Sam’s unveils a new kind of insights initiative

Sam’s Club and the Gallup organization have launched a new quarterly tracking poll that focuses on the smallest of small business.

The poll is designed to look at what Sam’s is calling “microbusiness,” companies with five or fewer employees, that represent a core customer of Sam’s Club and are estimated to total 25 million.

“Sam’s Club has served microbusiness members for more than 30 years,” said Rosalind Brewer, president and CEO of Sam’s Club. “We’re always conducting research with members to understand their needs and concerns, but with the Microbusiness Tracker, we want to give a broader, national voice to microbusiness. We believe these vital community businesses and the challenges of these entrepreneurs aren’t always represented in the small business discourse.”

According to Sangeeta Badal PhD, Gallups lead researcher in the area of entrepreneurship and job creation, microbusinesses are a unique segment within American small businesses, especially since the federal government defines as companies with up to 500 employees as small business.

“Microbusinesses are the smallest of the small. It’s important that not only owners themselves, but policy makers, understand the different challenges microbusinesses are facing,” Badal said. “Microbusiness owners are constantly juggling multiple tasks, from managing the day-to-day running of the business to generating leads and finding customers. This leads to uneven sales. Very few have enough cash to pay their bills let alone save for future growth. These business owners operate on little-to-no margin of error and need support. The unique data of the Sam’s Club/Gallup Microbusiness Tracker not only aids policy and decision-making at the national level, but also provides real actionable insight for microbusiness owners.”