Small businesses are growing, and by all accounts, are the strongest they’ve been in recent years according to the ShopKeep Small Business Index (SSBI), which draws upon insights gathered from a survey of 1,480 ShopKeep merchants as well as first quarter same-store sales data.

Following a strong holiday season, survey respondents reported their highest revenue and optimism to date. Ninety-six percent of business owners are confident about the current state of their businesses, versus the current US average of 65 percent, and 97 percent of respondents expressed optimism about the success of their businesses one year from now. Notably, revenue increased for 75 percent of ShopKeep merchants over the last six months and 90 percent of respondents anticipate revenue to continue growing over the next six months.

ShopKeep's cloud-based point-of-sale system powers  more than 16,000 iPad-based POS systems in the United States and Canada.

Other noteworthy economic findings include:

  • Sixty-eight percent of survey respondents reported an increase in net profits over the last six months
  • Same-store sales data revealed a 11 percent increase in the revenue during Q1 2015 as compared to Q1 2014
  • ShopKeep merchants also saw a 17 percent increase in the number of transactions during Q1 2015 as compared to Q1 2014
  • Q1 2015 sales figures reflect a 25 percent increase in revenue for restaurants and bars as compared to Q1 2014

ShopKeep also asked its business owners about the challenges and government policies they foresee impacting the future health and survival of their businesses. Despite this quarter’s strong profits, 61 percent of merchants identified tax and regulatory policy as a potential concern, followed by concerns about economic uncertainty (44 percent), retaining a quality workforce (42 percent) and the cost and availability of health insurance for employees (27 percent).

EMV anxiety
“Each quarter, we conduct this survey to offer some insight into the health of small businesses and identify emerging trends and topics that are currently top of mind for independent business owners,” said ShopKeep president and CEO Norm Merritt. “It is encouraging to see the overwhelming optimism in the small business sector as we head into the second quarter of the year, but even with this positive outlook, we're finding that independent merchants are relying heavily on each other and local resources to run their businesses — especially where EMV (is concerned. With new payments regulations being introduced later this year, ongoing industry-wide education about developing technologies and government policies will be key in maintaining their growth and success.”

EMV refers to new microprocessor embedded credit cards used for years in Europe but only now rolling out in the United States. Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover have set an October 1, 2015 deadline for a shift in liability for fraudulent transactions. After that date, whichever party in a transaction is the least EMV-compliant will be the one on the hook for the fraud. And since the card companies will have sent out nearly one billion EMV chip cards by that point, merchants like you better be ready to accept them.

This third installment of the SSBI builds upon ShopKeep’s findings from the first two indices and reveals that technology and data security remain a priority for growing businesses. With the launch of Apple Pay late last year, the introduction of EMV regulations later this year, and a plethora of other options coming to the forefront, merchants are in favor of gaining knowledge about these new payment technologies now, more than ever. Seventy-eight percent of merchants acknowledged that contactless payment technologies will ultimately lead to increased customer convenience because they can accept more forms of payment and reduce transaction time, but 44 percent of respondents are unsure of how contactless payments will impact the security of their customers’ credit card data.