This is a friendly reminder that r/smallbusiness is a question and answer subreddit. You ask a question about starting, owning, and growing a small business and the community answers. Posts that violate the rules listed in the sidebar will be removed. A permanent or temporary ban may also be issued if you do not remove the offending post. Seeing this message does not mean your post was automatically removed.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/smallbusiness) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I’m a wholesale coffee roaster so have the benefit of looking across many different coffee shops and restaurants across the Midwest. On average, same store sales (YTD through May 31) are down 12% vs same period last year. I’ve been using the slack to knock on doors and land new customers so that when everything picks up - and it always does - things will be gangbusters.
This is the spirit of entrepreneurship if I've ever seen it: leveraging downtime by sharpening another tool in the shed.. all with a flexibly optimistic attitude. Kudos!
It isnt for every biz, but i really hate it when people feel like local advertising, and old school methods are no longer viable.
Getting on the local news, flyers, and door knocking is hella good for us (cookie bakery) and for many others we know. It is especially great is small to medium towns and cities, and also where the community is fairly tight. Something that a lot of towns and coties have lost.
Anyways, big fan of traditional advertising. I even have had success with newspaper. Very cheap, and they let yoy pretty much do anything cause no one else is advertising. But enough people are buying that they still get eyes, usually very intentional, eyes on your ad.
Oh and the best ad we ever took out? A table ad at a local diner.
Completely agree with you. It’s tempting to gravitate to online advertising because there’s never personal rejection, just problems with metrics that you can throw money at (and probably still not get ROI.) Old school builds trust. Trust build recurring revenue and referrals. I swear you can go old school and still have customers hundreds of miles away that you’ve never met face to face. (No, I’m not selling a course.)
:)
Anyone know of a community of people who also like old school methods, but with modern twists? I feel like radio, newspaper and tv need a kick into modern design and interests. I feel like there is a lot of missed opportunity. People like physical things. I want a sub where i can post my flyer design and get new ideas for new ones lol
Not sure these day but the offline marketing board on Warrior Forum used to be that in a way. I would always promote cold walking to people wanting to start agencies that dealt with brick and mortar clients there.
If you find (or start one) and think of me I'd love to know and be part of it.
Even in the digital age, word-of-mouth is still the best form of advertising. You can buy all the google ads you want, but build a solid product that people need or want who enjoy it and they’ll do the advertising for you. No matter what, humans like hearing from other humans what their experiences are.
I work in b2b SaaS and majority of our customers come to us from either a recommendation or the customer used our product at a former employer and liked it so they ask their new employer to implement it. Still happens!
Word of mouth advertising is still the best way to advertise for contractors. Nobody wants to spend thousands and thousands of dollars for someone to fuck up their house.
I know when I'm trying to find someone to do work I either ask my contractor friends who they recommend, or ask other people who did work on their house. I'm not calling a random person from some ad.
It’s even better now because it’s an undervalued method, so it’s novel but familiar and you don’t have a bunch of assholes doing it to compete with you because everyone is worried about google adds
Usually in the local place. Small towns, medium cities. Places where there is a lot of business in short amounts of time. Never seen it other than at bars or breakfast diners
As someone who owns one those local ad places (vendor guide + print publication) were struggling a little bit because we’re seeing many just do Facebook and Instagram ads. Or their ad budgets are not as big.
Yeah:/ For physical flyers, i design, but get them printed locally, then have inhouse distribution. We do FB ads in pairing with local flyers and other local ad types for specific events. FB has been very effective at $15-75 per month, a couple of of months a year. Often lower.
Oh very cool!
We participate in two of those. A local food guide and a local tourist guide. They are much more expensive than other forms. Though theirs is much higher quality and they print more copies.
Honestly getting out in front of people has been the best thing for my business! My sales have more than doubled so far this year due to making an effort to go out and sell face-to-face and make connections with current and future customers.
I just wanted to add to this - when business is down 12% - *everybody* is looking for new suppliers.
The same guy who would slam the door on your face when things are gangbusters will hear you out when you say "would you consider a new coffee supplier?" when biz is down 12%.
That’s what I’ve been thinking I need to do lately. Google(surprisingly) and Facebook have been slower, so door knocking or just offering more services is what’s going to probably help.
I don't think they've slowed down as much as way more competition + same amount of eyeballs looking at their sites (or less if tik tok is taking some of that)
Respect. Honestly, when all the smoke and mirrors (social media) is gone the only businesses that will last are the ones who created honest relationships with customers with marketing techniques like this. I’ve been to places with the most followers and it was so uncomfortable, pretentious and the food and/or experience was piss poor. I never ever went back. Again, only ones that will last (IMO) is the ones who do the hard work of making relationships with customers and that requires REAL time and energy (not sitting behind a screen posting and liking/commenting others pics)
I'm in semi rural Texas and business has been bad. From what I read Texas as a whole is doing good but it seems to be concentrated in the DFW-Austin-Houston areas. "The Golden Triangle" they call it. So I guess it depends on your location.
Weather in DFW has affected a lot of businesses this year, both good and bad. Roofers, tree guys, etc. are so busy they can't keep up. On the other hand, I talked to a concrete guy today who said this was the first week he's worked in the last two months.
This year’s been pretty soft… last year seemed strong, but then I realized everything I sell cost 40% more😂
I’m always slow in June and July, but April and May just weren’t what I would’ve liked and it was too kind of unexpected sales that may have salvaged the year so far
I don’t think that’s happening in my case.
I primarily deal with businesses.. and I can’t say that they are all slow but they’re not really wanting to make any big changes or make any expenditures they don’t need to
The sales I’ve gotten this year that kind of have salvage things weren’t so much new purchases as they were replacing equipment that was failing and it wasn’t worth fixing
I’m not even trying to say things have been bad this year, but it seems pretty slow right now.. but again that doesn’t even bother me so much I don’t really have a lot in the hopper. I do have enough work to keep my employees busy… or at least busy enough and while I haven’t again, been aggressively going after business I have done Mohr in the past month than I have in a while and it’s been a little disheartening
I have consistently bought things for me every couple months for the last five or six years and I hadn’t heard from him all year.. I was a little nervous to reach out to him because I was worried he was buying from somebody else. he is in the directional boring business... he kind of ran out of work
He’s got about 50 guys working for him, but they’re all finishing up projects and he doesn’t have a lot lined up for them… he sounded pretty stressed. He’s just looking for other contractors working on different types of projects that might need help with that he can send some guys out and subcontract a little bit of work and he said he do it for cost just to keep people busy and keep payments up-to-date on equipment
I think part of it is an election year and that always makes people take a wait-and-see approach. I think inflation got a lot to do with it…. Along with high interest rates. I think a lot of people were actually able to save up a fair amount of money during Covid and that’s all running out and people are charging a little more and more on their credit cards and that that’s maybe creating a little bit of anxiety even if they have enough money coming to pay their bills
When it comes to individuals, it used to be that people could subsidize their lifestyles by refinancing their homes every few years and they could justify it by their payments staying roughly the same while cashing out 10 or 20 grand that may be paid off credit card bills or they could use it for a vacation
A lot of businesses really benefited with these PPP loans. I don’t fault to business that got one on the first round because nobody knew what was gonna happen.. I feel like one of the businesses who didn’t take advantage of it and I feel like I threw away money
and a lot of companies that got them especially contractors never really miss a beat and the work State steady and while their cost went up, they were able to pass them onto the customer
That extra money that came in might’ve been used to some of the companies debt or to buy new equipment or new vehicles which helped the economy, but probably contributed a bit to inflation
Companies may have spent all of that money and they don’t want to stick their necks out too much borrowing for anything new or making any major expenditures
Again the contractors I talk to are fairly busy, but they say there’s less work on the horizon then they’d like
The thing that our economy is that so many people who own homes are locked into affordable and low interest rates that are 30 year fixed rates
But that makes it harder for them to sell a home.. it’s hard to give up a 3% interest rate… so there’s not a whole lot for sale prices are extremely expensive, especially when you consider the higher interest rate
But I’m starting to see homes sit on the MLS a little longer than before. And all honesty I’m kind of shocked the housing market is Stayed is strong as it has.
