--- title: "What a square metre of retail space has to earn | Spreat" description: "Sales per square metre, worked out simply: what a square metre of retail space has to bring in before anything is left over, with an example - and why the second number, tied-up capital, counts just as much." url: "https://spreat.com/en/stories/industry/what-a-square-metre-must-earn" language: "en" --- [Back](https://spreat.com/en/stories?tag=industry) - Retail & insights # What a square metre of retail space has to earn Rent, service charges, staff, divided by the floor area: that gives you a figure per square metre. How to work it out - and why it settles nothing on its own. 26 August 2025 Translated from German [Read the original version](https://spreat.com/stories/industry/was-ein-quadratmeter-verdienen-muss) ![A floor area divided into square metres, with the figure per metre](https://spreat.com/media/images/stories/was-ein-quadratmeter-verdienen-muss/cover-en-800.webp) A square metre of retail space has to produce at least as much gross profit as it costs. The simplest way to work that out: take all space-related costs for a year - rent, service charges, energy, a share of staff - and divide by the sales area in square metres. The result is the floor every metre has to clear before anything is left over. ## The maths, with an example Say a store has 80 square metres of sales floor. Rent is €2,000 a month, service charges and energy €600, the share of staff attributable to the floor €3,400. That is €6,000 a month, so €72,000 a year. Divided by 80 square metres, that is €900 of cost per square metre per year. Those €900 are gross profit, not turnover. At a 40% margin the same square metre therefore needs roughly €2,250 in sales a year just to carry itself. The figures are an example, not industry benchmarks - use your own, it takes ten minutes and afterwards it is a number you carry in your head. €900 cost per square metre per year in the example above, 80 m² and €6,000 of space costs a month €2,250 sales needed per square metre at a 40% margin, purely to cover €6.16 per square metre per day the same figure, divided differently - easier to hold in mind ## Why the figure settles nothing on its own The space calculation tells you what a metre has to bring in. It does not tell you what to put there - and that is where the real problem starts. A small store has two numbers pulling against each other. One is space: with little of it you need choice, so every metre works. The other is liquidity: every euro tied up in goods is not in the bank - how to work out that [tied-up capital](https://spreat.com/en/stories/industry/tied-up-capital-retail) has an article of its own. More choice means more capital tied up. Traditionally you do not resolve that contradiction, you pick a side. ## A third way: let the metre work without buying it The contradiction only dissolves once extra choice stops costing capital. If the goods belong to the brand until they sell, another product on the floor costs nothing up front - and the metre can try things instead of committing. The Viertelladen in Düsseldorf-Unterbilk is the nearest example: ten producers became thirty-three, in the same space, with no buying budget. The space calculation did not change. What changed is how many attempts per metre are possible before the sums add up. Work out your own metre. Commission per product, per month and per year - with your numbers, no sign-up. [To the store calculator](https://spreat.com/en/stores/pricing) Turnover or gross profit divided by sales area, usually as an annual figure per square metre. It shows how hard the space is working. Comparisons across sectors say little - a jeweller and a furniture store are orders of magnitude apart. For the coverage question, gross profit, because that is what remains after the cost of goods. Turnover per square metre is the better-known figure but says little without the margin. For the floor, yes, because it costs rent. For the productivity figure, usually not - only sales area belongs in the denominator. What matters is deciding once and then staying with it, or you compare years that are not comparable. There is none that holds across sectors. The useful comparison is your own: the same store, the same quarter last year, the same method. Anything else leads into the wrong argument. Written by [Mattis Klöpperon LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattis-kloepper/) Co-founder and managing director Share this article ## More stories - [![Weeks instead of months into physical retail, and what a brand's risk really costs](https://spreat.com/media/images/stories/schnellster-weg-in-den-einzelhandel/cover-en-800.webp) - Retail & insights - Product ## The fastest route into physical retail - and what it really costs a brand With Spreat, the brand carries the stock risk. That is true. But how big it is can be put in euros - and set against the routes where the retailer takes on the risk and gets paid for it. Read the story](https://spreat.com/en/stories/industry/fastest-route-into-retail) - [![Four steps instead of buying stock: how much work the brands' goods take in a store](https://spreat.com/media/images/stories/aufwand-fremde-ware-im-store/cover-en-800.webp) - Retail & insights - Product ## How much work the brands' goods take in a store Space, staff time, return shipping: the brands' goods do not come for free. Here is what a store really does for them - and which work falls away in return. Read the story](https://spreat.com/en/stories/industry/work-brand-goods-in-store) - [![Eight questions from Reddit and forums on consignment, commission and stock without buying it](https://spreat.com/media/images/stories/reddit-fragen-kommission-marktplatz-store/cover-en-800.webp) - Retail & insights ## The marketplace in the store: what retailers and brands ask on Reddit and in forums Eight questions about consignment, commission and stock without buying it, as they appear on Reddit, in German seller forums and on gutefrage - with the community's answers and what Spreat made of them. Read the story](https://spreat.com/en/stories/industry/reddit-questions-consignment-in-store-marketplace) ## And how about you? Store or brand - the way in is a different one. Tell us which side you are coming from. [I have a store](https://spreat.com/en/stores) [I have a brand](https://spreat.com/en/brands)