Consumer Spending Gets Selective: Value, Human Connection & AI for Small Businesses, Episode 23

In this episode of CIC's Small Business Intelligence, hosts Joe McCaffrey and Louis Silva discuss what recent headlines mean for small business owners, noting that consumers are still spending but feel anxious, value-conscious, and financially strained as savings fall, debt and delinquencies rise, and households spend more just to maintain living standards. They share what they’re hearing from local businesses: costs for food, insurance, and labor keep rising while pricing power is hitting a limit, increasing the need for comparative shopping and cash reserves. They emphasize that purchases must “earn every dollar,” with experiences and genuine human connection becoming key differentiators. The episode also covers AI as a productivity tool alongside risks like misinformation and poor outputs, plus rising cybersecurity threats and the emerging importance of being discoverable in AI-driven search. They close with a major SBA update (7(a) and 504 decoupling to $10M), concerns about global government debt, and criticism of microfinance outcomes.