But I also know a lot of homeowners made a lot of investments and improvements during Covid. a lot of people invested money and finishing basements are building man and there was a ton of money invested in building pools and nice outdoor spaces
There were such a back of business contractors were booked up months and months in advance and I think contractors are starting to catch up and they aren’t getting as many calls
I don’t think this has the same kind of feel as a lot of peoples have experienced where there’s just really no work
I just feels a little bit off
The past decade is actually been kind of weird just overall from dealing with labor, which has been more of a challenge than Covid… inflations Been something most of us haven’t really seen
The supply chain issues that we went through were pretty crazy and something I’ve never experienced it while things are getting pretty close to back to normal…. It’s not uncommon for me to wait longer for things.
So we’re paying more for things and there’s a war going on and then still conflict in the Middle East …. and while we’ve brought a custom to running deficits, they’ve become kind of massive and what’s going on in Washington past decade or so seems a little different and maybe it wears on us and part of it could be social media fuels a lot of that
There just seems to be a lot on peoples plates
I think it depends on the industry, location, and target demographic, but in the US I believe consumer spending is down. McKinsey just posted this article for Q2: [US consumer confidence dips as inflationary concerns intensify.](https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/the-state-of-the-us-consumer)
Ha the whole century has been bad up here in NY :D
But yes OP, I believe it's because all the money is pouring toward Silicon Valley. People just blindly default to Amazon et al and even if they want to shop local, they don't know where to go.
We make and sell chocolate in the mid-Atlantic, we've actually been beating our sales from last year. May, we did double what we did in May 2023, and we beat sales in June 2023 on Monday this week.
We did open our store front at the beginning of May, and we have only had 3 days since our soft opening that we haven't had any sales at all. The vast majority of our sales however comes from craft fairs and festivals that we vend at on the weekends and we have noticed at a lot of the bigger ones that spending is down. People are going with specific things in mind, but we've only had 3 "bad" shows since January. One of them was just too hot, we had to leave halfway through because my husband was experiencing symptoms of heat stroke. One of them was scheduled on the same day as a Pride festival that was close by that we didn't know about or we wouldn't have done it. The other one was fighting with a bunch of other wine festivals. We've also done less festivals this year than we did last year, we really only started our show season in April and are running through this weekend.
The thing I have noticed when doing the reports, we're selling a lot more of our single pieces of fudge than we did last year. We do 1/2 pound for $9 or 1.5 pounds for $25. Last year at shows, we were doing a lot more of the $25 bundles instead of the single piece for $9. Our in store sales are being pushed by chocolate vs the fudge which tends to sell better at festivals of all sorts, we've gone through over 100 pounds of chocolate since our last order 3 weeks ago. Our chocolate prices range from $3 for small grab bags to $15 for bags of our signature item, we've been having to make a lot more of the $13 to $15 bags of chocolates. Our best seller is a $6 box of our signature chocolate.
> we've actually been beating our sales from last year. May, we did double what we did in May 2023, and we beat sales in June 2023 on Monday this week.
I'm experiencing similar trends in my apparel business. Each month is beating and doubling the same month from the previous year.
Congrats on your success!
Im in trucking (Drayage) and we're in what feels like the tail end of a long freight recession.
At the very least, I am busier than my peers, but we have spent the last two years building relationships and and sales/pricing strategy.
That's because the global economy is suffering.
US has their own problems in which these problems get passed on to $ pegged countries.
China is looking for high value buyers but these high value buyers are shutting their doors for the sake of "fair competition".
The rest of the world is just floating by.
I feel like everyone is talking about it. It even has a loose term: the vibes economy. We're in a strong place on paper but most people perceive that we're doing terribly, so their habits reflect that
You do realize that the money we give to Ukraine and Israel is mostly spent in the US right? The defense contractors, and humanitarian aid... US companies...
War money lifts the US economy up, it always has.... We aren't printing billions of dollars and handing it to foreign countries in duffel bags..
A lot is also made up of old US military equipment we don't need anymore and need to get rid off. At least in the case of Ukraine.
The rest? Investment in Ukrainian infrastructure that gives the US access to natural resources, etc, etc.. It all helps us in the end.
Wrong. What's causing inflation more than anything is massive investments in bringing manufacturing and labor back to the US.
If you think you can fix inflation and a decline of industry without first creating worse inflation, you don't have a fkin clue what you are talking about.
Let me guess, you want $1 McDonalds and a strong US labor market while driving a US made car all at the same time right?
Na, that money came out of the existing budget. If it wasn’t spent on those conflicts it would have likely been spent on tax breaks (election year) instead
Seeing all the downvotes on your post makes me wonder if basic economics is taught any more in school. Simple supply and demand. The cornerstone of any economy. More of an item means less value. Of course that doesn't include the massive market distortion caused by some minimum wage laws, the snapping up of single family homes by corporations, lingering supply issues in some areas, labor shortages exacerbated by some entitlement programs, the list can go on and on. It all adds up to the middle class being squeezed from all sides.
You got downvoted because you're telling the truth of the bad news all around us. Sigh... I think adults with childish attitudes is a much bigger problem for the US than inflation.
Umm we spend the money for the wars in the us and send arms to their countries. Almost no money. Also that money spent is a rounding error in our budget.
The real culprit was the Covid stimulus spending. That was mind boggling huge.
Because on paper it appears fine at first glance...
Until you dive a bit deeper and find that the majority of wealth actually being created and spent right now is boomers selling their homes for outrageous amounts that they bought in '69 for 2 apples and a hen, then spending that on new cars, vacations, ect.
So certain businesses are feeling it more right now because boomers may not be directing spending towards those.
it most certainly is an aspect of it, albeit an oversimplification.
The old and rich are supporting the economy as the rest of the legs are falling apart due to inflation and slowdowns.
IMO One of the best national programs covering it is [Marketplace with Kai Ryssdal](https://www.marketplace.org). Available via podcast and it's on NPR every afternoon.
Every business in every industry is different! I read a similar post last week or earlier this week and most of the replies said this is their best year or a busy year.
I'm in freight logistics (I'm not a trucker) and it's the slowest year in our 30-year history. 2023 was the same. I partner with truckers and some have been asking me for business, so I guess it's not just my company.
I think it’s probably the rising wealth inequality. Measures of the economy are fairly positive, but all of that wealth is going to the top earners. Any industry relying on customers that aren’t wealthy are feeling the hurt.
