So says ShopKeep, a cloud-based technology provider of an iPad-based point-of-sale system. The results in its Small Business Index are gathered from a survey of 657 customers as well as annual and quarterly same-store sales.
Other notable findings include:
• 78% of respondents expect seasonal sales to be better than or the same as last year, supporting the National Retail Federation’s forecasting that holiday sales will increase by 4.1% this year.
• Hiring seasonal employees is another indicator of a positive outlook for the holidays. Of the respondents who are planning on hiring seasonal employees:
• 81% are planning on hiring 1-3 people
• 9% are planning on hiring 4-6 people
• 6% are planning on hiring 7-10 people
• 4% are planning on hiring 10+
• 84% of respondents found this quarter’s sales volume to be higher or about the same compared to last quarter, indicating solid business performance across ShopKeep users.
• Supporting their optimism in the holiday period, 31% of respondents plan to extend holiday hours to accommodate for additional traffic.
ShopKeep also looked at same-store sales for its customer base and noticed specific trends in the data that indicate economic growth and growing consumer confidence, underscoring the optimism expressed by its customers. Looking closely at the year-over-year same-store sales from September 2013 to September 2014, there was steady growth that supports retailers’ confidence approaching this holiday season. Overall:
• A 12% increase in sales
• A 6.5% increase in number of transactions
• A 5.4% increase in transaction size
Despite these increases in revenue and confidence for the holiday season, the survey results also revealed that security remains a major concern for business owners. Sixty-three percent of respondents were concerned about the security of their customers’ credit or debit card information.
