We are proud to have received the following media coverage since our launch in August 2008:
'A' Morning Ottawa: Buy Canadian First - Back to School
Click here to watch it. Copyright © CTVGlobeMedia 2009 ............................................................................. CTV's Canada AM: Made-In-Canada Back-To-School
Click here to watch it.
Copyright © CTVGlobeMedia 2009
CTV's Canada AM: Buy Canadian First
Click here to watch it.
Copyright © CTVGlobeMedia 2009
'A' Morning (Ottawa): Buy Canadian
Click here to watch it.
Copyright © CTVGlobeMedia 2009
When only Canadian will doOriginal Article Here. Muchmor magazine, February 2009 issue. These days more and more people want to buy Canadian if they possibly can. The “buy locally” mantra has been embraced by many Canadians and with this in mind an entrepreneur from Quebec set up a website which allows vendors of Canadian products to showcase their wares and for fellow Canadians to purchase them.Last year an Angus Reid survey revealed that 43% of Canadians were trying to buy Canadian products rather than foreign produced goods but many had problems finding them. This got Isabelle Remy of Quebec thinking….what if there was a website which showcased Canadian products? Last year she took on the task of developing such a website which would showcase everything from furniture to clothing and all things in between. Isabelle wanted to build a vehicle by which fellow Canadians could search for and find Canadian-made goods and from there BuyCanadianFirst.ca was born. "It's a pro-Canadian site, not anti-globalization or boycott imports," Isabelle stressed. "We wanted a name that conveyed the concept of buying Canadian first, not buying Canadian only." Since this first idea Isabelle has built the website and launched a business with several staff. So what does it offer shoppers? The website has catalogues of products which visitors can search and view. There are many categories including electronics, clothing, gifts, furniture, home wares, food and even musical instruments. The only things not featured are tobacco-related items and pornography. Each product is listed with a photo, description and link to the sellers website for purchase or a link to retail outlets carrying the product. “We are not a transactional website,” says Melissa Thibodeau, Partner and Director, Marketing & Business Development, “we showcase the products and allow the buyer to trade directly with the seller. “All products must meet the guideline set by the federal government stipulating that the “Made in Canada” or “Product of Canada” label can only be used if at least 51% of the value has been made in Canada. Some of our products carry the Super Canadian icon meaning that 100% of the product is made in Canada. This has to include the packaging and labelling too.” Buyers can also see if items are made by Aboriginals, are eco-friendly or recycled by way of easy to identify icons. “We cannot guarantee the quality of the products featured on our site.” says Isabelle.”Any country is capable of producing low-quality products, Canada included (unfortunately). This is why we ask our shoppers to rate and review and take ownership of the products. We expect to hear about their likes and dislikes, and we welcome them!” And what about merchants? Merchants become members of BuyCanadianFirst.ca in order to promote their Canadian products. The site puts their products in front of motivated and targeted customers and directs the sales to them via links to websites, promotional microsite or traditional brick and mortar retail outlets. “We offer specialized tools and services to assist members in their business to consumer as well as with their business to business efforts, allowing them to continue to grow and remain in Canada and thus continue to employ Canadians.” says Melissa. Member packages start from $500 per year and can be customized to suit the needs of the company depending on the type and number of products they want to showcase. So, what’s next for BuyCanadianFirst.ca? “We are still a very young company.” says Melissa, “but already we are seeing a huge growth. Since launching in August 2008 we have seen an increase of over 400% in unique visitors. Most of our traffic comes from the big cities such as Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Winnipeg but we have visitors from all over Canada.” “We want to build a community of buyers and sellers who have a common goal: to promote the “Made in Canada” brand.” says Isabelle, ‘By choosing products made closer to home, consumers support Canadian jobs and the local economy while also cutting down on the environmental costs of moving products around the world. We want to promote the great and wonderful things made in Canada and the companies who make them”
© Content Copyright Muchmor Media 2008
...............................................................................
This season, think inside the blue boxOriginal article here. , Living Reporter - The Toronto Star, November 28, 2008 Dreaming of a green Christmas? Then why not go for the recyclable real tree this holiday season instead of the faux Tannenbaum, made of metal and PVC derivatives, that eats up boatloads of oil on its way from China to your living room? Better yet, what about a small potted version that grows – not just glows – as you cart it in from the garden each year? How about sending e-cards or email updates to friends and family, instead of the tree-felling greeting- kind that only just get tossed with the non-biodegradable tinsel, anyway? It may seem like too much work to be eco-responsible when your to-do list is already as long as Santa's. But you could aim for "the 20 per-cent rule" – a reasonable cut in conspicuous consumption – and stuff a few stockings with a pocket-sized book that spells out pretty clearly why The Most Wonderful Time of the Year isn't all that wonderful for the environment. Green Christmas: How to Have a Joyous, Eco-Friendly Holiday Season (Adams Media, $8.99) focuses on the staggering extent of the holiday hangover south of the border and, since no one seems yet to have amassed similar seasonal statistics here in Canada, the numbers are worth bearing in mind. "There's all this extra stuff – the packing that comes in the boxes, the wrapping paper, the ribbon, not to mention the toys and everything that comes with them," says Jennifer Base Sander, who co-authored the recently released book with her husband and sister. "Any parent knows all the garbage you have to move out of your living room on Christmas Day. We wanted to open people's eyes to that and ask them to re-evaluate: Do you really need all this stuff?" Household waste increases 25 per cent at Christmastime, Sander says, and since the Twelve Days of Christmas stretch into a month in the U.S. – where Thanksgiving signals the official start of a month of eating, drinking and splurging – that piles up into 2 billion pounds of garbage per week. Enough holiday cards are sold in the U.S. to fill a 10-storey football stadium and kill 300,000 trees. That's on top of all those glossy