Korea Credit Data: "Small Business Owners' Q1 Sales and Operating Profit Both Decrease"

Small Business Trend Report Announcement

In the first quarter of this year, both sales and operating profits of small business owners decreased compared to the same period last year. In particular, the decline was significant in the lodging industry, specialized distribution, fast food, and dining sectors.

Korea Credit Data (KCD) announced this on the 28th by releasing the "Korea Credit Data Small Business Owner Trend Report," which summarizes the business conditions of small business owners nationwide in the first quarter of this year.

The average sales per small business establishment in the first quarter was 43.17 million KRW, down 7.7% from the previous year and 16.2% from the previous quarter. Not only sales but also operating profits decreased. The average operating profit was 9.15 million KRW, which is a decrease of 23.2% compared to the same period last year and 5.3% compared to the previous quarter.

Kim Hyung-ki, head of the Data Insight Team at Korea Credit Data, explained, "Sales in the dining and distribution sectors particularly declined. Although the economic growth rate increased in the first quarter of this year, small business owners did not experience the same. This appears to be due to economic polarization by company size and differences in reflecting overseas consumption."

This report also focused on detailed industries according to quarterly status through the 'Industry Focus' section. This time, it covered the delivery dining sector. During the first quarter, the periods with concentrated delivery declines were the Lunar New Year holiday and the first week of March, with both total delivery sales and delivery orders decreasing. This is presumed to be due to reduced delivery order demand caused by the Lunar New Year holiday and increased outdoor activities in spring.

Differences by franchise brand in instant photo studios and eyeglasses/lenses were also analyzed. The average customer spending at instant photo studio franchises ranged from 6,000 to 6,500 KRW, with sales actively occurring between 8 PM and 10 PM, and a high proportion of payers in their 20s.

This report was prepared by extracting and processing data from 160,000 business establishments out of 1.4 million nationwide that use 'Cash Note,' a management service operated by Korea Credit Data. The Small Business Owner Trend Report is released immediately after each quarter.