Survey Women-owned businesses handle sales differently during the holidays

Small business owners have quite the weekend ahead of them.The National Retail Federation estimates that over 137 million people nationwide will shop online or in stores from Thursday through Sunday.  

Overall, retail sales in November and December — excluding automobiles, gas and restaurants — are expected to increase 3.6 percent over last year.

According to the American Express Holiday Growth Pulse survey, many women-owned businesses are handling holiday sales differently than those owned by men.

Compared to men, more women feel that they will need to be more aggressive with holiday sales and promotions (48 percent versus 44 percent).

However, male small business owners are more likely to offer holiday discounts (32 percent versus 27 percent) and earlier (42 percent versus 34 percent).

Male business owners are more likely to hire additional staff for the holidays (18 percent versus 14 percent) and sought additional funding for their business to adequately prepare for the holiday season (29 percent versus 26 percent).

Lastly, while female business owners are more likely to view employee productivity as a concern during the holidays (44 percent versus 39 percent), only one-third of women-owned businesses are planning to pay their holiday staff more than last year compared to 50 percent of male business owners.

That frugality also applies to the gifts female business owners plan to send to their clients.

On average, female entrepreneurs will spend a total of $3,300 on client gifts, while male business owners plan to spend an average of $10,400.

Perhaps male business owners are being careless in their spending — or, perhaps female business owners have something to learn from their male counterparts who believe that “it takes money to make money.”