Selling to Canada: What Canadian consumer preferences mean for companies entering the market
Executive Summary
A survey of 1,001 Canadian consumers by Empirical Intelligence shows that Canadians are open to imports in spite of the “Buy Canadian” movement.
Key Findings
- Broad narratives like “Buy Canadian” can be misleading for companies planning market entry or expansion in Canada.
- Canadians overwhelmingly plan to continue buying Canadian products, but remain very open to products from other regions, except the United States.
- Younger Canadians are more receptive to U.S. products than older Canadians.
- Canadian consumer preferences are selective and context dependent, not broadly protectionist.
- Market research is essential to understand country-of-origin effects and segment-level demand before entering the Canadian market.
A lot of people are talking about trade diversification these days. Many companies are considering selling to the Canadian market, but they worry that now might be a risky time for market entry because of the “Buy Canadian” sentiment people have been talking about. For companies considering entering the Canadian market, understanding Canadian consumer preferences is critical. Companies should know that Canadians’ preferences are more complex than just “Buy Canadian.”
In a survey of 1,001 Canadians by Empirical Intelligence in November 2025, we asked respondents whether they plan to spend more money, less money or the same amount of money as now on products from five different countries and regions: Canada, the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
Figure 1 below shows the percentages of Canadian consumers who say they plan to spend the same amount or more from each country or region. The results confirm that Canadians plan to buy Canadian products. A full 94% said they plan to spend the same or more on products from Canada.
The findings also confirm that Canadians have little interest in products from the United States. Only 38% said they plan to spend the same or more on products from the US. For U.S.-based companies, this shows that country-of-origin cues are now a liability and that messaging and branding strategies matter more than before.
Figure 1. Despite “Buy Canadian”, Canadians are open to buying products from most places except the US
What may be more surprising is that large majorities of Canadians plan to buy products from the three regions we asked about. That is especially true for Europe which 83% of Canadians plan to buy products from. Only slightly fewer Canadians, 78%, plan to buy products from both Asia and Latin America. This suggests that Canadian consumers are not broadly protectionist. Instead, their preferences appear selective and context dependent.
Younger Canadians are more open to buying from the United States
Plans to buy from different countries and regions are uniform across demographics. The one exception is that younger Canadians are more willing to buy American products. As Figure 2 shows, while only 30% of Canadians 45 and over plan to buy products from the United States over the next year, 49% of Canadians under 45 plan to buy from the US. That may be due to a greater concern about the cost of living among younger Canadians.
For companies targeting younger consumers, especially in price-sensitive categories, assumptions about anti-U.S. sentiment may be overstated. It’s important to think about diverse segments within the Canadian market, rather than one homogenous whole.
There are lots of opportunities to sell to Canada
In short, “Buy Canadian” only partly describes Canadian consumers’ preferences. Canadians are also overwhelmingly open to buying products from other parts of the world, except the United States. That means there are lots of opportunities for companies trying to sell products to the Canadian market. Now may be a favourable time for market entry.
Broad generalizations like “Buy Canadian” can be misleading for companies making market entry or expansion decisions. Canadians’ purchasing intentions vary across countries and regions. They also vary across segments. Market research can help companies planning to sell to Canada understand whether there is sufficient demand among Canadian consumers for products from a given country or region, before they enter the Canadian market.
Patterns can vary by product category, price point, and target segment. Category-specific market research is important.
This analysis is based on original research conducted by Empirical Intelligence to assess Canadians’ purchasing intentions by country of origin.