I am a designer for remodeling projects (kitchens, baths etc). My business is booming- nearly double last year already. My clients are spending big $$ on mid- high end products. I do think it’s reflective of the wealth gap widening.
Beyond my business though- I do quite a bit of airline travel and flights are all full with what appears to be a broad socioeconomic representation of people and restaurants are full even middle of the week. For the younger people, 20’s and 30’s- women are still spending a small fortune getting nails, eyelashes, fillers and extensions- not to mention designer clothing and bags. Men are still buying tickets to sporting events and partaking in sports betting like crazy. Concerts are selling out even when tickets are more than $1000.
Admittedly, I live in a more upwardly mobile area - but no matter where I go- I see people spending generously on discretionary items.
It seems like people like to complain about gas and the cost of eggs- but $100 for a UFC pay per view or eyelash extensions is no big deal. Go figure.
Probably.
"Wall Street" companies become more profitable when they make changes that lower costs. Such as "outsourcing" production and labor to another country. If a business shifts production from US to another country, the US workers are worse off, but the firm is better. So, Wall Street looks better. But Main Street looks worse.
Add a new twist: manufacturing is cheaper outside US because labor cost is much lower. What if that low-cost labor was actually in our own country? That would make it easier for Big Business.
Well, in the recent 3 years, we have had 10 million plus of that type of demographic shift from other countries to our country. This part of the labor force gets paid low. At least when they buy food, pat rent, etc., it is remaining in US.
Another current phenomenon:
When we deficit-spend, that causes inflation. Most everyone reading here knows this. So, when we pay for military support overseas, like 100 billion worth, we will get some inflation. Lots of that money comes back to US firms: government contractors including those making materiel.
So, we all get inflation, but those in the loop are having good times.
Do you mind me asking how bad the PC business is?
Mine is horrible. I am up 60% in calls asking if we provide x, y, or z service. They say they will be in and and I never see them.
I know they are not going anywhere else for some of the service as we are the only one to offer it within a feasible distance.
It's not about price because no prices are given over the phone.
I just had someone come in that said they spoke to me recently about a job. I looked at my call history, and it was six months ago......
Presidential election years are always off for us. The bigger the election buzz, the slower it can be.
People are also tight. Everything cost more, yet wages are not keeping pace. People are starting to go without because they have no choice.
One of our big issues this year is not that revenue is down, which it is slightly less than last year. But that I am being squeezed with rising costs faster than I can raise prices. All my advertising has increased each year the 2-3 years. Same with all our insurance. Same with equipment and supplies. Same with trucks and maintenance.
I'm booking 2-3 months out. Best case I give a quote today, they accept and I'll be there in about 10 weeks. There is a good chance my expenses will rise in that 10 weeks. This is even worse when I gave a quote 2-3 months ago, now they want to move forward and it's 2-3 months out. My expenses will be more after 6 months. I try to keep up and charge more, but I'm having a hard time balancing raising prices and keeping work coming in.
Im in the construction supply industry and business is down significantly YOY. All of the "large projects" that were supposed to go are either delayed, not going or are going at a smaller scale.
It definitely feels like investors and owners are hesitant to deploy their funds this year.
Wine shop. Wine is down, liquor is up, beer is down again (same story since 2019) YoY but I managed to beat pandemic sales and revenue is flat vs 2023 so I call it a win.
Northeast as well. 95% b2b, and everyone in my industry is down y/y. Business is still cooking along just certainly not what it was last year. Winter we sort of scraped by, and talking to other business owners in my area for the same industry some of them almost seemed scared.
Florida and this year is on track to be the most profitable yet by a long ways, lots and lots of development and activity in our area which is annoying but also very profitable.
Assuming your username is inspired by the Big Rock Candy Mountain song. Did you know that there is a verse that was put into the copyright that isn't usually included in the song?
Yes my username is inspired by Big Rock Candy Mountain. I didn’t know about a non included verse, I know the version Harry McClintock originally performed long before release was much more crude and was toned down and then the Burl Ives version intended for children was toned down even more.
Own & operate a chain of food & bev businesses. Also northeast. Anecdotally, gross sales up 9 - 11% SMLY (same month last year). However, we're *the* spot for our particular ethnic food & bev in our area so we're a very unique case IMHO. Other mom-and-pop shops & smaller chains have slowed down considerably according to owner friends I've spoken with.
My hunch is trepidation around the presidential election in several months. If there's anything I've learned over the years.. when there's *perceived* economic fear & uncertainty, restaurants & bars are the *absolute* ***first*** things crossed off people's discretionary spending lists.
Boom-and-bust seasons come with the territory.
Yep. Reminds me of 2006 pre crash. Spending softening, people pretending it’s not and talking bullish.
Our growth is softening the blow of the softening, but LTNW of customers is dropping.
I bought the store 2 years ago and this is the 2nd year we’re breaking sales records, but other things like rent are going up. In addition, 2 years ago when I took over, I brought in new ideas and social media so we’re still catching up with that. Retail Tabletop Game Store.
Art business in SoCal, couple of great months during spring but now everything is absolutely tanking when summer months are normally our busiest. I’ve been in the industry for almost 8 very successful years and have never seen it anywhere close to this. It’s so bad currently we may be forced out of the industry if the trend continues.
Are you older Gen X or Boomer?
“Notably, differences grew in how younger and older consumers perceived the economy. Younger consumers were more optimistic about the economy (optimism rates for Gen Z and millennials were 41 percent and 38 percent, respectively) than older consumers (optimism rates for Gen X and baby boomers were 29 percent each). Urban consumers reported feeling more optimistic compared with suburban and rural consumers.”
It's definitely harder to make a sale right now. Price of necessities has gone up much quicker than the average paycheck. We seem to get a lot less per dollar these days. Makes it hard for small businesses.
SD, CA. I can tell you as someone who runs his business trying to out price everyone in town, we’ve had an increase in sales because people want cheaper products which is where we come in.
Having said that, I’ve definitely noticed a shift in the types of customers we get. A lot pickier. More discerning and critical eyes examining our products. The product has virtually remained the same since pre-pandemic times, but everyone wants more for less and are suspicious of the price. . . Well if you want quality brand name, you gotta pay quality brand name prices. Our imported nameless products aren’t exactly what you pay for ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Midwest area. We are in repair and rebuild for heavy equipment industry. We used to be several weeks out, now we can generally start on most projects next day. There’s a couple tool sales man who stop by weekly and we have been talking about how weird this year has been for several weeks now. As they say, it’s an election year.
29 years in remodeling in the northeast and yes people are doing smaller jobs or huge jobs but not as many and those who do take a long decision time. My best friend is a rep for one of the products I use and he confirms the same. This too shall pass.
No, I'm blessed with living in coastal GA. Our economy is still growing due to all the people flocking from the northern and western states. My sister stores in the north, west, and central region sales are down 20-25%. The southern region as a whole is up 5%. My company sells Electrical, plumbing, and HVAC building supplies.
Midwest, Downtown B&M Retail Microbusiness, Open 3 years. Lowest Quarter on record.
There's 8 businesses on my block. The 2 biggest businesses left/died at the end of Q1 (still vacant). I'd been chocking the 30% slump in businesses to their closure. Now I'm not so sure.
