May 15, 2026
Analysis of Performance Indicators in Small Retail
Rodrigo Souza Pimenta; Carolina Silva Da Trindade
Summary prepared by the ResumeAI tool, an artificial intelligence solution developed by the Pecege Institute focused on synthesis and writing.
The retail trade sector plays a fundamental role in the Brazilian economic structure, acting as one of the main drivers for job creation and wealth circulation in the country. According to consolidated data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE, 2025a), trade was responsible for approximately 12% of the national Gross Domestic Product in the year 2024, equivalent to R$1.4 trillion. This relevance is corroborated by a stable average annual participation of 12.71% over the last decade, demonstrating the segment’s resilience even in the face of macroeconomic fluctuations. Within this universe, micro and small enterprises hold a prominent position, representing 97% of the total business establishments in Brazil and accounting for 26.4% of the GDP (SEBRAE, 2025). However, despite their numerical importance, the management of these ventures often occurs empirically and familially, lacking professionalization processes, especially regarding financial and commercial control (Santos Júnior, 2011).
The absence of structured planning and reliance on decision-making based solely on intuition can severely compromise the long-term sustainability of the business. To mitigate these risks, it is imperative to develop information systems that provide reliable indicators for monitoring organizational performance (Camillis et al., 2018). In the corporate environment, Key Performance Indicators, known by the English acronym KPI, function as essential informational support tools, allowing managers to monitor progress towards established objectives and make timely operational adjustments (Meier et al., 2013). The implementation of financial control processes and performance indicators in microenterprises has shown positive results, such as increased control over cash flow, fraud prevention, and the substantiation of strategic decisions (Costa, 2022).
Beyond the purely accounting dimension, commercial performance emerges as a determining strategic factor for the survival of small businesses. The sales area is the main channel for generating financial resources, being responsible for covering operational costs and enabling the achievement of organizational goals (Silva, 2017). Constant monitoring of operational performance allows for the identification of failures, correction of processes, and detection of future profit opportunities (Motta and Almeida, 2019). In this regard, the detailed analysis of metrics such as sales volume, average ticket, and seasonality provides the necessary basis for efficient and competitive management, especially in saturated markets.
The analysis of the operational and commercial performance of a retail trade business selling footwear, clothing, and accessories located in the northwest of Minas Gerais requires a rigorous and detailed methodological approach. The procedure adopted consisted of a descriptive research with a quantitative approach, focused on a single case study. The database used comprised the complete record of transactions carried out by the company over a five-year period, from January 2020 to December 2024. As it is a privately held organization, the data collection process was preceded by ensuring confidentiality and anonymizing sensitive information, guaranteeing the ethical integrity of the study.
The operational data collection process began with the extraction of raw reports directly from the company’s internal management system. These files, originally generated in plain text format without standard formatting, contained the individual record of each sale, including the exact transaction date, total nominal value, payment method used, and salesperson identification. To enable statistical analysis, a meticulous data treatment and cleaning step was necessary. The information was converted into electronic spreadsheets, where inconsistencies were corrected, duplicate records were eliminated, and numerical and categorical fields were standardized. This structuring allowed for the chronological organization of sales and the categorization of payment methods into four main groups: cash, debit or credit cards, own installment plans, and instant payment system payments.
The analysis methodology was based on the construction of specific indicators to measure sales behavior over time. Sales volume was calculated from two perspectives: the total quantity of transactions made and gross nominal revenue. The calculation of volume by transactions consisted of the simple sum of the number of sales operations carried out each month and year, serving as a thermometer for customer traffic in the physical store. The monetary volume, on the other hand, represented the sum of invoiced amounts, allowing for observation of gross revenue evolution. The average ticket, a crucial indicator for understanding the value spent by each customer, was obtained by dividing the total gross revenue by the number of sales made in the same period (SEBRAE, 2023).
Seasonality analysis was conducted by observing demand variations throughout the months of the year, identifying peaks and troughs in revenue linked to holidays and promotional events. According to the literature, seasonality can represent both an operational risk and a profit opportunity, requiring adequate inventory and staffing planning for each period (Pereira, 2014). In the apparel and footwear segment, this characteristic is particularly pronounced due to the influence of dates such as Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and Christmas (Mesquita, 2011). Furthermore, the analysis of payment methods sought to identify consumer preferences and the evolution of financial technologies, such as the introduction and popularization of the instant payment system from the end of 2020 (Banco Central, 2025).
The results obtained revealed a total volume of 60,702 transactions over the five years analyzed, with an annual average of 12,140 operations. A significant variation was observed in sales behavior between 2021 and 2022, a period in which there was a 22% jump in the quantity of transactions. This increase is directly related to the Brazilian macroeconomic scenario and the end of restrictions imposed by the Public Health Emergency of National Importance resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, which officially ended in April 2022 (Ministério da Saúde, 2022). The impact of social distancing is visible in the drastic reduction of sales from March 2020, when commerce faced periods of closure and circulation restrictions.
