Seven out of 10 merchants responding to a recent reportindicated that today's economy was the same or better than it hasbeen over the last 12 months, according to a recent survey ofnearly 12,000 local merchants by MerchantCircle, a social networkof business owners.

Merchants in California and Texas were slightly more optimisticthan their counterparts in other states, with 30.7 percent ofCalifornia merchants and 29.3 percent of Texas merchants saying theeconomy is better now than it has been over the past 12 months,compared with 27.8 percent nationally.

When merchants were asked to rate today's current economy versusthe past 12 months, 27.8 percent said it was “somewhat” or“significantly” improved, while 30.7 percent said it was “about thesame;” 22.6 percent said the economy was “somewhat weaker” todayand 18.9 percent said it was “much weaker.”

Nearly 50 percent of local merchants surveyed expect an increasein sales revenue to “somewhat” or “significantly” improve over thenext 3 months. This marks a nearly 10 percent increase overNovember 2009.

Currently, 17.1 percent of small businesses expect to addemployees over the next 3 months compared with 14.7 percent inNovember 2009, a 16 percent increase. In addition, 11.5 percentexpect to reduce head count over the 3 three months versus 13.4 inNovember, 2009, a 17 percent decrease.

The survey also showed that 46.3 percent of merchants expecttheir marketing expenditures to remain flat over the next 3 monthswhile 29.2 percent expect to increase marketing spending, up 2.6percent from November 2009; 24.5 percent expect to cut marketingexpenditures over the next 3 months, down 1.2 percent from the lastsurvey.

However, 58.8 percent of local merchants said creditavailability had “worsened” or “significantly worsened” over thelast 3 months, 36.7 percent said access to credit remained thesame, and just 4.6 percent said it had “improved” or “significantlyimproved.”