S-I/A need of our sellers, managing one of their largest business expenses. In 2014. U.S. businesses were expected to spend 516 billion on payroll services. Our marketing services enable our sellers to reach and engage buyers, further increasing activity in our ecosystem. Square Customer Engagement addresses our sellers' advertising and marketing needs. Local advertising spending in the United States was expected to reach 5138 billion in 2014. according to an April 2015 BIA/Kelsey forecast. In addition, Caviar generates revenue from fees charged on food deliveries. Consumers spent approximately 5230 billion at independent restaurants in 2014. We also believe our ecosystem is expanding the market with new sellers. The simplicity, affordability, transparency, and cohesion of our services enable many sellers and buyers access to a world previously unavailable to them. We 112 Table of Content‘ estimate based on data from industry sources that from 2009 to 2014. the number of active merchant outlets accepting credit cards grew by approximately one million or less. However. Square. counting as one establishment, has millions of sellers accepting payments. We believe our opportunity will continue to grow as we expand globally. Our Strengths We Create Technology to Transform Commerce We invest significantly in hardware and software design and engineering to rapidly deploy product updates to sellers and buyers. At the end of 2014, over 45% of our employees served in product engineering, development, and design functions. Unburdened by legacy technology, we deliver tightly integrated services using a full-stack development approach that combines product management, development, and design. We Have Tremendous Scale Our millions of sellers provide a sizable opportunity for up-selling and cross-selling our products and services. Our scale also enables us to establish favorable partnerships with financial institutions to provide attractive pricing for our se