Stability Benchmarks for Retail Businesses
In February 2026, Rightworks surveyed 733 decision-makers from small and medium-sized businesses to find out what it really takes to build stable, resilient infrastructure. Here’s how retail companies stack up against the broader SMB landscape.
Retail stability snapshot
Retail businesses lead the broader SMB landscape, outperforming in all three stability pillars. With an overall stability score of 55%, the industry sits in Stage 2 of the 5 Stages of Business Stability.
Here’s what stands out:
Strength: AI leadership
69% of retail SMBs already use AI—significantly above the 55% SMB average.
Strength: Electronic payments
88% accept the majority of payments electronically—significantly higher than the 73% SMB average.
Strength: Mobile protections
65% of retail SMBs have mobile device management in place—significantly higher than the 46% SMB average.
Where retail businesses would like to level up
When asked what would have the biggest impact, three themes emerged.
- Growing revenue without adding headcount (48% vs. 36% for SMBs overall)
- Knowing we’re safe from hackers and breaches (34% vs. 27% for SMBs overall)
- Competing effectively with larger competitors (30%—significantly higher than SMBs overall sitting at 17%)
What’s keeping them up at night?
We asked retail businesses to share their top concerns over the past year. The top three selected include:
54% of retail SMBs ranked “growing revenue and/or their customer base” as a top concern—significantly higher than the overall SMBs average (40%).
51% flagged profitability as a top concern, 10 percentage points above the SMB average (41%).
While the economic conditions (33%) are one of the top 3 concerns for Retail SMBs, fewer selected this than the SMBs overall (41%).
Cloud migration: Strong adoption and comfort
Top cloud challenge: Lack of technical expertise (38%). Top benefit: Remote access from anywhere (34%).
Security: A strength, with lower breach rates
Only 13% of retail businesses have suffered a cybersecurity breach—compared to the 18% SMB average.
73% feel “very” or “moderately” confident in their security measures, on par with the SMB average (70%).
Half of retail SMBs go without external IT support. Don’t leave your business exposed.
Rightworks’ 2026 Business Stability Report
AI adoption: Retail leads all industries
Top concerns: Data privacy (56%) and inaccuracy (39%). Top benefits: Time savings (63%) and automation of tasks (56%).
Business management: Strong foundations, with room to go further
Retail businesses lead on business planning, particularly around growth strategy, but still have room to close gaps in security documentation and succession.
- Strategic growth plan: 59% have one in place—significantly higher than the 43% SMB average.
- Data security plan: 48% have one, on par with the 44% SMB average.
- Succession plan: 47% have a documented succession plan, above the 39% SMB average.
Resources for Retail Businesses
Find out if you’ve got everything you need to keep your business going strong.
Explore the full findings from Rightworks’ 2026 SMB Technology Survey.
