From Daraz seller to your own Shopify store — when it makes sense for Pakistanis

Daraz is brilliant when you start. Pre-built customers, COD handled, no marketing skills required. But after 12–18 months, most growing Pakistani sellers hit the same ceiling — 40–60% of their potential profit is going to Daraz commission, ads, and pricing pressure. Here is when you should move.

The Daraz trap (in numbers)

• Daraz commission: 5–15% per category
• Daraz Sponsored Ads cost: another 5–15% of revenue at scale
• Discount campaigns: another 10–20% margin lost
• Cash on Delivery returns: 15–35% return rate (you pay shipping both ways)
• Net effect: 35–65% of GMV goes back to Daraz + logistics

On your own Shopify or WooCommerce store, you keep 90–95% of revenue minus payment gateway fees. The math is dramatic once volume hits Rs 500,000+/month.

When to stay on Daraz

• You are doing less than 50 orders/month — Daraz traffic is still cheap for you
• Your category is low-margin (under 30%) — you can't afford ads on your own store
• Your product is commoditised — buyers don't search for your brand, only for the product type
• You haven't yet learned Facebook/Instagram ads — Daraz handles traffic for you

When to move to your own Shopify/WooCommerce store

• Hitting Rs 500,000+/month consistently on Daraz
• Margin per product is 50%+
• Customers ask about you (brand recall is real)
• You can run Meta/TikTok ads (or hire someone like us to)
• You want to upsell, cross-sell, or build subscription revenue
• You want to sell internationally (Daraz can't help here)

The smart hybrid approach (what we recommend)

Don't quit Daraz — run both. Keep Daraz as your discovery channel. Use your own store to capture loyal customers, offer better pricing, upsell bundles, and run email marketing flows. Most of our DTC clients see 60–70% of their revenue come from their own store within 8 months of launching it, with Daraz becoming a 20–30% support channel.

Where to start