New MasterCard report: Small retailer growth outpaces larger retailers for nine consecutive months

Purchase, N.Y. -- June spending at small retailers increased 8% in 2012 compared to June 2011, higher than the overall U.S. retail growth rate of 6.9%, according to a new SpendingPulse report issued by MasterCard Advisors in partnership with Wells Fargo. The same report also found that sales growth at small retailers has now outperformed growth of overall retail sales for nine consecutive months, since October 2011.



The report, MasterCard SendingPulse for Small Business, provides a new view gauging the health of sales within the small retailer segment of the economy, which are retailers with less than $35 million in annual sales and less than 200 employees -- most have less than $10 million in annual sales. It offers aggregated information on retail sales trends that small business stakeholders can use to make informed and timely decisions.



“Small retailers account for approximately a third of total retail sales in the U.S., so a detailed understanding of this sector is crucial to understanding the economy as a whole,” said Michael McNamara, global solutions leader, MasterCard SpendingPulse.



The new report on small business is an extension of the MasterCard SpendingPulse report, a leading macro-economic indicator reporting on national retail sales, and is based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, coupled with estimates for all other payment forms, including cash and check.