Introduction

In this week’s report, we look back at the last week’s return to normal after the Labor Day long holiday weekend. 

Overall sales and transaction counts at the small businesses in our sample returned to the levels seen before the holiday weekend.

Key takeaways:

• Sales and transaction counts returned to their pre-Labor Day weekend levels
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• Retail transaction counts are at the highest level we've seen over the past two months
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• Card not present transactions are now 35.4% above the pre-COVID baseline
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About the report

The CardFlight Small Business Report analyzes sales performance and emerging trends among small businesses in 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. Sign up below to receive future report notifications right in your inbox.

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 businesses up nearly 14% last week

Week-over-week sales at the small businesses in our sample increased by 13.7% last week.

Transaction counts up 14% 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 14.1%.

Number of active small businesses up 3.7% last week

This metric measures all businesses who processed at least one transaction in the preceding week. The number of active merchants increased by 3.7% last week.

The average number of transactions per active merchant increased by 10% last week.

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.
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• 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.
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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
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• Tapping a contactless card or smart phone
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• Swiping via magnetic stripe
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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 18% above pre-COVID baseline levels, contactless payment methods are up nearly 164%.

Deep dive: Sales by business category

In this section of the CardFlight Small Business Report, we take a closer look at small business performance by business category.

• Food and Drink establishments: Includes bars and restaurants
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• Services: General contractors, healthcare providers, providers of professional services, and others
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• Retail: Businesses like sporting goods stores, specialty retail, home furnishings, and automotive

Sales at Food and Drink businesses up 6% last week

Sales at Food and Drink businesses increased by 6.1% last week; transaction counts increased by 7.8%.

Retail transaction counts up 18% last week

Sales at the Retail businesses in our sample increased by 3.5% week-over-week; transaction counts increased by 18.3%.

Sales at Services businesses up 16% last week

Sales at businesses in the Services category increased by 16.6% last week; transaction counts increased by 13.6%

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 August 3.3% below July.

Monthly change in transaction counts

Transaction counts ended the month of August 0.1% below July.

Monthly change in active merchants

The number of active small businesses in our sample ended the month of August 1.4% above July.

Thanks for reading

Do you have questions, feedback, or press inquiries? Contact us. You may also view past editions of the CardFlight Small Business Report.

About the 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 report has 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

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.