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Small Business Sales Accelerate in March 2025, Driven by Services Demand and Shifting Consumer Habits, Fiserv Reports
In a new report released by Fiserv, Inc., a global leader in payments and financial services technology, small businesses across the United States showed promising signs of growth in March 2025. The Fiserv Small Business Index®—a benchmark for tracking consumer spending and transaction activity at U.S. small businesses—rose three points from February to reach a seasonally adjusted level of 150. This marked a notable acceleration and reflects the continued resilience of small businesses amid broader economic uncertainty.
“U.S. consumers spent locally despite the economic narrative,” said Prasanna Dhore, Chief Data Officer at Fiserv. “March small business sales improved from February with a shift in consumer spending away from retail and into services and non-discretionary spending.”
This uptick in economic activity was fueled by robust demand for service-based offerings and increased foot traffic at restaurants, even as average transaction amounts in those establishments continued to decline. The data paints a complex picture of evolving consumer behaviors, influenced by both inflation and economic sentiment.
Year-over-Year Growth Demonstrates Resilience
Despite ongoing macroeconomic pressures, small businesses demonstrated healthy growth in both sales and transaction volumes. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, small business sales increased by 5.5%, while transaction volume surged 6.7%. Month-over-month (MoM) data also reflected improvement, with sales rising 1.8% and total transactions growing 2.3%.
Crucially, after adjusting for inflation, real sales still showed strong growth—up 3.0% YoY and 1.5% MoM. These figures suggest that consumer activity is not only recovering but expanding, despite rising costs of living and economic headwinds.
Services Sector Powers Ahead
The service sector emerged as a standout performer in March. Service-based small businesses saw sales climb by 6.2% year-over-year, driven by a notable uptick in demand across several key categories.
The most significant growth was seen in:
- Hospitals: +26.3% YoY
- Information Services: +11.7%
- Professional Services: +11.5%
- Truck Transportation: +11.4%
These figures indicate that both essential and professional services continue to experience heightened consumer engagement, perhaps influenced by seasonal needs and shifts in consumer preferences toward experience and necessity-based expenditures.
However, not all segments thrived. Entertainment-related services saw slight declines, with Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation down 3.3%, Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation down 2.1%, and Accommodation slipping by 0.1%. This suggests that while consumers are willing to spend on health, business, and utility-oriented services, discretionary travel and leisure may be taking a backseat.
Compared to February 2025, the fastest-growing service categories were:
- Information Services: +10.9% MoM
- Insurance Services: +7.1%
- Rental and Leasing Services: +7.1%
Only Repair and Maintenance Services experienced a minor MoM contraction, dipping 0.1%.
Restaurant Foot Traffic Up, But Spending Down
A fascinating trend continues to unfold in the restaurant sector. While total consumer spending at small business restaurants declined 0.6% YoY, restaurant transactions actually increased by a substantial 7.9%. This apparent contradiction is driven by shrinking average ticket sizes, which dropped 8.5% compared to 2024 levels.
This downward pressure on average spend per visit highlights an emerging consumer behavior trend: people are eating out more frequently but spending less each time. This may reflect increased price sensitivity or a preference for smaller, more budget-conscious meals.
Still, the month-over-month numbers were more encouraging. March saw:
- Restaurant sales: +2.7% MoM
- Transactions (foot traffic): +1.8%
- Average ticket size: +1.0%
These figures suggest that while average spending remains below prior-year levels, restaurants are seeing increased customer visits and slight upticks in spending compared to the previous month.
Retail Growth Slows as Spending Priorities Shift
Retail small businesses also posted modest gains in March, although growth was noticeably more restrained than in the service sector. Year-over-year retail sales rose 3.2%, with transactions increasing by 3.6%. Leading retail segments included:
- General Merchandise: +11.4% YoY
- Furniture: +6.7%
- Building Materials & Garden Supplies: +6.1%
However, the retail category wasn’t universally positive. Gasoline Stations reported a 3.0% drop in sales, driven in part by a 4.8% decrease in fuel prices.
On a month-over-month basis, the story was more muted. Retail sales dipped slightly (-0.1%), and average ticket sizes also fell (-1.9%). This pullback follows a robust February and may reflect growing consumer caution amid persistent economic uncertainty. The strongest MoM growth was in:
- General Merchandise: +1.9%
- Building Materials/Garden Supplies: +1.6%
- Grocery: +1.2%
Slower activity was observed in Furniture, Motor Vehicle Parts, and Sporting Goods, indicating some tightening in discretionary categories.
Regional Insights Highlight Growth Hotspots
Fiserv’s analysis also revealed geographic differences in small business performance, with the Midwest and Southeast showing the strongest year-over-year gains.
Top-performing states by YoY sales growth included:
- Georgia: +15.3%
- South Carolina: +13.4%
- North Dakota: +13.3%
- North Carolina: +12.4%
From a month-over-month perspective, the leading states were:
- Illinois: +5.7%
- Ohio: +5.3%
- West Virginia: +5.1%
Among major metropolitan areas, Atlanta posted the highest YoY sales growth at +17.3%, followed by Philadelphia at +6.3%. Meanwhile, San Francisco (+4.6%) and Los Angeles (+4.3%) led the pack in month-over-month sales gains, highlighting the strength of small business ecosystems in both the South and the West.
Understanding the Fiserv Small Business Index®
The Fiserv Small Business Index is a powerful analytical tool designed to offer a real-time snapshot of small business health in the U.S. Unlike traditional survey-based metrics, the Index is grounded in actual transactional data. It captures a wide array of payment activity—including credit card, debit card, cash, and check transactions—both in-store and online, across a diverse range of small businesses.
With data drawn from over 2 million small business locations, including hundreds of thousands using Fiserv’s Clover® point-of-sale system, the Index offers a uniquely comprehensive and granular view of consumer behavior. It is benchmarked to a base year of 2019 and computes monthly indices for 16 major sectors and 34 sub-sectors, ensuring timely, accurate, and actionable insights for policymakers, financial institutions, and entrepreneurs alike.
Users can drill down into the data through an intuitive online interface that allows filtering by region, state, and industry classification (NAICS code). This level of detail makes it especially valuable for tracking trends that affect local economies and niche industries.
To access the full Fiserv Small Business Index, visit fiserv.com/FiservSmallBusinessIndex.
About Fiserv
Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FI) is a Fortune 500 company and a global powerhouse in payments and financial services technology. The company is committed to moving money and information in ways that power the global economy, helping businesses, financial institutions, and individuals thrive in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
Fiserv’s solutions span a wide array of financial services, including:
- Account processing and digital banking
- Card issuing and network services
- Merchant acquiring and processing
- E-commerce solutions
- Clover® cloud-based point-of-sale technology
The company is a member of the S&P 500® and has consistently ranked among Fortune® World’s Most Admired Companies™. Fiserv’s innovations continue to shape the future of commerce, financial transactions, and business management.
For more information about Fiserv and its suite of offerings, visit fiserv.com and follow them on their social media channels for the latest news and insights.
The March 2025 Fiserv Small Business Index provides a compelling snapshot of how America’s small businesses are adapting to shifting economic currents. With strong service sector growth, expanding regional economies, and evolving consumer spending habits, the report highlights the resilience and dynamism of this critical segment of the U.S. economy.
As inflationary pressures and consumer sentiment continue to evolve, tools like the Fiserv Small Business Index will be essential for understanding the pulse of the nation’s small business landscape. Whether you’re a policymaker, investor, or small business owner, staying tuned to these data-driven insights will be key to navigating the road ahead.
