Alignable’s Main Street Merchant Report is out today, and the news heading into Small Business Saturday shows that the struggle for brick-and-mortar, B2C businesses is intensifying, when it should be improving.
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A staggering 56% of independent merchants predict they’ll make half or less on Small Business Saturday in 2023 than they did in 2022.
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Beyond that, interest in Small Business Saturday has wavered, as only 20% of B2C business owners polled have fully committed to participate. Another 28% are still undecided.
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Revenue losses for small retailers hit a six-month high this month with 49% reporting they’re making half or less than they did monthly prior to COVID. This represents the biggest surge in monthly revenue loss this year, up seven percentage points from October.
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Most say this is due to still-high interest rates, the effects of cumulative inflation, and a significant drop in consumer spending on Main Street. This month, 49% of SMBs reported a decline in consumer spending, up 10 percentage points from October, when the figure was just 39%.
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Projected Small Business Saturday participation rates among the states show that CO-based SMBs are most enthusiastic with 35% planning to participate, followed by PA at 30%, and IL & TX at 25%.
These findings are based on responses from 2,833 randomly selected small business owners polled from 11/2/23 to 11/20/23, along with historical input from another 23,000+ past survey participants.
In light of these statistics, Main Street advocates are sounding the alarm. They’re calling for a shift away from online shopping at major national companies or big box stores, imploring consumers to come back to local merchants and spend more with them.
