merchant circle merchant confidence index survey results
DESCRIPTION
New marketing trends data from MerchantCircle's 6th quarterly survey of small business owners across the U.S. reveals that Facebook Ads are gaining popularity among small businesses and provides new insights into the group deals market, including increased pressure on Groupon and LivingSocial from Facebook Deals and Google Offers.TRANSCRIPT
1 PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
MerchantCircle “Merchant Confidence Index” Survey Results
June 9, 2011
MerchantCircle, Inc. 800 W. El Camino Real
Mountain View, CA 94070
2 PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
Survey Methodology ! Fielded online April 30th, through June 6th, 2011
! Invitation to participate sent via email to a random sample of 200,000 MerchantCircle members (out of a membership base of 1.6MM members)
! Total responses: 4,942 – 78.2% of responses from merchants with 1-4 employees
– 12.5% of responses from merchants with 5-9 employees – 7.4% of responses from merchants with 10-49 employees
– 2.0% of responses from merchants with 50+ employees
! No incentive was offered to complete the survey
! By virtue of the survey methodology (delivered via email and fielded online), responses are expected to come from relatively more “internet-savvy” members
! Merchant Confidence Index tracks track four key questions designed to synopsize the prevailing trends among local business owners. The overall index score is based upon a standardized five-level Likert scale.
© 2011 MerchantCircle
3 PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
State of the U.S. economy
How would you rate today’s economy compared to the past twelve months? (n=4,942)
© 2011 MerchantCircle
4 PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
Expectations for future revenue
How do you expect your sales revenues to change over the next three months? (n=4,942)
© 2011 MerchantCircle
5 PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
Marketing expenditures
How do you expect your marketing/advertising expenditures to change over the next three months? (n=4,170)
© 2011 MerchantCircle
6 PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
Hiring expectations
How do you expect your company’s headcount to change over the next three months? (n=4,942)
© 2011 MerchantCircle
7 PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
Merchant Confidence Index Calculation
© 2011 MerchantCircle
Question Average Response
Score (on 1-5 Likert scale)
Normalized Score (on a 100-point
scale)
Change vs. Q1 2011 Score
Change vs. Q2 2010 Score
How would you rate today’s economy compared to twelve months ago?
2.86 14.3 -4.7% +2.9%
How do you expect your sales revenues to change over the next three months?
3.54 17.7 +0.6% +7.3%
How do you expect your marketing/advertising expenditures to change over the next three months?
3.11 15.6 +0.1% +2.6%
How do you expect your company’s headcount to change over the next three months?
3.12 15.6 -0.6% +2.6%
Merchant Confidence Index Score 63.2 -0.6% +4.0%
8 PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
Marketing budget
What is your annual ad/marketing budget? (n=4,170)
© 2011 MerchantCircle
9 PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
Adoption of specific online marketing services Percent answering yes to the following question: “Are you promoting
your business with the following websites/services?” (n=4,170)
© 2011 MerchantCircle
10 PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
Most effective marketing channels
Select the top THREE most effective marketing or advertising methods your business uses or has used. (n=4,170)
© 2011 MerchantCircle
11 PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
Adoption and repeat usage of Facebook Ads
Have you used Facebook ads? (n=4,162)
© 2011 MerchantCircle
Would you used Facebook ads again? (n=911)
12 PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
Perception of Facebook Ads amongst users
© 2011 MerchantCircle
Why would you use Facebook ads again? (n=591)
Why wouldn’t you use Facebook ads again? (n=320)
13 PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
Adoption and repeat usage of daily deals sites
Have you offered a daily deal with a group buying site? (n=4,133)
© 2011 MerchantCircle
Would you offer a daily deal with a group buying site again? (n=388)
14 PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
Perception of Daily Deals sites amongst users
© 2011 MerchantCircle
What did you like about offering a daily deal? (n=299)
Why wouldn’t you offer a daily deal again? (n=89)
15 PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
Perception of Facebook Deals and Google Offers
© 2011 MerchantCircle
Why would you choose Facebook Deals over Google Offers, Groupon or
LivingSocial? (n=1,383)
Why would you choose Google Offers over Facebook Deals, Groupon or
LivingSocial? (n=1,260)
16 PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
Awareness of group buying sites
How did you find out about the group buying site you used (n=366)?
© 2011 MerchantCircle
17 PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
Tablet adoption
Do you use a tablet device for your business (e.g., iPad)? (n=3,786)
© 2011 MerchantCircle
18 PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
Smartphone adoption amongst local business owners
Which of the following devices do you use for your business? (n=3,710)
© 2011 MerchantCircle
19 PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
Respondent Profiles
20 PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
Size of business
How many people does your business employ?
© 2011 MerchantCircle
21 PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
Business categories
Which single business category best describes your business?
© 2011 MerchantCircle