Sole Proprietors Fare 23% Better than 2010 Says Outright

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., December 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Outright, a popular online accounting solution for small businesses, has found that the smallest of the small businesses, sole proprietors, saw their fair share of the Thanksgiving weekend holiday sales rush (including Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Sunday, and Cyber Monday). Aggregated data from a sampling of small businesses using Outright's software showed an average increase in sales over last year of 23%. These sole proprietors saw the biggest lift in sales on Black Friday, even more than Small Business Saturday. Online sellers saw an even bigger gain: The average sole proprietor who sold on a major eCommerce site sold $440 this year versus $100 last year over the Thanksgiving weekend. 

News outlets have been reporting a sales increase for the economy as a whole of 16% over the Thanksgiving weekend. Outright's data shows that these gains did not just go to the big box retailers, but also trickled down to Main Street.

"Although our customers are very small businesses, they are very professional in their approach to key retail seasons, and that certainly paid off this year" said Steven Aldrich, CEO of Outright. "We are thrilled to see that these small businesses, who are the lifeblood of America, have shared the benefits of a healthy increase in sales over the four key sales days of Thanksgiving weekend. 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, "I'm thrilled with the sales results I've seen over this past weekend. As a one-person shop, I've worked hard over the past few weeks to prepare for the Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sales Rush. My hard work paid off. My Amazon sales alone were up 10 times what I normally see."

The aggregated data is from a random sample of 10,000 of Outright's small business customers who are sole proprietors from all sectors of the economy – everything from designers to dog walkers to consultants. Online sellers were defined as sole proprietors who primarily sell on eBay, Etsy, or Amazon.

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

About Outright

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