Introduction
In this week's report, we found that sales at small businesses remained relatively flat compared to last week.
Key takeaways:
About this report
The CardFlight Small Business Impact Report is intended to provide insights into the impacts of coronavirus/COVID-19 on small businesses across the United States. The report has been featured in and/or cited by The Atlantic, Bloomberg TV, Business Insider, Digital Transactions, PaymentsJournal, PaymentsSource, and others.
Learn more about the report and our methodology.
Week-over-week changes
First, we examine change in week-over-week small business performance by analyzing change in overall sales, number of transactions per business, and more.
Sales at small business down 1.5% last week
Week-over-week sales at the small businesses in our sample decreased by 1.5% last week.
Source: Transactions processed by US small businesses with SwipeSimple. Percentages provided above reflect total change over the preceding eight weeks, compared to the baseline week of March 2–8, 2020.
For complete week-by-week data, see this spreadsheet.
Transaction counts up 2.2% last week
The transaction count metric represents the total number of transactions processed by the small businesses in our sample. Last week, transaction counts increased by 2.2%.
Source: Transactions processed by US small businesses with SwipeSimple. Percentages provided above reflect total change over the preceding eight weeks, compared to the baseline week of March 2–8, 2020.
For complete week-by-week data, see this spreadsheet.
Number of active small businesses up nearly 1% last week
This metric measures all businesses who processed at least one transaction in the preceding week. The number of active merchants increased by 0.9% last week.
Source: Transactions processed by US small businesses with SwipeSimple. Percentages provided above reflect total change over the preceding eight weeks, compared to the baseline week of March 2–8, 2020.
For complete week-by-week data, see this spreadsheet.
The average number of transactions per active merchant increased by 1.2% last week.
Source: Transactions processed by US small businesses with SwipeSimple. Percentages provided above reflect total change over the preceding eight weeks, compared to the baseline week of March 2–8, 2020.
For complete week-by-week data, see this spreadsheet.
Card-present payments vs. card-not-present
The payments industry has two broad categories for transactions based on where they occur.
- Card-present payments are those that are initiated in-person (face-to-face). This includes all instances in which a credit or debit card is physically swiped, inserted, or tapped at a merchant location.
- Card-not-present payments are those made over the phone or online. This category of payments also includes invoices and those merchants who save cards of their frequent customers on file.
Changing behavior as seen through payment method
Source: Transactions processed by US small businesses with SwipeSimple. Percentages provided above reflect total change over the preceding eight weeks, compared to the baseline week of March 2–8, 2020.
For complete week-by-week data, see this spreadsheet.
Changing behavior as seen through contactless tap to pay
Next, we'll examine how coronavirus/COVID-19 is changing the manner by which consumers pay for their goods in-person.
The three ways US consumers typically use credit and debit cards for in-person transactions are:
- Dipping an EMV chip card
- Tapping a contactless card or smart phone
- Swiping via magnetic stripe
Since magnetic stripe payments are a relatively low proportion of our payment volume, we're focusing on chip cards and contactless tap. We continue to see that overall growth in sales made via contactless payment methods are outpacing those made via EMV chip.
While payments made via EMV chip are now up 13.5% over their pre-COVID baseline levels, contactless payment methods are up by 129.6%.
Changes in payment methods for in-person transactions
Source: Transactions processed by US small businesses with SwipeSimple. Percentages provided above reflect total change over the preceding eight weeks, compared to the baseline week of March 2–8, 2020.
For complete week-by-week data, see this spreadsheet.
Deep dive: Sales by business category
In this section of the CardFlight Small Business Impact Report, we take a closer look at small business performance by business category.
- Food and Drink establishments: Includes bars and restaurants
- Services: General contractors, healthcare providers, providers of professional services, and others
- Retail: Businesses like sporting goods stores, specialty retail, home furnishings, and automotive
Sales at Food and Drink businesses up 1.4% last week
Sales at Food and Drink businesses increased by 1.4% last week. Transaction counts increased by 0.8% week-over-week.
Source: Transactions processed by US small businesses with SwipeSimple. Percentages provided above reflect total change over the preceding eight weeks, compared to the baseline week of March 2–8, 2020.
For complete week-by-week data, see this spreadsheet.
Retail sales down 1% last week
Sales at the Retail businesses in our sample decreased by 1.0% week-over-week. Meanwhile, transaction counts increased by 7.9%.
Source: Transactions processed by US small businesses with SwipeSimple. Percentages provided above reflect total change over the preceding eight weeks, compared to the baseline week of March 2–8, 2020.
For complete week-by-week data, see this spreadsheet.
Sales at Services businesses down 0.7% last week
Sales at businesses in the Services category decreased by 0.7% last week. Meanwhile, transaction counts increased by 1.5% last week.
Source: Transactions processed by US small businesses with SwipeSimple. Percentages provided above reflect total change over the preceding eight weeks, compared to the baseline week of March 2–8, 2020.
For complete week-by-week data, see this spreadsheet.
Month-over-month changes
Next, we take a look at the month-over-month changes to sales, transaction counts, and number of active merchants at US small businesses. This analysis is based on "whole month" comparisons, using March 2020 as the baseline month.
Monthly change in sales
Sales at the small businesses in our sample ended the month of July 6.5% above June.
Source: Transactions processed by US small businesses with SwipeSimple. Chart represents percentage-point month-over-month change compared to the baseline month of March, 2020.
Monthly change in transaction counts
Transaction counts ended the month of July 11.1% above June.
Source: Transactions processed by US small businesses with SwipeSimple. Chart represents percentage-point month-over-month change compared to the baseline month of March, 2020.
Monthly change in active merchants
The number of active small businesses in our sample ended the month of July 2.2% above June.
Source: Transactions processed by US small businesses with SwipeSimple. Chart represents percentage-point month-over-month change compared to the baseline month of March, 2020.
Thanks for reading
Do you have questions, feedback, or press inquiries? Contact us. You may also view past editions of the CardFlight Small Business Impact Report.
About the report
The CardFlight Small Business Impact Report is intended to provide insights into the impacts of coronavirus/COVID-19 on small businesses across the United States. The report and the data within have been featured in The Atlantic, Bloomberg TV, Business Insider, Digital Transactions, PaymentsJournal, PaymentsSource, and others.
Methodology
The report is based on analysis of a representative sample of more than two million transactions processed by more than 65,000 small businesses who use SwipeSimple software (the signature product of CardFlight) to accept credit and debit card payments.
To create this report, we analyzed a representative sample of millions of transactions processed by:
- in all 50 states
- using CardFlight’s SwipeSimple software to accept credit and debit card payments
This report can be useful in understanding the impact of COVID-19 on small businesses at a hyper-local perspective and across the US. For up-to-date data regarding shifts in consumer spending among local businesses, impacts across different industries, and across cities and states, access the most recent report.
The SwipeSimple small business owner
The typical SwipeSimple merchant has one to ten employees and less than five locations or mobile service points. The average active merchant represented in this data set processes approximately $130,000 in credit/debit card payments annually. The merchants are a mix of professional and personal service providers, specialty retail establishments, and food and drink purveyors.
