Survey Outlook: Business Trends Mean Economic Success in 2023

By Sherri Kolade

From small firms increasingly using alternative funding sources to greater spending on digital marketing – a lot of 2023 business trends are coming online helping small businesses thrive in the first quarter and throughout the year.

Business News Daily reports that smaller businesses must adjust to a market that is always changing, which is true especially given the last few years during the COVID crisis.

Monitoring the trends that impact your company’s operations is essential if you want to meet client expectations and stay one step ahead of the competition, and there’s no better time to do so than now to set you up for small business success.

Earlier in January, JPMorgan Chase released its 2023 Business Leaders Outlook survey, which details insights from business leaders about their recession expectations, the impacts inflation has had on their approaches to pricing, sourcing and running operations, and their outlook for the year ahead.

JPMorgan Chase’s Business Leaders Outlook poll was conducted online from November 14 to December 13, 2022, with small firms with annual revenues between $100,000 and $20 million and midsize businesses with annual revenues between $20 million and $500 million. Nearly 1,800 business leaders from diverse industries across the United States took part in the study in total. Data from the present is contrasted with data gathered in the fourth quarter of prior years to determine trends year over year. The results of this online survey are statistically valid, and at a 95 percent confidence level, the error rate for small businesses is plus or minus 3.1 percent, and for midsize businesses it is plus or minus 3.5 percent.

The survey revealed that while most small and midsize business leaders anticipate a recession in 2023 and many continue to face inflation-related challenges, they largely remain undeterred when it comes to growth, hiring and expanding their businesses.

Black Business Owners Top-Line findings:

• 55 percent expect a recession in the year ahead, compared to 61 percent nationally.

• 79 percent are optimistic about their performance in the year ahead, compared to 72 percent nationally. Similarly, 75 percent are optimistic about their industry’s performance, compared to 63 percent nationally.

• 72 percent anticipate revenue and sales growth in the year ahead, and 69 percent expect their profits to increase in 2023.

• The top business challenges for Black business owners include inflation, supply chain disruptions and economic uncertainty.

• 55 percent anticipate hiring full-time employees over the next 12 months,