Women-Led Wednesday Joins A Crowded Stretch Of Shopping Holidays To Spotlight Female Entrepreneurs

Mark your calendars to celebrate Women-Led Wednesday tomorrow.

Haven’t heard of the shopping holiday? It may not be a female-centric counterpoint to Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday yet, but the concept is getting underway to bring attention to the nearly 12 million U.S. companies owned by women.

Conceived by Cassie Abel, co-founder of outdoor apparel brand Wild Rye and owner of marketing consultancy White Cloud Communication, Women-Led Wednesday is out to improve the fortunes of female entrepreneurs. It’s enlisted some 100 participants across the beauty and wellness, active, home, food and beverage, kids, style and accessories, pets and mission-driven consumer goods categories in the effort.

“There are so many amazing mentoring and support initiatives out there for women founders, CEOs and leaders, but there didn’t appear to be something that encouraged people to vote for women in leaderships with their hard-earned dollars,” says Abel, noting women-owned firms create more than half of new small business jobs, but make up only 20% of businesses with revenues of $1 million or above. “I believe the fastest path to leveling the playing field is by financially supporting the companies and brands that are already there.”

To spread the word about Women-Led Wednesday, brands involved are rolling out cross-promotions and communicating to customers about the occasion. Similar to Black Friday, they’re also providing discounts and special items. Skincare brand Will.it Wellness, for example, is offering 35% off of the prices of select products on Women-Led Wednesday. Pre-moistened wipes specialist Gaan + Co. is among four women-founded brands doing an Instagram giveaway to coincide with Women-Led Wednesday, and it’s promoting the event through its Instagram account.

“I’m proud to be female and having founded a company, and I think those other brands founded by females are proud as well. I want people to be aware that there are females behind the brands,” says Monica Purington, founder of Will.it Wellness. “I don’t necessarily think that it will increase holiday sales, but I hope it will empower young women or women of any age that they can do it, too.”

“There are so many amazing mentoring and support initiatives out there for women founders, CEOs and leaders, but there didn’t appear to be something that encouraged people to vote for women in leaderships with their hard-earned dollars.”

Abel emphasizes that, when customers realize brands they’re perusing are spearheaded by women, it makes a difference in their purchasing behavior. Women-Led Wednesday is building a platform to amplify the voices of women brand owners to help alert consumers to their positions atop businesses.

“Millennials, in particular, want shop with purpose. Women-Led Wednesday aims to make women-led brand discovery easy,” says Abel. Purington elaborates, “Women are really ecstatic to support other women and collaborate. A lot of my successes and wins have come from females being excited and wanting to support another females, and I think that’s huge from the growth and business side.”

The challenge Women-Led Wednesday faces is that it’s entering a crowded period for shopping events with scant funding. Abel started pulling it together about a month ago and tapped into her network to fill its brand roster. Brands can still sign up to participate. They have to be established by women or managed by them in CEO or president roles to qualify. In addition, they must have fully-developed brands available nationwide.

“It’s true, Thanksgiving week is super crowded,” says Lauren Evashenk, founder of Naked Truth Beauty, a brand taking part in Women-Led Wednesday. “Personally, I find Black Friday and Cyber Monday pretty overwhelming, and like to focus on the more curated [and] pared-down options like Small Business Saturday and Giving Tuesday. For this reason, I do think there’s a room for Women-Led Wednesday because it gives a fresh chance to participate for people have come to opt out of the other deals days because it’s just too much.”

“Personally, I find Black Friday and Cyber Monday pretty overwhelming, and like to focus on the more curated [and] pared-down options like Small Business Saturday and Giving Tuesday. For this reason, I do think there’s a room for Women-Led Wednesday because it gives a fresh chance to participate for people have come to opt out of the other deals days because it’s just too much.”

Evashenk would welcome a Naked Truth Beauty product sales boost from Women-Led Wednesday, but suggests increasing recognition of women-fronted businesses is the primary goal. She says, “It’s easy to support only the top few players in any given category for no reason other than that’s who we’re aware of, but because of initiatives like WLW, the next time we’re looking for athletic gear, lipstick, kid’s clothes, etc., hopefully, we’ll remember those smaller fish and give them a try.”

Long-term, Abel asserts Women-Led Wednesday has enormous potential to be a revenue driver. After the event concludes this year, she will solicit feedback from the brands joining in Women-Led Wednesday programming to ascertain how to better capitalize on it to fuel sales and assist women entrepreneurs on an ongoing basis. Women-Led Wednesday’s website will persist following the shopping holiday to serve as a hub for brands helmed by women and consumers seeking them.

“I have a million ideas of how we can build on this the other 364 days a year and on Women-Led Wednesday in years to come,” says Abel, pronouncing, “I hope it continues to spread like wildfire, and I’m confident it will.”

Feature image credit: Naked Truth Beauty