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Mastercard is working with Create & Cultivate, which caters to working women, to create a new “digital holiday experience that spotlights womxn-owned” small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), according to a press release emailed to PYMNTS.
The term “womxn” is “an alternative spelling to avoid the suggestion of sexism perceived in the sequences m-a-n and m-e-n, and to be inclusive of trans and nonbinary women,” according to Dictionary.com.
Called Main Street Love, the program will focus on “a diverse selection of hand-selected products” in various categories, including home accents, fashion, beauty and self-care, and lifestyle and culinary, the release stated. Shoppers will be able to browse a digital collection, learn about the various businesses and purchase directly from them.
“Local businesses are so much more than what they sell, they are the hearts of our communities and foundation of our economy,” said Cheryl Guerin, executive vice president of North America Marketing & Communications at Mastercard, in the release. “That’s why we are thrilled to partner with Create & Cultivate to provide a safe, digital shopping experience this holiday season that enables consumers to support local small businesses across the country and shine a light on the fearless women business owners behind them.”
Create & Cultivate Founder Jaclyn Johnson said the support for women-owned SMBs is integral to Create & Cultivate’s own image as such a business itself.
The release quoted statistics that Americans are largely on the side of the SMB when it comes to holiday shopping, with 77 percent of survey respondents saying they are shopping local and 68 percent prioritizing women-owned SMBs. In addition, 53 percent of Americans surveyed said they would rather receive no gift than one from a company whose values don’t align with their own.
In October Mastercard supported women-owned businesses with a $20 million investment for CNote, a female-founded impact investment platform. That commitment was intended by the company to help close the racial and gender-based achievement gap.
In addition, the holiday season this year, affected by the pandemic, will consist of heavy digital marketing for any SMB, including changes to website design, inventory, online checkout and more, PYMNTS reported.
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