Introduction

In this week’s report, we look at the change in sales at the small businesses in our sample over the week of June 21 – June 27, 2021.

Note: There will be no CardFlight Small Business Report next week (July 7, 2021). We will resume publishing after the Fourth of July holiday (July 14, 2021).

Key takeaways

• Overall sales and transaction counts were relatively flat last week
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• Transaction counts made via contactless tap are now 574% above the pre-COVID baseline
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• Card-present sales were up 1%; card-not-present sales were down 4% last week

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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 Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, Business Insider, Digital Transactions, PaymentsJournal, and PaymentsSource.

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Last week's small business metrics

First, we examine change in week-over-week small business performance by analyzing change in overall sales, number of transactions per business, and more.

Week-over-week change in sales

This metric compares change in sales at US small businesses from the pre-COVID baseline week of March 2–8, 2020 over the preceding eight weeks.

Transaction counts

The transaction count metric represents the total number of transactions processed by the small businesses in our sample.

Change in active small businesses

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.

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 touch-free ways to pay

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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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 195% higher than their pre-COVID baseline levels.

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

Monthly change in transaction counts

Monthly change in active merchants

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

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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 Wall Street Journal, 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 75,000 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 
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• 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.

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