The Business Buzz

SMB owners have so much to focus on every day. Is it worth paying attention to “outside” concerns like the economy? What does the “economy” even imply, anyway? Systematic studies of consumer spending habits and the intersection of geopolitics and monetary policy (to name two random examples) would seem to be the domain of professors and TV pundits.

Nothing exists in a vacuum (except outer space, which actually is a vacuum). The health of your business is directly tied to broader concerns like inflation, interest rates, and the GDP. But even if you acknowledge the veracity of a relationship between your SMB and the greater world, the question remains: is there anything I can do about the price of rice in China?

We use rice proverbially, of course. Your business may have a more immediate pricing concern (such as the price of pants in France). In any case, there are indeed business strategies you can use to proactively respond to shifting winds…and to avoid getting stuck in the doldrums of a recession or depression.

One place where consumer behaviors can be readily studied is the point of sale. Debit and credit card transactions provide the foodstuff of analytics. These findings can comb through payment processing trends and provide big-picture guidance on how to respond to the larger context of economic conditions.

Check out our latest blog posts to discover tips for making your business more profitable during a recession. See how rising gas prices and inflation can impact the behavior of your customers—and what you can do about it. See if there is a way to leverage rising interest rates to your advantage. There’s a silver lining to every cloud, as the saying goes.