payment (e.g., bonus, severance)

• Daily - Day rate contractors

• Weekly - Weekly wages

• Monthly - Most common for salaried employees

• Yearly - Annual contractors or retainers

Status:

• Active - Currently employed

• Inactive - Past employee or temporarily on leave

Use inactive status for former employees while preserving their historical cost data.

Name: Enter the staff member's name or identifier.

Examples:

• Full name: "Sarah Johnson"

• Role identifier: "Marketing Manager"

• Anonymous: "Warehouse Staff 1"

Category: Select the job function:

• Shipping/Fulfillment - Warehouse, logistics, fulfillment operations

• Marketing - Marketing team members

• Customer Service - Support and CS team

• Management - Leadership and executives

• Admin - Administrative and back-office staff

• Other - Any role not fitting the above categories

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

Examples:

• Monthly salary: €3,500 (select "Monthly")

• Weekly wage: €800 (select "Weekly")

• Annual contractor: €45,000 (select "Yearly")

First Payment: Select the date when this staff member started or when this cost began. This ensures costs are allocated to the correct time period.

Last Payment (Optional): Leave the Last Payment blank if this is a recurring cost. Only add this if the staff member has a known end date.

When to use:

• Seasonal employees with set contract end dates

• Staff members who have resigned with a last day

• Fixed-term contractors

• Temporary project-based hires

When to leave blank:

• Permanent employees

• Ongoing contractors

• Open-ended positions

Saving Your Entry

• Click Submit to save and close

• Or click Save and Add Another to quickly add multiple staff members

Why Staff Costs Matter

Including accurate staff costs in StoreHero ensures:

True Profitability Calculations

Staff costs are typically one of your largest expenses. Without tracking them, your profit metrics don't reflect business reality.

Better Decision-Making

Understand the relationship between:

• Revenue growth and team costs

• Staff expenses and profit margins

• Hiring decisions and profitability targets

Accurate Unit Economics

When you know total operating costs (including staff), you can calculate true profit per order and understand what revenue levels you need to sustain.

Example Impact:

• Monthly revenue: €100,000

• Product + shipping costs: €45,000

• Marketing costs: €20,000

• Staff costs: €25,000

• True profit: €10,000 (not €35,000 if you ignore staff costs)

Impact on Your Metrics

Adding staff costs affects your profitability calculations:

Operating Profit: Revenue - COGS - Marketing - Staff Costs = Operating Profit

Profit per Order: Operating Profit ÷ Number of Orders = True profit per order

Break-Even Analysis: With accurate staff costs, you can calculate exactly how much revenue you need to cover all expenses.

This complete picture helps you make better decisions about pricing, hiring, and scaling.

Don't Forget to Save

After making any changes to your staff cost settings, always click the Save or Submit button to ensure your updates are applied.

Need Help?

If you have questions about tracking staff costs or determining which method to use, our support team is here to help. Contact us at support@storehero.ai