Fiserv: Small business sales fall in June as spending slows
Small business sales increased annually in June, but were down month over month as consumers pulled back on spending.
Fiserv’s Small Business Index for June 2025 revealed that sales grew 4.4% compared to the year prior, with foot traffic (transactions) (+2.2%) and average ticket sizes (+2.0%) also growing annually. However, there was a slight dip compared to May, with month-over-month sales declining -1.4%, reflecting a slowdown in consumer activity, according to Fiserv.
Foot traffic (-2.0% ) also declined in June compared to May, although ticket sizes increased slightly (+0.6%). The seasonally-adjusted Index declined two points to 148.
"Small business sales continue to be impacted by economic uncertainty, causing many consumers to spend with more caution,” said Prasanna Dhore, chief data officer, Fiserv. “Discretionary spending declined again in June, and consumers diverted more dollars to the essentials.”
Retail Sales
In June 2025, retail sales decreased 1.7% month over month, while growing (+1.7%) year over year. Transactions followed a similar trend with a month-over-month decrease (-1.0%) and year-over-year growth (+1.9%).
The only retail subsector with month-over-month gains in June was food & beverage retail (+0.9%). Year over year shows a more positive story, as most retail subsectors continued to see growth, including furniture, electronics and appliances (+4.5%), food & beverage retail (+4.1%), and sporting goods (+3.4)>
Services
Compared to May 2025, services (-1.2%) declined, though not as much as goods (-2.0%). Some service-based categories showed month-over-month growth, including administration and support services, education, hospitals, and rental and leasing services.
Compared to June 2024, sales of services (+5.2%) outperformed goods (+2.3%), an ongoing trend for 2025. Service-based businesses seeing strong year-over-year growth included food manufacturing (+11.7%) and professional services (+9.0%).
Restaurants
Consumer spending at small business restaurants declined (-2.6%) in June when compared to May 2025. But it grew slightly (+0.4%) year over year.
The month-over-month sales declines were the result of foot traffic slipping (-2.5%) compared to May, which had already seen a -5.6% drop from April. This directly affected sales, despite average ticket sizes (-0.1%) remaining relatively flat.
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Compared to May, small business sales grew in 10 of 50 states, following a pattern of spotty growth nationwide. The most aggressive month-over-month sales growth was concentrated among smaller states, led by Alabama (+3.5%), North Dakota (+5.8%) and Alaska (+6.1%). Larger states, including California (-2.3%), New York (-4.2%) and Texas (-1.2%) experienced month-over-month sales declines.
Among major metropolitan areas, San Francisco (+8.5%) and Atlanta (+13.6%) were the strongest-performing large cities for small business sales growth year over year. Month-over-month sales growth among large metro areas was limited to Boston (+1.2%).