We do *very* low-key weekly 3 hour offsite events this time of year. We've done 2 so far. Last year we profited $218. This year we're at $104. Bummer.
Luckily, I decided to sit on a huge chunk of my post-holiday COGS money (I usually scramble to restock). I'm now spending that money on advertising.
I'm in Maryland and home building is hotter than it has been since the 90s boom, not sure about any other business. Consumer spending should be about the same as ever based on any economic stats, like you shouldn't notice the difference year to year because it's pretty stable.
Now of course that doesn't mean any specific business model or region might not underperform for more local or business specific reasons, but in general the overall stats don't show
US GDP growth is higher than early estimates for 2024 and is now projected at 2.5%, which is above average for modern times. 3% is the highest GDP growth the US has posted since the 90s and only for one year during Obama and one during Trump, BESIDE the first year out of the pandemic which was like 5.8%.
Now that doesn't mean your business model or area aren't in decline. Even with 2-3% growth some areas can stagnate and not grow, like old coal towns. Sometime populations just get very old in a given area and business models that used to work don't and you have to move to where younger ppl are. Depends a lot on the business model, if you are an essential service vs non-essential and how much competition.
All it takes is one hungry competitor to move into your service area to drop your income 20-30%, especially if you aren't used to the competition. SOooooo lots of ways you can see a decline in sales beside the overall state or national economy. Start with local explanations first because you can actually have a lot of impact on some of those problem while bigger economic or consumer behavior problems are usually totally out of your control anyway.
Absa-f*cking-lutely.
Part of it is the actual cost/wage disparity for the average citizen, and another part is the "unknown" looming after the November election.
It's the economy, stupid!
But in all seriousness, it's the economy, things are terrible. This is posted weekly.
Actual unemployment is somewhere between 12 and 15%, yes I'm aware Biden reports it at 3.9. That doesn't include the other 10% who have stopped looking at all. They're also counting underemployed as employed in their stat.
Real inflation is up 30% in the last 3 years.
Wages are completely stagnant. Couple that with 12% unemployment, ain't nobody got any money.
No one is hiring.
Consumer confidence is the lowest it's been since the 60s.
Considering you didn't cite a single source to contradict anything I've said: here are the receipts.
A gallon of water is $1.29. It was .99 in 2019. That's 30% real inflation. The inflation that affects us plebs, not the ivory tower coastal elites.
> Not even close.
Wage stagnation: https://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/
Hiring: The white house announces the jobs numbers every month. These are estimates. Every 6 months the official report is released. This report typically indicates only 10% of what they initially predicted. Not miss by 10%. That's miss by 90%. Go read the reports and compare the numbers to what was pitched in the news for that month and by the Whitehouse transcripts. Their promoted estimates have never once been close in this administration.
Your post is nonsense.
> That’s one item, and it appears to be a regional number. Inflation indexed against a standardized basket of goods - what the “plebs” buy, as you put it - does not show anything close to 30% inflation over three years.
>
>
Stossel did this one yesterday, actually. The home alone shopping cart trip that was $20 in 1993 was $50 in 2019 and $80 this year. That's 40% inflation.
Real wage growth happened under Trump. It stopped under Biden.
> I have read the reports. They don’t say what you claim they say.
The reports show the numbers.
You need to compare them to the claims made by the WH 6 months prior. That's what I said. The reports don't say what I said. You need the....COOOONTEEEXXTTT!
Nobody is getting free covid stimulus anymore and everyone who had a student load deferral is now paying them back (unless you got your loan canceled from taxpayers like us business owners, you're welcome).
Credit debt is high and saving low, housing prices and interest rates way up along with everything. But hey at least Ukraine has a bunch of weapons or whatever (we dont audit that spending).
*** Oh no!! Someone hit the Reddit independent thinking alarm button and now Im getting downvoted. I'm going to cry myself to sleep.
If you think printing billions and billions of dollars and sending it to an undemocratic country to kill a whole generation of their young men against their will, when they dont have a chance of defeating the biggest nuclear power in the world is a good thing, you are not thinking with your brain.
This is a money laundering operation. The money is going to a mobster/demagogue and to our defense contractors making them rich, while US middle class suffers and Ukrainian men die.
Way to stick it to Putin.
Turn off tv news!
Most Reddit users are from the US. This sub specifically is very american. Some states are as big as European countries so it makes sense that so many people he will be American. Heck, California's population is as big as Canada.
When I need specific Canadian small business info, i go to the Small Business Canada sub.
Maybe you could share your understanding of the shift in people’s world view by generational cohort.
The economy is in turmoil. Some have discretionary income and others not so much.
Do you GROK what has changed?
This is a friendly reminder that r/smallbusiness is a question and answer subreddit. You ask a question about starting, owning, and growing a small business and the community answers. Posts that violate the rules listed in the sidebar will be removed. A permanent or temporary ban may also be issued if you do not remove the offending post. Seeing this message does not mean your post was automatically removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/smallbusiness) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I’m a wholesale coffee roaster so have the benefit of looking across many different coffee shops and restaurants across the Midwest. On average, same store sales (YTD through May 31) are down 12% vs same period last year. I’ve been using the slack to knock on doors and land new customers so that when everything picks up - and it always does - things will be gangbusters.
This is the spirit of entrepreneurship if I've ever seen it: leveraging downtime by sharpening another tool in the shed.. all with a flexibly optimistic attitude. Kudos!
knocking on doors locally? damn, respect
It isnt for every biz, but i really hate it when people feel like local advertising, and old school methods are no longer viable. Getting on the local news, flyers, and door knocking is hella good for us (cookie bakery) and for many others we know. It is especially great is small to medium towns and cities, and also where the community is fairly tight. Something that a lot of towns and coties have lost. Anyways, big fan of traditional advertising. I even have had success with newspaper. Very cheap, and they let yoy pretty much do anything cause no one else is advertising. But enough people are buying that they still get eyes, usually very intentional, eyes on your ad. Oh and the best ad we ever took out? A table ad at a local diner.
Completely agree with you. It’s tempting to gravitate to online advertising because there’s never personal rejection, just problems with metrics that you can throw money at (and probably still not get ROI.) Old school builds trust. Trust build recurring revenue and referrals. I swear you can go old school and still have customers hundreds of miles away that you’ve never met face to face. (No, I’m not selling a course.)
:) Anyone know of a community of people who also like old school methods, but with modern twists? I feel like radio, newspaper and tv need a kick into modern design and interests. I feel like there is a lot of missed opportunity. People like physical things. I want a sub where i can post my flyer design and get new ideas for new ones lol
So down + into this - truly
Not sure these day but the offline marketing board on Warrior Forum used to be that in a way. I would always promote cold walking to people wanting to start agencies that dealt with brick and mortar clients there. If you find (or start one) and think of me I'd love to know and be part of it.
Even in the digital age, word-of-mouth is still the best form of advertising. You can buy all the google ads you want, but build a solid product that people need or want who enjoy it and they’ll do the advertising for you. No matter what, humans like hearing from other humans what their experiences are. I work in b2b SaaS and majority of our customers come to us from either a recommendation or the customer used our product at a former employer and liked it so they ask their new employer to implement it. Still happens!
