Small Business News

Holiday Spending at Small Businesses Could Reach $88 Billion

With Halloween just a weekend away, the focus will quickly be shifting to the holiday season. For small business owners, that likely means looking forward to a surge in sales, including from retail holidays such as Small Business Saturday. On that note, a recent survey highlighted potential good news for smaller retailers, even amid inflation and economic worries.

According to a survey from Intuit QuickBooks, consumers intend on spending 40% of their holiday budget at small businesses this shopping season. This extrapolates to an estimated $88 billion in small business spending.

Despite continued economic concerns and shaky consumer confidence, small businesses surveyed expressed optimism for the holidays. In fact, 70% of respondents reported forecasting greater revenue this winter than in the previous yuletide season. That said, there’s also more pressure on this shopping season, with 80% of businesses surveyed stating that this year is more important to their overall financial health than 2021.

Unfortunately, while sales may be stronger this holiday season, small business owners are also bracing for some headaches. Of those surveyed, 70% of business owners expect to encounter inventory or product issues. Moreover, 90% are anticipating problems with shipping and fulfillment. Additionally, businesses ranked hiring and supply chain concerns as the biggest factors that could potentially impact their holiday revenue.

Commenting on the survey results while adding a personal anecdote, Long Dog Clothing Company founders Anthony and Courtney Bui told Intuit, “The holiday season is always the biggest time of the year for our business, but this year it is incredibly important for us to hit sales. Due to challenges in the marketplace such as higher supplier prices and supply chain issues, this holiday season is definitely a make or break for us.”

Offering some advice to entrepreneurs as the holiday season approaches, QuickBooks Commerce VP Shilpa Reddy said, “To capture consumer spend, small businesses should embrace selling online across multiple sales channels, staying ahead of the game in procuring and effectively managing inventory, and delivering seamless shopping and shipping experiences.”

Following some challenging years for small business owners (and all Americans, for that matter), retailers could really use a successful 2022 holiday season. While there are plenty of obstacles that could get in the way of that, the good news is that shoppers do seem willing to spend a good amount of their budgets at smaller retailers this year. Of course, small businesses can also help spur such spending by participating in Small Business Saturday, spotlighting their offerings, and more. With that, hopefully when the new year arrives, small businesses will be able to look back at what was a successful 2022 shopping season.