Fiserv: December small business sales increase to close out 2025
Late-season holiday shopping helped sales at small businesses rise in December.
Year-over-year sales grew 1.6% in December due to higher average ticket sizes and steady demand for essentials, according to the latest Fiserv Small Business Index. December sales rose 0.8% month over month, while transaction volume remained flat.
Compared to 2024, average ticket sizes were up 2.0% in December, signaling that consumers spent more per purchase during the holiday period, according to Fiserv. The seasonally-adjusted Index climbed to 144.
Retail sales among small businesses rose 0.9% month over month and 0.3% year over year, with core retail (excluding volatile categories) seeing a 1.1% increase. Sporting goods (5.2%) led annual gains, supported by increased foot traffic (5.8%).
Essential categories continued to outperform discretionary purchases, growing 2.8% year over year compared to discretionary items (0.7%). Grocery sales dipped slightly (-0.3%) despite a small rise in foot traffic (0.2%).
“December’s sales gains show the resilience of small businesses during a competitive holiday season,” said Prasanna Dhore, chief data officer at Fiserv. “Consumers focused on essentials and made selective discretionary purchases, driven by ongoing cost pressures. These patterns, resulting in modest monthly sales growth, highlight how small businesses continue to adjust in a challenging economic climate.”
[READ MORE: Visa: Holiday spending rose 4.2%; in-store sales capture 73% of spend]
Small business restaurants saw minimal change in December, with sales up 0.1% year over year and flat month over month. Falling year-over-year foot traffic (-1.5%) was the key driver of the low annual growth, according to Fiserv. Limited-service restaurants outperformed full-service restaurants year over year (0.5% vs. -0.6%), while bars saw a 1.0% increase in sales, driven entirely by increased foot traffic.
Compared to November, sales grew in 43 of 50 states during the month of December, a significant increase from the month prior, when only 11 states saw sales increases. Monthly increases from high-volume states, including California (1.6%) and Texas (1.1%), contributed significantly to the growth, according to the Index. New York (-0.5%), Colorado (-1.5%) and Pennsylvania (-0.2%) were among the few states to experience month-over-month declines.
The Fiserv Small Business Index is derived from point-of-sale transaction data, including card, cash and check transactions in-store and online across approximately 2 million U.S. small businesses, including hundreds of thousands leveraging the Clover point-of-sale and business management platform.
