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MerchantCircle “Merchant Confidence Index” Survey Results
June 9, 2011
MerchantCircle, Inc. 800 W. El Camino Real
Mountain View, CA 94070
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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
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State of the U.S. economy
How would you rate today’s economy compared to the past twelve months? (n=4,942)
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Expectations for future revenue
How do you expect your sales revenues to change over the next three months? (n=4,942)
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Marketing expenditures
How do you expect your marketing/advertising expenditures to change over the next three months? (n=4,170)
© 2011 MerchantCircle
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Hiring expectations
How do you expect your company’s headcount to change over the next three months? (n=4,942)
© 2011 MerchantCircle
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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%
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Marketing budget
What is your annual ad/marketing budget? (n=4,170)
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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)
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Most effective marketing channels
Select the top THREE most effective marketing or advertising methods your business uses or has used. (n=4,170)
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Adoption and repeat usage of Facebook Ads
Have you used Facebook ads? (n=4,162)
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Would you used Facebook ads again? (n=911)
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Perception of Facebook Ads amongst users
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Why would you use Facebook ads again? (n=591)
Why wouldn’t you use Facebook ads again? (n=320)
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Adoption and repeat usage of daily deals sites
Have you offered a daily deal with a group buying site? (n=4,133)
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Would you offer a daily deal with a group buying site again? (n=388)
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Perception of Daily Deals sites amongst users
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What did you like about offering a daily deal? (n=299)
Why wouldn’t you offer a daily deal again? (n=89)
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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)
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Awareness of group buying sites
How did you find out about the group buying site you used (n=366)?
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Tablet adoption
Do you use a tablet device for your business (e.g., iPad)? (n=3,786)
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Smartphone adoption amongst local business owners
Which of the following devices do you use for your business? (n=3,710)
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Respondent Profiles
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Size of business
How many people does your business employ?
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Business categories
Which single business category best describes your business?
© 2011 MerchantCircle