Mastercard rewards consumers for shopping local this season with small business holiday campaigns across the U.S.

New study shows four out of five U.S. consumers plan to shop local this holiday season

Consumers are shopping with intention this holiday season and prioritizing small and local businesses, according to a new Mastercard survey. In response to this growing desire to support Main Street and shop with meaning, Mastercard is rewarding cardholders when shopping local through a series of holiday campaigns in select cities nationwide.

According to a new Mastercard survey, shoppers are focused on not only giving (73%) but also receiving (70%) gifts that support local businesses. In addition, survey results showed that consumers – particularly Millennials (82%) – plan to be more conscious about where they shop this holiday season, prioritizing brands that match their personal values. 64% of shoppers plan to support Black-owned businesses, while 65% say they are planning to shop at women-owned businesses.

To encourage cardholders to make their gift-giving and receiving more meaningful this holiday season, Mastercard has created unique shopping incentive programs across six cities. From offering 2% cash back from eligible merchants, to 20% statement credit for transactions made at participating small businesses to Priceless surprises distributed at participating businesses, shoppers have even more  reason to shop, share and support their local businesses.

The Mastercard holiday shopping campaigns are now live in select cities across the United States. These include:

• Los Angeles and New York: When shopping at the more than 750 eligible participating small businesses in Los Angeles and New York, Mastercard cardholders will receive a 20% statement credit for transactions made at such eligible participating small businesses through December 31, 2021, or until the total amount of statement credits reaches $100,000 in each market. For more information on the participating businesses or how to opt in, cardholders can visit https://insolidarity.mastercard.com.
  
  
• San Diego and Pittsburgh: Through the Mastercard Local™ program, Mastercard has partnered with California Coast Credit Union, Mission Federal Credit Union and Clearview Federal Credit Union to provide eligible cardholders in San Diego and Pittsburgh an automatic 2% cash back and additional bonuses when making purchases at participating small businesses. For more information on the participating businesses or how to opt in, cardholders can visit https://www.mastercard.com/local/home.
  
  
• New Orleans: Through its Homegrown Holiday campaign, Mastercard is supporting businesses in seven high-impact, disinvested New Orleans neighborhoods. To encourage patronage of the small businesses located in these communities, Mastercard is providing 50 participating merchants each with a $200 gift card to be awarded to one select customer through the end of the year.
  
  
• Birmingham, Ala.: In partnership with the City of Birmingham Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity, Urban Impact and other community partners, Mastercard is launching the Black Business Holiday Spending and Rewards Campaign to help incentivize shoppers to purchase from local, Black-owned businesses. Customers can leverage the technology platform provided by Urban Impact to verify purchases and qualify for rewards directly from their mobile phones.  For more information on the participating businesses or how to opt in, cardholders can visit http://www.buyblackbham.com/

“Small business owners have shown exceptional resilience in the face of the pandemic’s challenges, but for them to thrive, they rely on the support of shoppers in their local communities” said Cheryl Guerin, executive vice president of North America Marketing and Communications at Mastercard. “As part of our ongoing efforts to help people shop, share and support small business, Mastercard is supporting local market programs that give consumers ways to make their own holiday shopping a force for good.”

These initiatives build on Mastercard's commitment to helping small businesses, through and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2020, Mastercard pledged to invest $250 million in financial, technology, product and services support over the next five years to small businesses in the United States and other markets where it operates, supporting the vitality of businesses and the financial security of their workers.

“Small businesses have been at the heart of the economic crisis created by Covid-19 and there’s been a huge response by public and private sectors to keep main street alive and come back stronger,” said Miguel Gamino, executive vice president of Enterprise Partnerships, Global Cities at Mastercard. “We all need the backbone of the economy in place. By partnering with cities and local municipalities we can reinforce the importance for us to shop more consciously, supporting those businesses that help our communities thrive.”

Specifically, the Los Angeles, New York, New Orleans and Birmingham programs further build on Mastercard’s previously announced half-billion-dollar In Solidarity commitment to support Black communities and businesses over the next five years.

Survey Methodology

The survey was conducted among 4,000 respondents among representative populations across the US and Canada. All respondents were 18+, use a credit card, and were likely to shop during the 2021 holiday season. Research was conducted between November 23rd and December 1st.