BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The bedrock businesses of the American economy, from your local drycleaner to your favorite pizza place to home construction, continue to grow faster than the U.S. GDP, according to data from the latest Store Front Business Index (SFBI), a collaboration between CAN Capital and PYMNTS.com. The SFBI tracks roughly 3.4 million business establishments in the U.S. through measurements in real terms based on growth in new establishments, real wages and employment.
The Store Front Business Index uses data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics[1] only for our selected industries.[2] In total, it uses over 10 million data records covering the number of establishments, employees and total wages. The SFBI is calculated as a weighted average of the three factors: the number of establishments; the number of employees; and the total wages paid for select industries.
The Index, stood at 113.7 points in Q3 2015, compared with 109.9 points in Q3 2014.
This represents growth of 3.5% between Q3 2014 and Q3 2015. Based on compounded annual growth rates, that growth outpaced real GDP growth of 2.0% -- a significant difference of 150 basis points.
Other highlights of the study include:
- In Q3 2015, specific improvement was driven regionally by 4.3% and 4.2% gains in the Southwest and Mountain areas, respectively. The fastest growing category was Professional Services, which gained 5.0%.
- We forecast a continued increase with the SFBI standing at 115.3 points for Q1 2016, which represents growth of 3.1% annually.
- Growth for total wages has been strong and, on average, grew 6.1%. This growth is projected to slow down, but still in increase by 5.2% for the 1st quarter of 2016.
“As an avid supporter of small businesses, CAN Capital is pleased to see strong, healthy growth across all Main Street establishments,” said Daniel DeMeo, CEO, CAN Capital. “When these small businesses are looking to expand during periods of rapid growth, having access to working capital is more important than ever. As the market share leader in alternative small business finance, we remain committed to serving small business owners who are looking for resources to help grow their store front businesses.”
More detailed findings from the Store Front Business Index can be found here.
Note to Editors
The Store Front Business Index, powered by PYMNTS.com provides a quarterly metric to measure the health of a subset of small businesses in the United States, with a specific emphasis on “store fronts” or those businesses found in local communities. To help create the index, PYMNTS devised the methodology, model and the analytics behind the Index, while CAN Capital provided insights from their more than 18 years of experience with these types of businesses. The Index is based on three criteria: growth in new establishments, wages and employment and tracks approximately 36.7% of the small business establishments in the US, which is roughly 3.4 million merchants. The average business employs a little more than 9 people per location.
The study evaluates the merchants and service providers that are most typically found in urban and suburban areas: eating establishments, professional and personal services, construction, remodeling and repair services, fitness, and a wide variety of retailers.
About CAN Capital
CAN Capital, Inc., established in 1998, is the pioneer and market share leader in alternative small business finance, having provided access to over $6.0 billion in capital for over 70,000 small businesses in a wide range of locations and different business types. As a technology-powered financial services provider, CAN Capital uses innovative and proprietary risk models combined with daily performance data to evaluate business performance and facilitate access to capital for entrepreneurs in a fast and efficient way.
CAN Capital, Inc. makes capital available to businesses through business loans made by WebBank, a Utah chartered Industrial Bank, member FDIC, and through CAN Capital’s subsidiaries: Merchant Cash Advances by CAN Capital Merchant Services, Inc., and business loans by CAN Capital Asset Servicing, Inc.
For more information, please visit: www.cancapital.com. Follow CAN Capital on Twitter and Facebook.
About PYMNTS.com
PYMNTS.com is reinventing the way in which companies in payments create and share relevant information about the initiatives that shape the future of payments and commerce and make news. This powerful B2B platform is the #1 site for the payments and broader commerce ecosystem by traffic and the premier source of information about “what’s next” in payments. C-suite and VP level executives turn to it daily for these insights, making the PYMNTS.com audience the most valuable in the industry. It provides an interactive platform for companies to demonstrate thought leadership, popularize products and, most importantly, capture the mindshare of global decision-makers. PYMNTS.com also produces a number of proprietary data assets and sector trackers, including The Store Front Business Index. PYMNTS.com, where the best minds and best content meet on the web to learn “What’s Next” in Payments and Commerce.
[1] http://www.bls.gov/cew/dataguide.htm
[2]
Actual data is available through the 2nd quarter of 2015.
Projections were developed for the 3rd and 4th
quarter of 2015 using the calculated values of the Index along with
industry and regional macro-economic data on GDP and employment, which
were proven to be highly correlated with our Index data, using rigorous
econometric tools and techniques.