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Industry News
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Discover says Small Businesses See Improving Economic Picture |
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America’s small business owners expressed higher economic hopes in January, largely due to increased expectations that conditions for their own businesses would improve in the next six months, according to the Discover Small Business Watch. The Watch index jumped to 85.5 from 77.0 in December.
More small business owners are planning to increase business development spending over the next six months, with 25 percent noting they will spend more on activities such as advertising, inventories and capital expenditures. This number is up from 18 percent in December. Further, 28 percent plan to make no changes, while 45 percent will decrease spending, down from 51 percent in December.
“We measure small business insights and expectations about the larger economy as well as on the local level, so it’s good to see confidence rise on Main Street,” said Ryan Scully, director of Discover's business credit card. “January showed us the first month-to-month increase since August in the number of small business owners who plan to increase spending on business development. Self-investment is a healthy sign in the small business economy.” |
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Retail Sales Show Some Strength |
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Retail sales climbed 1.3 percent in November thanks to a strong start to the holiday shopping season, according to the New York Times. The paper also says a report of improved consumer confidence has raised hopes that consumers may be spending more despite high unemployment. The retail sales increase doubled the increase forecast by economists. The strong overall gains were led by sales of cars and gasoline, though sales of many types of goods, including food, electronics, garden supplies, and sporting goods, also rose. Economists say that sales data issued by the U.S. Commerce Department has bolstered the projection of modest growth in consumer spending over the next several months. Meanwhile, the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index has posted its first gain in three months and beat expectations with a reading of 73.4 in early December, representing a 6-point increase. |
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First Data Reports Black Friday Results |
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First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, today released First Data SpendTrend™ transaction data from Black Friday 2009 compared to last year. SpendTrend tracks same store consumer spending via credit, signature debit, PIN debit and EBT cards.
Overall transactions on Black Friday showed a healthy growth of 7.9% over 2008 and were in line with the overall transaction growth in October 2009 which was 8.2%. Same store sales volume increased 4.8% led by solid growth among value merchants.
Black Friday Transactions
| CHANGE
| Black Friday Volume
| CHANGE
| | Credit & Signature Debit | +5.8%
| Credit & Signature Debit | +2.5%
| PIN Debit
| +8.9%
| PIN Debit
| +7.6% | | Total Transactions | +7.9%
| Total Volume
| +4.8% |
Note: All transactions and volume are same store growth.
“Black Friday was better than last year both in terms of transaction growth and total dollars spent at the point of sale,” said Silvio Tavares, senior vice president of Investor Relations and Decision Support at First Data. “However, there is reason to remain cautious as our analysis suggests consumers remain very value conscious and paid more often with their debit cards instead of credit cards.”
In other news, First Data recently released its Holiday Gift Card Performance Report comparing gift card sales for the week ending November 29, 2009. The total dollar value of gift cards activated Friday grew 17.8% and the number of cards activated grew 9.8%.
Additional data from the SpendTrend Black Friday 2009 report can be accessed at www.firstdata.com
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Amex to Buy Revolution Money |
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In what it called a "small" deal worth about $300 million, American Express has announced plans to buy Revolution Money, the card-based alternative payments platform launched in 2007 by a goup that included former AOL Chief Executive Steve Case. American Express CEO Ken Chennault said his company believes Revolution Money "has big potential," and indicated that Amex plans to take the low-cost payments platform global. The immediate effect will be to give American Express a foothold in the alternative payments arena and the technology supporting it. The deal also -- at least potentially -- gives Amex closer business ties to several financial institutions with substantial issuing and aquiring operations. Citigroup and Fifth-Third Bank, for example, both issue Revolution Money cards and Fifth Third also includes Revolution card acceptaance in its merchant acquiring operations |
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Survey: Credit Cards Continue to Give Ground to Debit, Cash |
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A survey commissioned by the retail industry says shoppers will continue to move away from credit cards and twoard cash and debit in paying for their holiday shopping.
The percentage of shoppers using credit cards in the critical holiday season is expected to decline 10.1 percent this year to 28.3 percent. Last year, the percentage was 31.5, according to a survey released on recently by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and BIGresearch.
Cash as a payment method is making up the difference, with a quarter of shoppers expecting to use paper, up 9.1 percent from the 2008 holiday season.
The survey's results confirm earlier research data that inidicates consumers have moved away from credit and turned to cash or debit cards in an attempt to better control their finances and limit borrowing.
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