Why is my competitor's shop ranking above mine on Google?

What are they doing that I'm not?

Most often, a higher-ranking competitor is collecting reviews more consistently, has filled out their Google Business Profile completely, and runs a website with dedicated pages for their services and city. Any one of these can move rankings; together they compound. The good news is that none of it is proprietary or bought — it's all foundational work you can match. Start by auditing their profile and reviews against yours; the gaps you find are usually your fastest wins.

Is it reviews, website, or the Google Business Profile?

It's usually a combination, but review velocity and profile completeness are the most common culprits, with the website close behind. If they have more recent reviews than you, that alone signals prominence and freshness to Google. If their profile is complete and yours has gaps, they look more trustworthy. And if they have service-and-city pages while you have a thin site or none, Google has more of their content to rank. Fix the weakest of these first and you'll usually see the fastest movement.

Do they pay Google, and can I catch up as a smaller shop?

No, they almost certainly don't pay for their Map Pack position — organic local rankings can't be bought — and yes, a smaller shop can catch up. Because ranking rewards proximity and review velocity rather than size, your closeness to nearby searchers is an advantage a distant or larger competitor can't take from you. The first thing to fix is your web foundation: match their complete profile, start earning recent reviews, and put up a locally-optimized website. We'll build a free preview of that site so you can see the standard to hit.