Fiserv: Rising gas prices push small business retail sales up in March
Higher ticket sizes — led by gasoline — helped increase small business sales in March.
That’s according to the Fiserv Small Business Index for March 2026, which found that year-over-year sales grew 1.3%, despite transactions (foot traffic) slowing (-1.3%). Month-over-month sales (0.7%) and foot traffic (0.5%) both grew slightly compared to February. The seasonally adjusted Index rose to 144.
Small business sales growth was buoyed by higher average tickets, which increased both year over year (2.6%) and month over month (0.2%) in March.
Total retail sales rose month over month (1.2%) and year over year (0.7%) during the month, although gasoline sales accounted for most of the monthly gains. Building materials (3.5%), motor vehicle parts (1.6%) and furniture (1.7%) all increased sales in March, with growth in these subsectors driven by higher foot traffic. Grocery sales continued to soften (-0.5% month over month and -1.5% year over year) as consumers made more budget‑conscious purchasing choices.
“March reflects a small business economy that remains durable, supported by continued growth in consumer spend, but with signs of cautious behavior,” said Prasanna Dhore, chief data officer at Fiserv. “With energy prices rising, households began weighing tradeoffs carefully. Their selectivity was visible with consumers eating out less and making more deliberate purchases.”
Gasoline station sales increased greatly (10.3%) in March, driven mostly by a jump in average tickets (7.2%). Year-over-year sales (12.7%) grew in line with the rise in average tickets (12.9%). Fiserv says consumers may have partially-offset higher gas prices by moderating spending at food services and drinking places (-1.0% year over year).
Limited-service restaurants saw sales decline year over year (-2.9%) as foot traffic fell sharply (-4.2%). Full-service restaurant sales were less affected, with sales growing slightly (0.4%) and foot traffic declining (-0.3%) year over year.
Essential spending outpaced discretionary spending for the 12th consecutive month, according to the March Index. Discretionary categories grew year over year (0.8%) and month over month (0.8%), while essential categories also increased (1.9%) year over year and (0.6%) month over month.
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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.
