Every holiday season brings the same familiar rush. Packed shops, porch deliveries, pop-up markets, and hot cider in paper cups. But look a little closer, and there is a quieter shift happening beneath all that noise: Americans are changing how they send and receive money.
By Mary-Helen McElfresh, VP of Fraud Risk Management and Adam Klappholz, Head of Product
Every holiday season brings the same familiar rush. Packed shops, porch deliveries, pop-up markets, and hot cider in paper cups. But look a little closer, and there is a quieter shift happening beneath all that noise: Americans are changing how they send and receive money.
And it’s not coming from Silicon Valley trends or glossy new apps. It’s coming from Main Street – from farmers’ markets, family-owned food trucks and the local bakery juggling payroll.
What’s emerging is a clear, data backed signal: Americans want payment options that are direct, fast and keep money in their communities.
The Numbers Tell the Story
Small businesses are adopting Zelle® faster than nearly any other group in the financial ecosystem. In just the first half of 2025, small business payments numbered 180 million, a 31% year-over-year increase.
That’s not a marketing statistic – it’s a signal. Millions of people choosing:
- No middlemen
- No delays
- No cuts taken by other platforms
- No 3-5 business days to get paid
And effect on real business is immediate:
- 40% of businesses would close in two months if their cash flow dried up today showing the importance of instant payments to small businesses, according to an article from Forbes.
- Nearly half of businesses (45%) believe faster payments will lower their costs according to a survey from the Federal Reserve.
Put it together, and the takeaway is clear: when payments stay fast and local, wealth stays close to the people who earned it.
Why Direct-to-Bank Matters
During the holidays, timing is everything. Delayed payments don’t just cause inconvenience, they create risk:
- Workers wait hours to get paid during the busiest weeks.
- Inventory sits idle instead of being restocked.
- Local shopping has increasingly shifted towards corporate platforms.
It’s a small detail that adds up to something bigger: a holiday economy that’s more local, more stable and a little fairer. Consumers and small businesses are signaling they want payment options that:
- Work the same at the farmer’s market as they do at a food truck.
- Settle in minutes, not days.
- Offer reliable, more straightforward ways to send money.
Step back, and a broader pattern emerges — one rooted in shared American values:
- Local control and independence from big intermediaries.
- Fairer growth and cash flow for small businesses and workers.
- A sense of neighbors helping neighbors stay in business.
This holiday season, choosing to shop small and pay with Zelle isn’t just a purchase — it’s a choice for the kind of economy we want. One where money moves directly, securely, and stays in the community.
About Zelle®
Zelle® is transforming how money moves, with more than five billion digital payments sent since its launch in 2017. The Zelle® network connects over 2,300 banks and credit unions of all sizes, enabling consumers and businesses to send digital payments to people and businesses they know and trust with an eligible bank account in the U.S. Money is available directly in bank accounts generally within minutes when the recipient is already enrolled with Zelle®. To learn more about Zelle® and participating financial institutions in the Zelle® network, visit www.zelle.com.