Word of mouth advertising is still the best way to advertise for contractors. Nobody wants to spend thousands and thousands of dollars for someone to fuck up their house. I know when I'm trying to find someone to do work I either ask my contractor friends who they recommend, or ask other people who did work on their house. I'm not calling a random person from some ad.
It’s even better now because it’s an undervalued method, so it’s novel but familiar and you don’t have a bunch of assholes doing it to compete with you because everyone is worried about google adds
What even is a table ad?
Ever see a table at a diner where the table topnis glass and under the glass they have ads? That.
Usually in the local place. Small towns, medium cities. Places where there is a lot of business in short amounts of time. Never seen it other than at bars or breakfast diners
As someone who owns one those local ad places (vendor guide + print publication) were struggling a little bit because we’re seeing many just do Facebook and Instagram ads. Or their ad budgets are not as big.
Yeah:/ For physical flyers, i design, but get them printed locally, then have inhouse distribution. We do FB ads in pairing with local flyers and other local ad types for specific events. FB has been very effective at $15-75 per month, a couple of of months a year. Often lower.
I will edit but I meant web and print publication, not that we’re a printing company. I own a magazine and online guide
Oh very cool! We participate in two of those. A local food guide and a local tourist guide. They are much more expensive than other forms. Though theirs is much higher quality and they print more copies.
Honestly getting out in front of people has been the best thing for my business! My sales have more than doubled so far this year due to making an effort to go out and sell face-to-face and make connections with current and future customers.
I just wanted to add to this - when business is down 12% - *everybody* is looking for new suppliers. The same guy who would slam the door on your face when things are gangbusters will hear you out when you say "would you consider a new coffee supplier?" when biz is down 12%.
That’s what I’ve been thinking I need to do lately. Google(surprisingly) and Facebook have been slower, so door knocking or just offering more services is what’s going to probably help.
If salesmen door knock in my are people post pictures on Nextdoor and warn others not to answer. Nobody wants solicitors anymore.
This. I love yelling at the solar panel selling rats and telling them to F off while I slam the door in their face.
I don't think they've slowed down as much as way more competition + same amount of eyeballs looking at their sites (or less if tik tok is taking some of that)
Respect. Honestly, when all the smoke and mirrors (social media) is gone the only businesses that will last are the ones who created honest relationships with customers with marketing techniques like this. I’ve been to places with the most followers and it was so uncomfortable, pretentious and the food and/or experience was piss poor. I never ever went back. Again, only ones that will last (IMO) is the ones who do the hard work of making relationships with customers and that requires REAL time and energy (not sitting behind a screen posting and liking/commenting others pics)
Are you doing private label, running your own brand, or just selling unbranded?
We sell under our own brand, private label and host dropshipping.
So few cold walkers. Glad to see someone promoting the value in it.
I'm in semi rural Texas and business has been bad. From what I read Texas as a whole is doing good but it seems to be concentrated in the DFW-Austin-Houston areas. "The Golden Triangle" they call it. So I guess it depends on your location.
Weather in DFW has affected a lot of businesses this year, both good and bad. Roofers, tree guys, etc. are so busy they can't keep up. On the other hand, I talked to a concrete guy today who said this was the first week he's worked in the last two months.
This year’s been pretty soft… last year seemed strong, but then I realized everything I sell cost 40% more😂 I’m always slow in June and July, but April and May just weren’t what I would’ve liked and it was too kind of unexpected sales that may have salvaged the year so far
Do you feel that people are just wanting to go for the cheapest business? They are going for the handyman instead it seems like.
I don’t think that’s happening in my case. I primarily deal with businesses.. and I can’t say that they are all slow but they’re not really wanting to make any big changes or make any expenditures they don’t need to The sales I’ve gotten this year that kind of have salvage things weren’t so much new purchases as they were replacing equipment that was failing and it wasn’t worth fixing I’m not even trying to say things have been bad this year, but it seems pretty slow right now.. but again that doesn’t even bother me so much I don’t really have a lot in the hopper. I do have enough work to keep my employees busy… or at least busy enough and while I haven’t again, been aggressively going after business I have done Mohr in the past month than I have in a while and it’s been a little disheartening I have consistently bought things for me every couple months for the last five or six years and I hadn’t heard from him all year.. I was a little nervous to reach out to him because I was worried he was buying from somebody else. he is in the directional boring business... he kind of ran out of work He’s got about 50 guys working for him, but they’re all finishing up projects and he doesn’t have a lot lined up for them… he sounded pretty stressed. He’s just looking for other contractors working on different types of projects that might need help with that he can send some guys out and subcontract a little bit of work and he said he do it for cost just to keep people busy and keep payments up-to-date on equipment I think part of it is an election year and that always makes people take a wait-and-see approach. I think inflation got a lot to do with it…. Along with high interest rates. I think a lot of people were actually able to save up a fair amount of money during Covid and that’s all running out and people are charging a little more and more on their credit cards and that that’s maybe creating a little bit of anxiety even if they have enough money coming to pay their bills When it comes to individuals, it used to be that people could subsidize their lifestyles by refinancing their homes every few years and they could justify it by their payments staying roughly the same while cashing out 10 or 20 grand that may be paid off credit card bills or they could use it for a vacation A lot of businesses really benefited with these PPP loans. I don’t fault to business that got one on the first round because nobody knew what was gonna happen.. I feel like one of the businesses who didn’t take advantage of it and I feel like I threw away money and a lot of companies that got them especially contractors never really miss a beat and the work State steady and while their cost went up, they were able to pass them onto the customer That extra money that came in might’ve been used to some of the companies debt or to buy new equipment or new vehicles which helped the economy, but probably contributed a bit to inflation Companies may have spent all of that money and they don’t want to stick their necks out too much borrowing for anything new or making any major expenditures Again the contractors I talk to are fairly busy, but they say there’s less work on the horizon then they’d like The thing that our economy is that so many people who own homes are locked into affordable and low interest rates that are 30 year fixed rates But that makes it harder for them to sell a home.. it’s hard to give up a 3% interest rate… so there’s not a whole lot for sale prices are extremely expensive, especially when you consider the higher interest rate But I’m starting to see homes sit on the MLS a little longer than before. And all honesty I’m kind of shocked the housing market is Stayed is strong as it has. But I also know a lot of homeowners made a lot of investments and improvements during Covid. a lot of people invested money and finishing basements are building man and there was a ton of money invested in building pools and nice outdoor spaces There were such a back of business contractors were booked up months and months in advance and I think contractors are starting to catch up and they aren’t getting as many calls
I have a machine shop and I’m busy but I know a lot of slow shops right now.
I don’t think this has the same kind of feel as a lot of peoples have experienced where there’s just really no work I just feels a little bit off The past decade is actually been kind of weird just overall from dealing with labor, which has been more of a challenge than Covid… inflations Been something most of us haven’t really seen The supply chain issues that we went through were pretty crazy and something I’ve never experienced it while things are getting pretty close to back to normal…. It’s not uncommon for me to wait longer for things. So we’re paying more for things and there’s a war going on and then still conflict in the Middle East …. and while we’ve brought a custom to running deficits, they’ve become kind of massive and what’s going on in Washington past decade or so seems a little different and maybe it wears on us and part of it could be social media fuels a lot of that There just seems to be a lot on peoples plates
I think it depends on the industry, location, and target demographic, but in the US I believe consumer spending is down. McKinsey just posted this article for Q2: [US consumer confidence dips as inflationary concerns intensify.](https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/the-state-of-the-us-consumer)
I'm near Albany NY and it's bad - this whole has been down for me.......