Seasonality analysis confirmed the retail sector’s strong dependence on year-end festivities. The month of December consistently showed a sales volume 95% higher than the average of other months of the year. This consumption pattern is driven by Christmas bonuses and year-end celebrations, consolidating the last month of the year as the period with the highest revenue and customer traffic. Other smaller peaks were identified in May and August, months that concentrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, respectively, corroborating the conclusions of previous studies on the dynamics of fashion and accessories retail (Mesquita, 2011).
Regarding nominal revenue, the company achieved an average annual revenue of 2.63 million reais. The revenue peak occurred in 2023, reaching 3.14 million reais, while the lowest result was recorded in 2020, with 1.96 million reais. For a real understanding of economic performance, the values were deflated using the Broad National Consumer Price Index, based on December 2024. This analysis revealed that, although nominal revenue grew between 2020 and 2023, 2024 showed a real reduction of 9.54% in revenue compared to the previous year. This real drop was mainly motivated by the decrease in the quantity of transactions made in the last year of the analyzed period, indicating that the increase in nominal prices was not enough to compensate for the reduction in the physical volume of sales.
The company’s average ticket remained relatively stable, with average annual growth of 9% between 2020 and 2023, and a slight contraction of 1% in 2024. The average value per transaction was around 216.95 reais. Interestingly, the data indicated that the average ticket value is not directly correlated with peaks in seasonal volume. For example, in April 2020, the lowest value was recorded (R$ 146.32), while the best result occurred in April 2023 (R$ 260.89). This finding suggests that, although customer volume increases on festive dates, the amount spent by each individual remains within a constant range, pointing to the need for additional sales strategies, such as offering complementary products and creating combos to increase the value of individual sales (Siqueira Carvalho et al., 2020).
The analysis of payment methods revealed a striking characteristic of the operation: the strong predominance of in-house credit. This method accounted for an average of 75% of the company’s annual invoicing, totaling R$ 9.72 million in the accumulated period. Maintaining an in-house credit system is a common practice in small towns and neighborhoods, serving as a customer loyalty tool and an alternative to the lack of access to formal banking credit (Saurin, 2018). However, this excessive reliance on credit brings inherent risks to financial management, such as the possibility of default and pressure on working capital, as the company delivers the product but receives payment in installments over time (Pedroso et al., 2019).
Despite the hegemony of in-house credit, a gradual process of payment digitalization was observed. The use of instant payment systems, which did not exist in 2020, began to represent 3.8% of invoicing in 2024. In parallel, the use of credit and debit cards grew by 5.1 percentage points in the same period, while the use of cash declined from 9.2% to 4.4%. This transition reflects a change in the consumption habits of the Brazilian population, which seeks greater convenience and security in financial transactions (Paula, 2024). The migration to digital and immediate payment methods is beneficial for the company’s cash flow, as it reduces the financial cycle and minimizes the risks associated with collecting in-house credit payments.
Comparing the results with specialized literature allows us to identify that the challenges faced by the company under study are shared by other businesses in the retail sector. The stability of the average ticket value and the difficulty in increasing it without aggressive promotional actions is a phenomenon observed in different regions of the country (Siqueira Carvalho et al., 2020). Similarly, the propensity for household indebtedness and the reliance on credit for the consumption of non-durable goods reinforce the importance of in-house credit as a sales driver, but also as a point of concern for the business’s financial health (Hofler et al., 2018). Efficient management of these indicators allows the microenterprise to move from a purely reactive position to planning its actions based on concrete historical data.
The limitations of this study lie in the fact that it is a single case study, which prevents the statistical generalization of the results to the entire retail sector. However, the observed trends provide valuable insights for companies with similar profiles. It is suggested that future research should deepen the financial analysis by calculating liquidity and profitability ratios, integrating sales data with operational costs and contribution margins per product category. The continuity of monthly monitoring of the indicators established here will allow the company’s management to identify performance deviations quickly and implement continuous improvements in sales and collection processes.
It is concluded that the objective was achieved, as the analysis of commercial performance indicators allowed for the identification of clear seasonality patterns, stability in the average ticket value, and a strong dependence on in-house credit in the company’s invoicing structure. The structuring of the database transformed raw records into strategic information, revealing that, despite nominal growth, the business faced a real contraction in 2024, which requires management attention regarding operational efficiency and pricing policies. The study demonstrated that the adoption of quantitative metrics is essential for professionalizing the management of small businesses, providing the necessary support for decisions on product mix, promotional actions, and transition to safer and more efficient payment methods, thus ensuring the economic sustainability and competitiveness of the organization in the retail market.
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