The Fiserv Small Business Index for July 2025 shows that consumer spending ticked up in July (up 1% from June), “reversing a three-month trend of softening consumer spend.” Foot traffic, however, “remained relatively flat,” rising 0.1%.
There’s an upside and downside to the newly released data as Fiserv’s chief data officer, Prasanna Dhore, explains, “July brought modest monthly sales growth for small businesses, but those gains were largely driven by higher average [prices], likely resulting from continued inflationary pressure.”
Essentially, Fiserv says that consumers weren’t visiting small businesses more last month; they just spent more on purchases when they did shop. Dhore explains, “Economic pressures continue shifting spending patterns as well. Consumers are spending more on essentials, while discretionary spending is growing at a much slower pace.”
Spending on Essentials Rise
Indeed, sales of essential goods rose by 1.5% from June and are up 6.1% for 2025. Discretionary sales grew too, but at a slower pace, rising only 0.5% from June and up a mere 1.1% for the year. The average sales for “essentials” rose 1.4% from June to July and are up 3% this year from 2024.
Restaurant Visits and Spending Dip
That decrease in discretionary spending is reflected in lower sales (down 0.9% from June) and fewer visits (down 0.3% from June). This is the third consecutive month restaurant visits have declined.
Annual Sales Up
But there’s also good news for restaurant owners and retailers. Year-over-year restaurant sales are up by 1.8%, and visits increased by 2.2%. For retailers, 2025 sales are up by 3.6% over 2024, and the average spend is up by 0.7%.
The Fiserv Small Business Index is provided by Fiserv, Inc., a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology.
As a reminder, the National Retail Federation (NRF) expects retail sales to grow between 2.7% and 3.7% this year to between $5.42 trillion and $5.48 trillion. And online and other non-store sales (which are included in the total) are expected to grow between 7% and 9% to between $1.57 trillion and $1.6 trillion.
#StandwithSCORE
Another organization that helps small business owners start and stay strong is SCORE. Since SCORE was launched nearly 61 years ago, the nonprofit organization has helped over 17 million small business owners.
And yet, not much has changed since I first posted about being “mad as hell” because funding for SCORE and the Women’s Business Centers was eliminated in the president’s budget for fiscal year 2026, and has not yet been reinstated by Congress.
SCORE needs that money so it can continue to support small business owners, whether they’re starting or scaling their companies.
Support SCORE
After more than 60 years of supporting small businesses, SCORE needs your support. To date, over 55,000 letters have been sent to Congress, asking them to fund SCORE. Please join those supporters—here’s how:
- Fill out this form (it takes less than 2 minutes), which will be sent to your congressional representative’s offices.
- Contact your congressional representative and senators via phone or social media. Tell them to save the people who save small businesses. Include @scorementors in your post. And the hashtag #StandwithSCORE.
- If possible, donate to SCORE.
- Tell everyone you know to #StandwithSCORE.
Rieva Lesonsky is President of Small Business Currents, LLC, a content company focusing on small businesses and entrepreneurship. You can find her on Twitter @Rieva, Bluesky @Rieva.bsky.social, and LinkedIn. Or email her at Rieva@SmallBusinessCurrents.com.