Sole Proprietors Cash In on Holiday Shopping - 35% Better Than 2011

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Outright, a leading online accounting solution for small businesses, has found that sole proprietors, who make up the majority of small businesses nationwide, saw their fair share of the Thanksgiving weekend holiday sales rush (including Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Sunday, and Cyber Monday).  Aggregated data from the small businesses using Outright's software showed an average increase in sales over last year of nearly 35%.  These sole proprietors saw the biggest lift in sales on Cyber Monday, even more than on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday. Thanksgiving day itself was a big hit.  Online sellers saw heavy ticket items purchased before the Black Friday rush, driving total sales revenue up.

An overall sales increase for the national economy is reportedly between 20- 30% over the Thanksgiving weekend.  Comparatively, Outright's data shows that these gains did not just go to the big box retailers, but also trickled down to Main Street.  Outright's numbers, which are on the high end of the sales reports for the weekend, reflect that many of these micro-businesses are using online marketplaces to reach larger audiences.  Online marketplaces that host these small businesses' shops saw large gains over the weekend as well; with some of them reporting more than a 50% gain.

"Small businesses -- very small micro businesses -- are the lifeblood of our economy.  We are thrilled to see that these small businesses have also experienced the sales gains that the big box retailers did," said Steven Aldrich, CEO of Outright, which was acquired by Go Daddy in July.  "We are thrilled to help them account for those incremental sales in a highly efficient way with Outright taking care of the seamless integration of that data."

Outright customer Kathy Simpson, owner of an online business, Kat's Kloset, and moderator of an Amazon Sellers Group said, " This holiday weekend broke records in my Amazon store and it has continued into the week. E-commerce is rocking the end of 2012."

The aggregated data represents Outright's small business customers who are sole proprietors from all sectors of the economy – many of whom sell online through online marketplaces such as eBay, Etsy, and Amazon.

Outright will be releasing updates to this data on a weekly basis through the holiday season.

About Outright, a Go Daddy Company
Outright has one goal: to make accounting as simple as possible so the self-employed can spend as little time as possible on the least enjoyable part of running a business. Outright's easy-to-use online accounting solution automatically brings all sales & expenses together in one place so the sole proprietor always know what's going on with their business.  No math, no manual entry, no paperwork. Outright integrates Amazon, Etsy, eBay & PayPal information, e-commerce accounts, and bank and credit card accounts so users can stay up-to-date effortlessly -- and instead focus on doing what they love to do. To learn more or sign up, please visit http://outright.com

SOURCE Outright