catalogues that consume 8 million trees a year and produce a truly global footprint as many are delivered around the world. Creating a Christmas to remember can translate into a lot we'd sooner forget, such as the brutal drain on electricity and even risks to your health, say the Sanders – including the petroleum-based paraffin candles that may set the mood, but can also emit toxic chemicals from toluene to benzene and formaldehyde. Then, of course, there are all those toys from China. Even if they aren't tainted with lead, they are made of plastic that tends to break – often Christmas Day – but never biodegrade. Not to mention the less-than-good cheer they spread on their oil-guzzling journey from, say, Beijing to Vancouver. That's why, even in the midst of this economic downturn, some consumers are opting to buy less, but spend more, for locally made toys or handicrafts, says Peter Sander. Or they're clicking on websites such as chinafreexmas.com that, contrary to its name, does in fact sell some toys made in China. (Canada's own version, buycanadianfirst.ca, launched just three months ago and, if you use the keyword "organic" you'll find items from healthy lip balm to baby blankets, but not many toys.) "I think people are becoming more aware," says Sander in an interview from his California home, admitting he was shocked when he tallied up the environmental fallout of everything from Christmas parties (mounds of discarded food, drink and disposable plates and cutlery) to holiday travel. "They're starting to come to their senses and saying, `We need to be good citizens here.'" You can start out with something as simple as buying a real tree, he says. In most cases they are locally grown, rather than crafted by distant conglomerates, and more than 90 per cent are collected curbside and turned into garden mulch. Instead of shiny tinsel and fake garland, he adds, buy the real stuff, which looks, and smells, authentic and can also be converted to garden cover. "That's why I like the 20 per cent rule. The idea isn't to cut out everything because obviously the kids are going to be disappointed and other family members are going to think you've gone off your chair – or you're just cheap. "But if everybody cuts back 20 per cent on what they give, on how many lights they hang, on the amount of food they put out at the Christmas party ... "But don't shut down completely. Everybody still needs a holiday."
CBC News: Shop LocalJessica Browne - CBC News, November 24, 2008
Or click here to watch the TV report.
Copyright © CBC 2008
...............................................................................
BuyCanadianFirst promotes Made in Canada productsOriginal post here.
Heri - Montreal Tech Watch, August 14th, 2008
BuyCanadianFirst wants you to do one thing, which is … buy Canadian products, as the name suggests.
In case you didn’t get the concept, they included a generous amount of maple leafs in the website’s design, bright reds and whites, plus 16 instances of the word “canada” in the homepage. The venture in itself was started last October by Isabelle Rémy, who wanted to gather in one place all consumer products made by Canadian companies. There is a more elaborate story here; where she links the website’s inception to the rise of globalization and the wish to offer an alternative to imported products. The back story is cool and inspiring; although this is the kind of project that I would have expected to come from a federal agency. Or maybe from a trade association which would want to advertise a category of products. Melissa Thibodeau, the Director of Marketing and Business Development explains though that it’s a private venture and they’ve planned from the beginning a variety of revenue models, from listing fees, affiliate marketing, advertisings and also sponsorships. BuyCanadianFirst has for instance a whole media / blog section which I guess is geared at driving traffic to the website and also build up an audience of Canadians interested at buying regularly Canadian-made products. The second section of the website is an exhaustive product database, with the aim of covering all consumer goods. You can’t buy directly the products though as they refer you to the store or manufacturer of the product. Since I am not a heavy shopper, I am not really planning to use regularly BuyCanadianFirst. I do know though that there will be an audience for the website, in a world where most consumers don’t buy anymore for the inherent functionality of a product but mostly for its different emotional value or the product story. Good luck then to the buyCanadian team!
Website puts emphasis on Canadian products. Allows visitors to browse catalogue and review productsOriginal article here.
Mike King - The Gazette - Friday, August 01, 2008
"Half of the website is the product catalogue that is being populated by the vendors themselves and through affiliate accounts," Remy said yesterday from he Dorval office that employs a staff of eight. The other half of the site is the blog, which will offer content about these products and companies as well as lifestyle, shopping, the environment, culture, achievements and good news," the managing director added. "The glue that will tie the whole site together is the community - registered embers will be able to leave comments, share, rate and review almost everything on the site," explained Remy, whose business background has been n the importing/exporting of frozen fish, fruits and vegetables. Her latest endeavour will create an online marketplace by gathering the most accurate and comprehensive made-in-Canada product listings from retailers, manufacturers and artisans across the country. about 150 of them responded to a free three-month-long pre-launch promotion to get on board sight unseen. There will be different pricing packages for small, medium and large companies wanting to list their items. Reflecting the personal principles of her own and of the employees, the site won't list pornography or tobacco-related products. "It's a pro-Canadian site, not anti-globalization or boycott imports," Remy stressed. "We wanted a name that conveyed the concept of buying Canadian first, not buying Canadian only." She pointed out that, by choosing products made closer to home, consumers support Canadian jobs and the local economy while also cutting down on the environmental costs of moving products around the world. Remy is aiming at the 43 per cent of people polled by Angus Reid last year who said they are trying to buy more products made in Canada, but have problems finding them. The fledgling firm acknowledges it can't guarantee the quality of the products featured on the site, which is one of the reasons members will be invited to rate and review items. "Our goal is to promote the 'Made in Canada' label by highlighting what is good and positive and wonderful about Canadian-made products and the companies who make them." For more information, visit www.buycanadianfirst.ca This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
You are here:
Buy Canadian First 
Media Information
