Fiserv Small Business Index stable at 145
Sales at small and medium-sized enterprises increased 4.3% year-on-year and 0.2% month-on-month
Milwaukee, June 5, 2024–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE: FI), a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology, announced the May 2024 Fiserv Small Business Index™. The Fiserv Small Business Index is a benchmark measure of the performance of U.S. small and medium-sized businesses at the national, state and industry levels.
“Small businesses are the bellwethers of the U.S. economy,” said Jennifer LaClair, head of Merchant Solutions at Fiserv. “The Fiserv Small Business Index provides insight into this critical ecosystem much earlier than other economic indicators. The latest index shows that the pace of consumer spending has slowed somewhat but remains at a healthy pace.”
Nationwide, the seasonally adjusted Fiserv Small Business Index held steady at 145 in May. Small business sales increased 4.3% from a year ago and 0.2% from the previous month. Store traffic increased 5.2% from a year ago and was down 0.5% from April.
“Consumer spending recorded another increase in May, but consumers are remaining very cautious with their discretionary spending,” said Prasanna Dore, chief data officer at Fiserv. “We're also seeing a shift toward non-discretionary spending, with spending growth at grocery stores outpacing growth at restaurants.”
Retail spending stagnates in May as discretionary spending continues to slow
Nationwide, small business retail spending was flat, with transactions up 0.7% month-over-month. Of all retail categories, food and beverage retailers experienced the most notable expansion in spending (+2.1%). Apparel (+0.3%), sporting goods (+0.2%) and health/personal care (+0.2%) also saw slight increases from April. Other areas of retail, including general merchandise (-0.4%), auto parts (-0.9%), building materials (-1.1%) and furniture (-1.9%), were down in May, suggesting that consumers are curbing some discretionary spending.
Grocery sales rise as restaurant spending slows
Consumers continue to try to balance their grocery spending as it makes up a significant portion of their monthly wallets. Restaurant spending increased 4.1% year over year, up slightly from April (+0.6%). However, restaurant traffic was down 1.2% compared to April, as consumers visited more food and beverage retailers, including grocery stores. Grocery store traffic was up 8.4% year over year and 1.5% month over month.
Results vary by service category
Year-over-year growth for specialty trade contractors slowed to 2.8% from April's 4.0% growth, but month-over-month sales increased slightly (+0.9%). Seasonal demand led to higher sales for small project contractors, swimming pool service providers, and HVAC specialists in this category. Professional, scientific, and technical services saw year-over-year sales increase of 13.5%, down 0.7% from April, which was expected as the sharp demand for services during April's tax season eased. Trucking led all service categories nationwide, growing 4.0% month-over-month.
About the Fiserv Small Business Index™
The Fiserv Small Business Index is released during the first week of each month and is unique in that it is a direct aggregate 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 in-store and online card, cash and check transactions, from approximately two million small businesses in the U.S.
The Fiserv Small Business Index, based on 2019, provides figures that measure consumer spending and transactional indices that measure customer traffic. Through a simple interface, users can access data by region, state, and/or business type categorized by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Calculating monthly indices for 16 sectors and 34 subsectors, the Fiserv Small Business Index provides a timely, reliable, and consistent measure of small business performance, even in industries dominated by large companies.
To access the full Fiserv Small Business Index, visit fiserv.com/FiservSmallBusinessIndex.
About Fiserv
Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE: FI), a Fortune 500 company, moves money and information the way it 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 such as account processing and digital banking solutions, 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®'s “World's Most Admired Companies” for nine of the last ten years. For more information and the latest company news, visit fiserv.com and follow us on social media.
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