Research
Which industries produce the most payment revenue?
We research merchant industries on the same five measures every time: how many businesses exist, how much each processes, how long they stay, how expensive they are to acquire, and how crowded the software market already is. Every figure is published with its source and its confidence level.
Last updated 9 September 2026
| Rank | Industry | Score | Modelled revenue per merchant, per year | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Med spas and aesthetic clinics | 80.4 | $7,668 | 72% |
| 2 | Veterinary practices | 78.4 | $7,308 | 78% |
| 3 | Child care and early learning | 77.8 | $5,148 | 68% |
| 4 | Home services (HVAC, plumbing, electrical) | 75.8 | $6,588 | 70% |
| 5 | Independent auto repair shops | 72.2 | $8,028 | 62% |
| 6 | Boutique fitness studios and gyms | 71.6 | $4,068 | 70% |
| 7 | Dental practices | 71.2 | $5,508 | 66% |
| 8 | Pet grooming, boarding and daycare | 69.2 | $3,108 | 60% |
| 9 | Outpatient physical therapy | 68.0 | $4,428 | 58% |
| 10 | Salons, spas and barbershops | 62.8 | $2,568 | 64% |
Revenue figures are our own modelling of Enterprise Pay Gateway subscription and platform fees and exclude Stripe's processing charges. Open a report for the full method, the conservative and aggressive cases, and the sources.
- Med spas and aesthetic clinics
High-ticket elective treatments paid by card at the point of service, with growing membership and package prepayment. Highest modelled platform revenue per merchant of any vertical studied.
- Veterinary practices
Roughly 34,300 US practices averaging about $1.5M gross revenue, almost entirely consumer-paid at time of service rather than through insurance.
- Child care and early learning
Weekly or monthly tuition billed to the same families for years. The best recurring-revenue fit in the study, with the most predictable volume.
- Home services (HVAC, plumbing, electrical)
Large invoices, enormous merchant population and the strongest commercial search demand of any vertical reviewed.
- Independent auto repair shops
Highest average ticket and monthly card volume in the study, offset by weak recurring revenue and an unusually crowded processor market.
- Boutique fitness studios and gyms
Membership billing by design. US facility membership hit a record 81 million people in 2025, and studio pricing is almost entirely subscription based.
- Dental practices
Large, stable practices with strong retention, but a meaningful share of revenue arrives through insurance rather than the card rail.
- Pet grooming, boarding and daycare
Frequent, low-ticket, highly repeatable spend with strong prepaid package and daycare-membership behaviour.
- Outpatient physical therapy
A roughly $53B fragmented clinic market with high visit frequency, but heavily mediated by insurance and copay workflows.
- Salons, spas and barbershops
The largest merchant population studied and the easiest to reach through search, but the smallest revenue per merchant.
How we score an industry
| Measure | What it tells us |
|---|---|
| Addressable businesses | How many merchants could realistically be signed up |
| Average processing volume | How much platform fee each merchant generates |
| Expected retention | How long that revenue lasts before churn |
| Acquisition difficulty | What it costs to win a merchant in this industry |
| Competitive density | How many established vertical platforms already serve it |
Every published report separates cited facts from our own modelled estimates, and labels each estimate conservative, base or aggressive.