Fiserv Small Business Index™ for April 2024: Sales at Retail and Service Businesses Grow, Discretionary Spend Slows
May 03 2024 - 8:30AM
Business Wire
Fiserv Small Business Index grew to 145, up 4
points from March 2024
Small business sales grew 5.6% year-over-year,
and 2.2% month-over-month
Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE: FI), a leading global provider of payments
and financial services technology, has published the Fiserv Small
Business Index™ for April 2024. The Fiserv Small Business Index is
an indicator of the performance of small businesses in the United
States at national, state, and industry levels.
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Fiserv Small Business Index Dashboard:
April 2024 (Graphic: Business Wire)
Nationally, the seasonally adjusted Fiserv Small Business Index
increased 4 points to 145. Small business sales grew 5.6%
year-over-year, and 2.2% month-over-month.
“Consumer spending shifted significantly in April, with
appreciable gains in service-based business spending, which
includes professional services such as tax preparation, offsetting
a slowdown in discretionary spending,” said Prasanna Dhore, Chief
Data Officer at Fiserv. “Retail was also a bright spot in April,
with small retailers seeing 7.7% year-over-year sales increases
compared to 2023.”
Retail Rebounds from March, Household-Related Subsectors Lead
the Way
Nationally, small business retail sales rebounded nicely from a
sluggish March. Sales grew 1.6% month-over-month and 7.7%
year-over-year. Most retail subsectors experienced strong
month-over-month increases, including Furniture (+4.9%), Building
Materials (+3.8%), Motor Vehicle Parts (+4.4%) and Gas Stations
(3.1%). For these destinations, the year-over-year trajectory was
similarly strong.
Service-Based Business Spending Grows Across Sectors
Consumer priorities shifted significantly toward service
spending in April. Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
saw a 7.0% increase over March and a 16.4% increase year-over-year.
With the IRS tax filing deadline falling within April, demand
spiked for bookkeeping and accounting, along with other related
business services. Large and small construction projects also drove
demand for small business architectural, engineering and surveying
services.
Spending at Specialty Trade Contractors grew 4.1%
month-over-month and 4.0% year-over-year. Seasonal demand for
swimming pool services, concrete/masonry contractors, and
heating/cooling specialists drove the gains.
Consumers Back off Discretionary Spending
Small businesses that capture discretionary spend, including
restaurants, businesses focused on travel and recreational
activities, and select retail businesses, such as clothing
retailers, did not perform as well in April as in recent
months.
Food Services and Drinking Places, specifically, saw sales
growth slow as consumer demand for lower-priced food options
increased. Restaurant spending shrank 3.1% compared to March and
was off 0.2% from April 2023. The reduction in restaurant foot
traffic was much less significant, indicating that consumers are
still visiting restaurants but ordering less expensive items or
choosing lower-cost establishments.
About the Fiserv Small Business Index™
The Fiserv Small Business Index is published during the first
week of every month and differentiated by its direct aggregation of
consumer spending activity within the U.S. small business
ecosystem. Rather than relying on survey or sentiment data, the
Fiserv Small Business Index is derived from point-of-sale
transaction data, including card, cash, and check transactions
in-store and online across approximately 2 million U.S. small
businesses.
Benchmarked to 2019, the Fiserv Small Business Index provides a
numeric value measuring consumer spending, with an accompanying
transaction index measuring customer traffic. Through a simple
interface, users can access data by region, state, and/or across
business types categorized by the North American Industry
Classification System (NAICS). Computing a monthly index for 16
sectors and 34 sub-sectors, the Fiserv Small Business Index
provides a timely, reliable and consistent measure of small
business performance even in industries where large businesses
dominate.
To access the full Fiserv Small Business Index visit
fiserv.com/FiservSmallBusinessIndex.
About Fiserv
Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE: FI), a Fortune 500 company, aspires to move
money and information in a way that moves the world. As a global
leader in payments and financial technology, the company helps
clients achieve best-in-class results through a commitment to
innovation and excellence in areas including account processing and
digital banking solutions; card issuer processing and network
services; payments; e-commerce; merchant acquiring and processing;
and the Clover® cloud-based point-of-sale and business management
platform. Fiserv is a member of the S&P 500® Index and has been
recognized as one of Fortune® World’s Most Admired Companies™ for 9
of the last 10 years. Visit fiserv.com and follow on social media
for more information and the latest company news.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240503876127/en/
Media Relations: Chase Wallace Director, Communications
Fiserv, Inc. +1 470-481-2555 chase.wallace@fiserv.com
Additional Contact: Ann S. Cave Vice President, External
Communications Fiserv, Inc. +1 678-325-9435 ann.cave@fiserv.com
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