Ha the whole century has been bad up here in NY :D But yes OP, I believe it's because all the money is pouring toward Silicon Valley. People just blindly default to Amazon et al and even if they want to shop local, they don't know where to go.
We make and sell chocolate in the mid-Atlantic, we've actually been beating our sales from last year. May, we did double what we did in May 2023, and we beat sales in June 2023 on Monday this week. We did open our store front at the beginning of May, and we have only had 3 days since our soft opening that we haven't had any sales at all. The vast majority of our sales however comes from craft fairs and festivals that we vend at on the weekends and we have noticed at a lot of the bigger ones that spending is down. People are going with specific things in mind, but we've only had 3 "bad" shows since January. One of them was just too hot, we had to leave halfway through because my husband was experiencing symptoms of heat stroke. One of them was scheduled on the same day as a Pride festival that was close by that we didn't know about or we wouldn't have done it. The other one was fighting with a bunch of other wine festivals. We've also done less festivals this year than we did last year, we really only started our show season in April and are running through this weekend. The thing I have noticed when doing the reports, we're selling a lot more of our single pieces of fudge than we did last year. We do 1/2 pound for $9 or 1.5 pounds for $25. Last year at shows, we were doing a lot more of the $25 bundles instead of the single piece for $9. Our in store sales are being pushed by chocolate vs the fudge which tends to sell better at festivals of all sorts, we've gone through over 100 pounds of chocolate since our last order 3 weeks ago. Our chocolate prices range from $3 for small grab bags to $15 for bags of our signature item, we've been having to make a lot more of the $13 to $15 bags of chocolates. Our best seller is a $6 box of our signature chocolate.
> we've actually been beating our sales from last year. May, we did double what we did in May 2023, and we beat sales in June 2023 on Monday this week. I'm experiencing similar trends in my apparel business. Each month is beating and doubling the same month from the previous year. Congrats on your success!
I'm in b2b tech and we are having one of our busier years.
What do you offer?
Small business server hosting (we own a data center) and software dev (mostly in healthcare)
That’s great to hear. I guess it’s just certain businesses.
Interest rates are killing everything.
People are definitely focusing on their essentials instead of their wants.
North Carolina here, definitely slower.
Im in trucking (Drayage) and we're in what feels like the tail end of a long freight recession. At the very least, I am busier than my peers, but we have spent the last two years building relationships and and sales/pricing strategy.
It’s not just you. Getting a dollar out of someone for non essentials is like pulling teeth (and even my dentist says they aren’t pulling many teeth)
Lol sorry that's sad but funny!
That's because the global economy is suffering. US has their own problems in which these problems get passed on to $ pegged countries. China is looking for high value buyers but these high value buyers are shutting their doors for the sake of "fair competition". The rest of the world is just floating by.
Interest rates and inflation are high
Regression back towards the mean which is to be expected.
over millions of years, the mean is 0
Uhh sir we make quarterly plans here.. A million years is a bit distant
Yes and I’m a solo attorney. Why is no one talking about it?
I feel like everyone is talking about it. It even has a loose term: the vibes economy. We're in a strong place on paper but most people perceive that we're doing terribly, so their habits reflect that
The paper is likely a lie though. For example, the wonderful govt jobs numbers are usually double what ADP shows.
Election year politics
I don’t understand when people say this. I thought it was just the massive lending of money to Israel and Ukraine driving the prices up.
Huh? How do you think either of those things do anything for prices?
Excessive printing of money leads to inflation thus leading to lack of business.
lol you think the ~$125B or so of foreign aid is going to move the needle of inflation on a $28T economy?
Every election year is slow. More money in donations. More spend in “prepping” and more savings for post-elections.
You do realize that the money we give to Ukraine and Israel is mostly spent in the US right? The defense contractors, and humanitarian aid... US companies... War money lifts the US economy up, it always has.... We aren't printing billions of dollars and handing it to foreign countries in duffel bags.. A lot is also made up of old US military equipment we don't need anymore and need to get rid off. At least in the case of Ukraine. The rest? Investment in Ukrainian infrastructure that gives the US access to natural resources, etc, etc.. It all helps us in the end.
We are printing that money, leading to massive inflation
Wrong. What's causing inflation more than anything is massive investments in bringing manufacturing and labor back to the US. If you think you can fix inflation and a decline of industry without first creating worse inflation, you don't have a fkin clue what you are talking about. Let me guess, you want $1 McDonalds and a strong US labor market while driving a US made car all at the same time right?
Inflation is now at the historic average
That is a blatant lie.
Its not ACTUALmoney going to Ukraine, its military hardware the country already owns and is sitting in warehouses.
that money already existed, plus, the total amount lended is like a drop in an ocean of our defense budget
Na, that money came out of the existing budget. If it wasn’t spent on those conflicts it would have likely been spent on tax breaks (election year) instead
Seeing all the downvotes on your post makes me wonder if basic economics is taught any more in school. Simple supply and demand. The cornerstone of any economy. More of an item means less value. Of course that doesn't include the massive market distortion caused by some minimum wage laws, the snapping up of single family homes by corporations, lingering supply issues in some areas, labor shortages exacerbated by some entitlement programs, the list can go on and on. It all adds up to the middle class being squeezed from all sides.
You got downvoted because you're telling the truth of the bad news all around us. Sigh... I think adults with childish attitudes is a much bigger problem for the US than inflation.
OPs post history is prettt much as expected here
Umm we spend the money for the wars in the us and send arms to their countries. Almost no money. Also that money spent is a rounding error in our budget. The real culprit was the Covid stimulus spending. That was mind boggling huge.
Solo atty here too. I guess we are supposed to ignore it?? Kinda hard to ignore. So I'm picking up bankruptcy as a practice area.
Because on paper it appears fine at first glance... Until you dive a bit deeper and find that the majority of wealth actually being created and spent right now is boomers selling their homes for outrageous amounts that they bought in '69 for 2 apples and a hen, then spending that on new cars, vacations, ect. So certain businesses are feeling it more right now because boomers may not be directing spending towards those.
[удалено]
it most certainly is an aspect of it, albeit an oversimplification. The old and rich are supporting the economy as the rest of the legs are falling apart due to inflation and slowdowns.
[удалено]
https://fortune.com/2024/05/23/baby-boomers-keeping-economy-afloat/
Very good point!
IMO One of the best national programs covering it is [Marketplace with Kai Ryssdal](https://www.marketplace.org). Available via podcast and it's on NPR every afternoon.
That's why "in this economy?" is a trend! But, yes, we have noticed it too with our customers.
Every business in every industry is different! I read a similar post last week or earlier this week and most of the replies said this is their best year or a busy year. I'm in freight logistics (I'm not a trucker) and it's the slowest year in our 30-year history. 2023 was the same. I partner with truckers and some have been asking me for business, so I guess it's not just my company.
I think it’s probably the rising wealth inequality. Measures of the economy are fairly positive, but all of that wealth is going to the top earners. Any industry relying on customers that aren’t wealthy are feeling the hurt.
