$100 Billion in Annual Small Business Sales is Market Square, Intuit, PayPal, Sage are Attacking

According to a recent Intuit GoPayment survey, 55 percent of the nation’s 27 million small businesses do not accept credit cards.

Those nearly 15 million U.S. small businesses potentially miss out on $100 billion in sales annually. That’s the reason the new ability to turn a smart phone into a retail point of sale terminal, to accept credit card, debit card or prepaid card payments is growing so fast.

Intuit estimates that each business that does not accept plastic misses out on approximately $7,000 in sales annually, equating to approximately more than $100 billion in collective lost revenue.

Small businesses also face a cash flow chokehold, waiting for an average of $5,140 per month in overdue payments. That’s a potential $1.7 trillion collective cash flow strain annually across all small businesses in the U.S.

Small businesses that accept plastic make more sales and get paid quicker than those that don’t. The survey found that 83 percent of businesses that accept credit cards make more sales, with 52 percent making at least $1,000 more per month and 18 percent making at least $20,000 more per month.

In addition, 74 percent of those surveyed said they get paid faster and reduce bad debt by accepting credit cards.