In this week’s report, we take a look at the performance of small businesses in our sample after one year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This expanded report ranges from January 6, 2020 to March 14, 2021, beginning approximately two months before the WHO designated COVID-19 as a global pandemic on March 11, 2020 [source].
Plus: Don't miss the business outlook section, where we spotlight some business categories with the biggest gains, fastest rebounds, and more.
The CardFlight Small Business Report analyzes sales performance and emerging trends among small businesses in the United States. The first report was published on March 19, 2020.
The report has been featured in and/or cited by The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, Business Insider, Digital Transactions, PaymentsJournal, PaymentsSource, and others.
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First, we compare week-over-week change in sales ($) and transaction counts (#) of the small businesses in our sample from January 6, 2020 to March 8, 2021.
Next, we see how the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way consumers pay for goods and services at the small businesses in our sample.
The chart below shows change in transaction volume by four payment types:
Next, we look at week-over-week change in sales in the following business categories from January 6, 2020 to March 8, 2021.
In this section of the report, we take a closer look at past performance and future outlook of several small business categories.
As seen above, the ways in which consumers pay for goods and services has changed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
That concludes the one-year anniversary edition of the CardFlight Small Business Report.
Next, we return to the small business metrics we publish each week. To signup for email notifications for future reports, click here.
This metric compares change in sales at US small businesses from the pre-COVID baseline week of March 2–8, 2020 over January 11 to March 14, 2021 (the preceding eight weeks).
The transaction count metric represents the total number of transactions processed by the small businesses in our sample.
This metric measures all businesses who processed at least one transaction in the preceding week.
This metric shows the average number of transactions made at all of the active merchants in our sample.
The payments industry has two broad categories for transactions based on where they occur.
The three ways US consumers typically use credit and debit cards for in-person transactions are:
We continue to see that overall growth in sales made via contactless payment methods are outpacing those made via EMV chip. Transactions made via contactless payment methods are now more than 296% higher than their pre-COVID baseline levels.
In this section of the CardFlight Small Business Report, we take a closer look at small business performance by business category.
The two charts below show change in sales and transaction counts at US small businesses in the Food and Drink category from the pre-COVID baseline week of March 2–8, 2020 over January 11 to March 14, 2021 (the preceding eight weeks).
The two charts below show change in sales and transaction counts at US small businesses in the Retail category from the pre-COVID baseline week of March 2–8, 2020 over January 11 to March 14, 2021 (the preceding eight weeks).
The two charts below show change in sales and transaction counts at US small businesses in the Services category from the pre-COVID baseline week of March 2–8, 2020 over January 11 to March 14, 2021 (the preceding eight weeks).
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Have questions, feedback, or press inquiries? Contact us. You may also view past editions of the CardFlight Small Business Report.
The CardFlight Small Business Report is intended to provide insights into ongoing sales performance, trends, predictions, and unique analysis of US small businesses. The first CardFlight Small Business Report was published on March 19, 2020.
The report has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Bloomberg TV, Business Insider, Digital Transactions, PaymentsJournal, PaymentsSource, and others.
The report is based on analysis of a representative sample of more than two million transactions processed by more than 70,000 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:
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.