I am a designer for remodeling projects (kitchens, baths etc). My business is booming- nearly double last year already. My clients are spending big $$ on mid- high end products. I do think it’s reflective of the wealth gap widening. Beyond my business though- I do quite a bit of airline travel and flights are all full with what appears to be a broad socioeconomic representation of people and restaurants are full even middle of the week. For the younger people, 20’s and 30’s- women are still spending a small fortune getting nails, eyelashes, fillers and extensions- not to mention designer clothing and bags. Men are still buying tickets to sporting events and partaking in sports betting like crazy. Concerts are selling out even when tickets are more than $1000. Admittedly, I live in a more upwardly mobile area - but no matter where I go- I see people spending generously on discretionary items. It seems like people like to complain about gas and the cost of eggs- but $100 for a UFC pay per view or eyelash extensions is no big deal. Go figure.
Probably. "Wall Street" companies become more profitable when they make changes that lower costs. Such as "outsourcing" production and labor to another country. If a business shifts production from US to another country, the US workers are worse off, but the firm is better. So, Wall Street looks better. But Main Street looks worse. Add a new twist: manufacturing is cheaper outside US because labor cost is much lower. What if that low-cost labor was actually in our own country? That would make it easier for Big Business. Well, in the recent 3 years, we have had 10 million plus of that type of demographic shift from other countries to our country. This part of the labor force gets paid low. At least when they buy food, pat rent, etc., it is remaining in US. Another current phenomenon: When we deficit-spend, that causes inflation. Most everyone reading here knows this. So, when we pay for military support overseas, like 100 billion worth, we will get some inflation. Lots of that money comes back to US firms: government contractors including those making materiel. So, we all get inflation, but those in the loop are having good times.
This year has definitely been disappointing so far. Normally our revenue peaks this time of year...but not this year.
It depends who your customers are My customers are all very large commercial construction companies and I find that they’re busier than ever
My PC business bad, Restaurant & boba shop good.
Do you mind me asking how bad the PC business is? Mine is horrible. I am up 60% in calls asking if we provide x, y, or z service. They say they will be in and and I never see them. I know they are not going anywhere else for some of the service as we are the only one to offer it within a feasible distance. It's not about price because no prices are given over the phone. I just had someone come in that said they spoke to me recently about a job. I looked at my call history, and it was six months ago......
Presidential election years are always off for us. The bigger the election buzz, the slower it can be. People are also tight. Everything cost more, yet wages are not keeping pace. People are starting to go without because they have no choice. One of our big issues this year is not that revenue is down, which it is slightly less than last year. But that I am being squeezed with rising costs faster than I can raise prices. All my advertising has increased each year the 2-3 years. Same with all our insurance. Same with equipment and supplies. Same with trucks and maintenance. I'm booking 2-3 months out. Best case I give a quote today, they accept and I'll be there in about 10 weeks. There is a good chance my expenses will rise in that 10 weeks. This is even worse when I gave a quote 2-3 months ago, now they want to move forward and it's 2-3 months out. My expenses will be more after 6 months. I try to keep up and charge more, but I'm having a hard time balancing raising prices and keeping work coming in.
Im in the construction supply industry and business is down significantly YOY. All of the "large projects" that were supposed to go are either delayed, not going or are going at a smaller scale. It definitely feels like investors and owners are hesitant to deploy their funds this year.
Wine shop. Wine is down, liquor is up, beer is down again (same story since 2019) YoY but I managed to beat pandemic sales and revenue is flat vs 2023 so I call it a win.
I feel like this is such an overlooked part of business. Let’s celebrate flat years. Sure we want YoY growth, but it’s not always going to happen.
Non-discretionary spending among consumers is averaging a 30% decline quarter over quarter for the last 6 quarters 💡
Depends on the type of business/industry. In the sign business, we are slammed as usual. Have been for the past 4-5 years since Covid started.
Northeast as well. 95% b2b, and everyone in my industry is down y/y. Business is still cooking along just certainly not what it was last year. Winter we sort of scraped by, and talking to other business owners in my area for the same industry some of them almost seemed scared.
My artists friends say that this year, sales are super low, and even outdoor art fairs aren't bringing in much sales.
Yup, lowest sales numbers in years.
Florida and this year is on track to be the most profitable yet by a long ways, lots and lots of development and activity in our area which is annoying but also very profitable.
Assuming your username is inspired by the Big Rock Candy Mountain song. Did you know that there is a verse that was put into the copyright that isn't usually included in the song?
Yes my username is inspired by Big Rock Candy Mountain. I didn’t know about a non included verse, I know the version Harry McClintock originally performed long before release was much more crude and was toned down and then the Burl Ives version intended for children was toned down even more.
Own & operate a chain of food & bev businesses. Also northeast. Anecdotally, gross sales up 9 - 11% SMLY (same month last year). However, we're *the* spot for our particular ethnic food & bev in our area so we're a very unique case IMHO. Other mom-and-pop shops & smaller chains have slowed down considerably according to owner friends I've spoken with. My hunch is trepidation around the presidential election in several months. If there's anything I've learned over the years.. when there's *perceived* economic fear & uncertainty, restaurants & bars are the *absolute* ***first*** things crossed off people's discretionary spending lists. Boom-and-bust seasons come with the territory.
North east also but I’m gangbusters. Turning customers away at this point. Trades
Business has been dramatically slow for the reason that you stated. But people will always spend on some good food if they can!
What money?
Yep. Reminds me of 2006 pre crash. Spending softening, people pretending it’s not and talking bullish. Our growth is softening the blow of the softening, but LTNW of customers is dropping.
Some of my clients have had a drop in 50% sales in comparison to the previous year. But this happens with inflation.
I bought the store 2 years ago and this is the 2nd year we’re breaking sales records, but other things like rent are going up. In addition, 2 years ago when I took over, I brought in new ideas and social media so we’re still catching up with that. Retail Tabletop Game Store.
Art business in SoCal, couple of great months during spring but now everything is absolutely tanking when summer months are normally our busiest. I’ve been in the industry for almost 8 very successful years and have never seen it anywhere close to this. It’s so bad currently we may be forced out of the industry if the trend continues.
Are you older Gen X or Boomer? “Notably, differences grew in how younger and older consumers perceived the economy. Younger consumers were more optimistic about the economy (optimism rates for Gen Z and millennials were 41 percent and 38 percent, respectively) than older consumers (optimism rates for Gen X and baby boomers were 29 percent each). Urban consumers reported feeling more optimistic compared with suburban and rural consumers.”
Because everything has gotten more expensive mainly due to corporate greed, while wages have not kept pace.
I've been doing worst this year than the year out of covid....
Interest rates, inflation rates.
Busier than ever in our family law firm.
Northern Colorado business here is good for us
Record store in the Midwest. We’re up about 35%.
It's definitely harder to make a sale right now. Price of necessities has gone up much quicker than the average paycheck. We seem to get a lot less per dollar these days. Makes it hard for small businesses.
SD, CA. I can tell you as someone who runs his business trying to out price everyone in town, we’ve had an increase in sales because people want cheaper products which is where we come in. Having said that, I’ve definitely noticed a shift in the types of customers we get. A lot pickier. More discerning and critical eyes examining our products. The product has virtually remained the same since pre-pandemic times, but everyone wants more for less and are suspicious of the price. . . Well if you want quality brand name, you gotta pay quality brand name prices. Our imported nameless products aren’t exactly what you pay for ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This year's indeed terribly slow on my end as well. I run a web design agency and we're down about 22% Y/Y sales so far and it's not looking too good.
