Editor’s note: This story originally appeared in Flippa.
The number of individuals entering new businesses has increased significantly in recent years.
More and more people are exploring entrepreneurial opportunities, but many lack an understanding of how much money these new ventures can actually make.
To help potential business owners better understand their profit potential, Flippa, the largest online marketplace for buying and selling businesses, analyzed internal data from more than 25,000 profitable businesses listed on its platform over the past two years.
The financial performance of online businesses varies depending on the type of business. E-commerce, service-oriented and software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies tend to be the highest revenue earners compared to marketplace, mobile application and content-based companies.
Here’s a breakdown of average monthly revenue by business age and business type. The monthly revenue of the top quartile and top 10% businesses is also listed for reference.
Application, 0-1 years
- top 10%: $592
- First quarter: $257
- Average: $129
Content, 0-1 years old
- top 10%: $1,586
- First quarter: $724
- Average: $198
E-commerce, 0-1 years
- top 10%: $70,018
- First quarter: $29,691 USD
- Average: $7,624
Market, 0-1 year
- top 10%: $400
- First quarter: $327
- Average: $167
SaaS, 0-1 year
- top 10%: $5,400
- First quarter: $2,688
- Average: $885
Service, 0-1 year
- top 10%: $499
- First quarter: $499
- Average: $205
Application, 1-2 years
- top 10%: $12,688
- First quarter: $5,391
- Average: $1,831
Content, 1-2 years
- top 10%: $2,678
- First quarter: $1,233
- Average: $372
E-commerce, 1-2 years
- top 10%: $78,846
- First quarter: $37,770
- Average: $10,334
Market, 1-2 years
- top 10%: $2,213
- First quarter: $992
- Average: $313
SaaS, 1-2 years
- top 10%: $5,137
- First quarter: $2,882 USD
- Average: $923
Service, 1-2 years
- top 10%: $11,786
- First quarter: $6,142
- Average: $2,327 USD
Application, 2-3 years
- top 10%: $4,500
- First quarter: $1,981
- Average: $637
Content, 2-3 years
- top 10%: $2,362 USD
- First quarter: $7,147
- Average: $338
E-commerce, 2-3 years
- top 10%: $49,447
- First quarter: $24,464
- Average: $6,862
Market, 2-3 years
- top 10%: $5,597 USD
- First quarter: $2,749 USD
- Average: $856
SaaS, 2-3 years
- top 10%: $8,570
- First quarter: $4,535
- Average: $1,699
Service, 2-3 years
- top 10%: $19,634
- First quarter: $9,384
- Average: $3,047
Application, 3+ years
- top 10%: $32,974
- First quarter: $14,494
- Average: $3,855
Content, more than 3 years old
- top 10%: $9,887
- First quarter: $4,615
- Average: $1,298
E-commerce, more than 3 years
- top 10%: $155,577
- First quarter: $78,336
- Average: $22,292 USD
Market, more than 3 years
- top 10%: $56,082 USD
- First quarter: $27,085
- Average: $7,436
SaaS, 3+ years
- top 10%: $140,285
- First quarter: $70,187
- Average: $19,389
Service, more than 3 years
- top 10%: $116,765
- First quarter: $53,625
- Average: $14,474
method
The statistics provided in this study represent profitable businesses listed on the Flippa market from January 2022 to present. All data listed are monthly.
