Confidence Higher Among Business Buyers than Consumers in May

NORFOLK, VIRGINIA — June 1, 2022 — While measures of consumer sentiment have been declining in recent months, optimism about starting a business remains solid. Despite war headlines, stock market declines and inflation woes, 78% of aspiring business owners surveyed in May were resolute about starting their businesses within the coming six months. Not surprisingly, 76.6% of these survey respondents see business conditions about the same or getting better in the next three months. And 71.6% of respondents say they are “more or much more likely” to start a business now than three months ago, perhaps reflecting the receding impact of the pandemic since the winter surge.

Currently, 67.4% of would-be entrepreneurs agree or strongly agree that “now is a good time to start a business” according to the Small Business Startup Sentiment Index™ by FranchiseInsights.com. The most recent Startup Sentiment Index™ survey was conducted May 19-26, 2022.  The entrepreneurial optimism seen parallels the ongoing surge in new business applications  which began in September 2020 as reported by the US Census Bureau, and continues today.

These optimistic views on conditions for business startup stand in contrast with declining consumer sentiment in recent months (compared to post-pandemic highs in mid-2021) as seen in The Conference Board’s Survey of Consumer Confidence and The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Surveys as reported on the St. Louis Federal Reserve’s FRED site. 

Additional highlights:

• Future business conditions: In an acknowledgment of how good business conditions are now, only 29.1% of respondents believe that in three months, business conditions will be “better” or “much better” than now. About 47.5% see conditions “about the same” in three months.
• Access to funding: The percentage of entrepreneurs concerned about finding  adequate funding eased to 68.7%, with those seeing funding “harder or much harder” to obtain in the next three months jumped to 47.7%.
• Demographics: In May, 50% of respondents were currently employed full-time, and 20.1% were current business owners seeking an additional business. Gen-X (53.7%) and Gen-Y “Millennials” (26.1%) were the largest age cohorts, and “Baby Boomers” followed at 18.7%, with Gen-Z trailing at 1.5%.

Download a copy of the April 2022 FranchiseInsights.com SSI report here. See excerpts from prior SSI™ surveys and subscribe to receive the Small Business Startup Sentiment Index™ monthly report when it is released.

The Small Business Startup Sentiment Index™ is based on a monthly survey of individuals who have recently inquired about businesses or franchises for sale on the digital assets of FranchiseVentures.

Franchise Ventures is the leading franchise lead-generation platform for potential franchisees to thousands of growing franchise systems in the United States and Canada. Its franchise lead generation brands include Franchise.com, Franchise Solutions, Franchise Gator, Franchise Opportunities, Franchise For Sale, SmallBusinessStartup.com and BusinessBroker.net, and together they provide the largest aggregation of prospective franchise buyers in the U.S.

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Published on Wednesday, June 1st, 2022.