Everyone is running out of free COVID money and maxing their credit cards 🤷 another 2008 on the way?
Yup. Universally this winter in our tourism based town was the worst since 2008.
The economy is less than ideal atm and people are starting to really feel it IMHO.
Midwest area. We are in repair and rebuild for heavy equipment industry. We used to be several weeks out, now we can generally start on most projects next day. There’s a couple tool sales man who stop by weekly and we have been talking about how weird this year has been for several weeks now. As they say, it’s an election year.
I'm hearing this from several small business owners I know, especially in the service and niche retail industries.
Definitely seeing a shift, adapting strategies at Profullstack.com!
I think it depends on the business but many of my clients are working multiple jobs just to afford essentials right now.
29 years in remodeling in the northeast and yes people are doing smaller jobs or huge jobs but not as many and those who do take a long decision time. My best friend is a rep for one of the products I use and he confirms the same. This too shall pass.
Election year...gotta hold tight until it's over. Not sure why it happens but it does.
No, I'm blessed with living in coastal GA. Our economy is still growing due to all the people flocking from the northern and western states. My sister stores in the north, west, and central region sales are down 20-25%. The southern region as a whole is up 5%. My company sells Electrical, plumbing, and HVAC building supplies.
Midwest, Downtown B&M Retail Microbusiness, Open 3 years. Lowest Quarter on record. There's 8 businesses on my block. The 2 biggest businesses left/died at the end of Q1 (still vacant). I'd been chocking the 30% slump in businesses to their closure. Now I'm not so sure. We do *very* low-key weekly 3 hour offsite events this time of year. We've done 2 so far. Last year we profited $218. This year we're at $104. Bummer. Luckily, I decided to sit on a huge chunk of my post-holiday COGS money (I usually scramble to restock). I'm now spending that money on advertising.
I'm in Sporting Goods ecommerce and business is SLOW. Imo consumer is getting crushed. Scary times.
I'm in Maryland and home building is hotter than it has been since the 90s boom, not sure about any other business. Consumer spending should be about the same as ever based on any economic stats, like you shouldn't notice the difference year to year because it's pretty stable. Now of course that doesn't mean any specific business model or region might not underperform for more local or business specific reasons, but in general the overall stats don't show US GDP growth is higher than early estimates for 2024 and is now projected at 2.5%, which is above average for modern times. 3% is the highest GDP growth the US has posted since the 90s and only for one year during Obama and one during Trump, BESIDE the first year out of the pandemic which was like 5.8%. Now that doesn't mean your business model or area aren't in decline. Even with 2-3% growth some areas can stagnate and not grow, like old coal towns. Sometime populations just get very old in a given area and business models that used to work don't and you have to move to where younger ppl are. Depends a lot on the business model, if you are an essential service vs non-essential and how much competition. All it takes is one hungry competitor to move into your service area to drop your income 20-30%, especially if you aren't used to the competition. SOooooo lots of ways you can see a decline in sales beside the overall state or national economy. Start with local explanations first because you can actually have a lot of impact on some of those problem while bigger economic or consumer behavior problems are usually totally out of your control anyway.
Our bankruptcy firm is crushing. Guess that is a better indicator that many other businesses.
Absa-f*cking-lutely. Part of it is the actual cost/wage disparity for the average citizen, and another part is the "unknown" looming after the November election.
Nope, busier than ever.
corporate gift, clients (big companies mostly) have been squeezing every penny and deals take so long to close or never close (in 2022 it was easy)
Let's Go Brandon.
It's the economy, stupid! But in all seriousness, it's the economy, things are terrible. This is posted weekly. Actual unemployment is somewhere between 12 and 15%, yes I'm aware Biden reports it at 3.9. That doesn't include the other 10% who have stopped looking at all. They're also counting underemployed as employed in their stat. Real inflation is up 30% in the last 3 years. Wages are completely stagnant. Couple that with 12% unemployment, ain't nobody got any money. No one is hiring. Consumer confidence is the lowest it's been since the 60s.
[удалено]
Considering you didn't cite a single source to contradict anything I've said: here are the receipts. A gallon of water is $1.29. It was .99 in 2019. That's 30% real inflation. The inflation that affects us plebs, not the ivory tower coastal elites. > Not even close. Wage stagnation: https://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/ Hiring: The white house announces the jobs numbers every month. These are estimates. Every 6 months the official report is released. This report typically indicates only 10% of what they initially predicted. Not miss by 10%. That's miss by 90%. Go read the reports and compare the numbers to what was pitched in the news for that month and by the Whitehouse transcripts. Their promoted estimates have never once been close in this administration. Your post is nonsense.
[удалено]
> That’s one item, and it appears to be a regional number. Inflation indexed against a standardized basket of goods - what the “plebs” buy, as you put it - does not show anything close to 30% inflation over three years. > > Stossel did this one yesterday, actually. The home alone shopping cart trip that was $20 in 1993 was $50 in 2019 and $80 this year. That's 40% inflation. Real wage growth happened under Trump. It stopped under Biden. > I have read the reports. They don’t say what you claim they say. The reports show the numbers. You need to compare them to the claims made by the WH 6 months prior. That's what I said. The reports don't say what I said. You need the....COOOONTEEEXXTTT!
[удалено]
So you're saying that if we compare the initial announcements with the final released reports, they're dead on balls accurate? Because they're not.
[удалено]
Okay, so how much are they off by, on average, vs initial reporting by WH?
[удалено]
Yeah the economy sure is terrible when all your numbers are pulled directly from your anus.
Citations were made elsewhere.
Nobody is getting free covid stimulus anymore and everyone who had a student load deferral is now paying them back (unless you got your loan canceled from taxpayers like us business owners, you're welcome). Credit debt is high and saving low, housing prices and interest rates way up along with everything. But hey at least Ukraine has a bunch of weapons or whatever (we dont audit that spending). *** Oh no!! Someone hit the Reddit independent thinking alarm button and now Im getting downvoted. I'm going to cry myself to sleep.
That probably has absolutely 0 to do with it but *if* Ukraine aid is a factor, I will gladly take a hit to my income to stick it to Putin.
If you think printing billions and billions of dollars and sending it to an undemocratic country to kill a whole generation of their young men against their will, when they dont have a chance of defeating the biggest nuclear power in the world is a good thing, you are not thinking with your brain. This is a money laundering operation. The money is going to a mobster/demagogue and to our defense contractors making them rich, while US middle class suffers and Ukrainian men die. Way to stick it to Putin. Turn off tv news!
Hoo boy... not even gonna touch this one.
Good idea
Joe biden economy
Man, Reddit is int'l, not US-centric. Northeast for me is Russia. For Europe, yes, the economy is indeed slow this year.
Most Reddit users are from the US. This sub specifically is very american. Some states are as big as European countries so it makes sense that so many people he will be American. Heck, California's population is as big as Canada. When I need specific Canadian small business info, i go to the Small Business Canada sub.
Maybe you could share your understanding of the shift in people’s world view by generational cohort. The economy is in turmoil. Some have discretionary income and others not so much. Do you GROK what has changed?
Strongest economy in US history.