Fiserv, Inc.’s Small Business Index for October shows encouraging momentum for small businesses as the holiday season gets underway.
Sales rose +2.3% year over year, the strongest year-over-year gain since July 2025, and +0.3% month over month.
The Index reached 146 as higher spending per transaction and improving traffic trends supported sales momentum. Average spending per transaction rose +3.5% year over year. Foot traffic declined -1.2%, its 12th consecutive year-over-year decline but the smallest since February 2026. It rose +0.5% month over month.
“Small businesses are entering the holiday season with encouraging momentum on both spending and customer activity,” says Prasanna Dhore, chief data officer, Fiserv. “October’s monthly sales gains come from more purchases, not larger tickets. Sustaining that momentum as holiday shopping accelerates will be the next signal to watch.”
Key takeaways:
· Food services and drinking places sales slipped -0.5% year over year but rose +0.2% month over month, driven by +0.8% monthly growth at limited-service restaurants. Transactions fell -2.7% year over year, an improvement from September's -3.9% decline, while average tickets rose +2.2%. Limited-service restaurants remained down -2.2% year over year as transactions fell -4.0%. Full-service restaurants edged up +0.5%, and drinking places rose +3.7%.
· Grocery sales were flat (0.0% year over year). Transactions grew +1.0% year over year, but average tickets fell -1.1%.
· Total retail sales rose +1.9% year over year on +2.2% transaction growth, while average tickets slipped -0.3%. The biggest contributions to this growth came from gas stations (+23.2%), sporting goods, hobby, music and bookstores (+4.3%) and motor vehicle and parts dealers (+3.0%).
· Furniture, home furnishings, electronics and appliances sales fell -2.5% year over year.
