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There’s never been a better time to embrace your Canadian brand

Insights from Canada's Internet Factbook show how businesses can embrace the Canadian aspect of their brand.
By Erin Hutchison
Content Marketing and Social Media Specialist

The “Canada brand” – so hot right now

The summer temperatures aren’t the only thing that’s hot right now. According to Business Development Canada (BDC) research, 45 per cent of consumers made an effort to buy Canadian products in the past year (and that was before things really started to heat up with our neighbours to the south). There’s always been a segment of the market that prefers to buy local, and now we’re seeing that it’s picking up steam. The preference to buy Canadian has been spreading over social media, trending on Reddit, and even making mainstream news as Canadians look for local alternatives to U.S. products. When your Aunt Sally starts sharing meme about it on Facebook, you know it’s gaining momentum.

The Canada brand represents quality, competence, reliability and integrity according to Melanie Coulson from Export Development Canada (EDC). As more and more consumers look to fill their shopping baskets with local products and to shop at Canadian online retailers, an opportunity is arising for Canadian businesses to show off their national pride.

Thing is, we have known for years that Canadians prefer to shop in Canada, and that a .CA website is their preferred destination for online shopping.

Why Canadian businesses should choose a .CA domain name

According to Canada’s Internet Factbook, 86 per cent of Canadians have made an online purchase in the last 12 months, and 62 per cent of respondents who shopped internationally online indicated they would have rather shopped domestically.

Using the Canada brand advantage in a businesses’ overall strategy is a great way for your message to resonate with your audience. One way you can do this is to have your website hosted on a .CA domain name. There’s a few benefits to this:

  • At CIRA we work hard to keep .CA Canadian. Did you know that only businesses and individuals with a Canadian presence can get a .CA domain name?
  • Your audience likes a website that ends in .CA. Canada’s Internet Factbook found that 65 per cent of Canadian internet users agreeing that Canadian organizations should use a .CA domain.
  • Having a .CA website signals to your fellow canucks that your business caters to them with pricing in Canadian dollars, support for Canadian shipping, and no nasty customs and duty surprises.
  • If you choose the .CA domain, you choose to be giving back to the community. Every time a .CA domain is newly registered or renewed, it funds CIRA’s Community Investment Program that has given back more than $5.45 million and supported 130 innovative projects to build a stronger, safer and more accessible internet for all Canadians.
  • Canadians tend to spend more at Canadian online retailers. Thirty-nine per cent of Canadians said they spent $500 or more on a Canadian retailer website compared to 15 per cent on an American site.

See if the .CA domain name you want is available.

Want a .CA domain of your own? Use this handy tool to find one that's available.

Special shout-out to a great .CA domain

In doing research for this post, we felt we had to give a shout-out to a website we found, beercrank.ca. The owner of this great .CA domain is Cody from Brandon, Manitoba, and his favourite food to pair with beer is “real Québécois poutine, chicken & waffles”. He is doing .CA right: he has a handy “forever in progress” list of Canadian breweries that you can check out to support Canadian-made beer.

Keep up the good work, Cody!

About the author
Erin Hutchison

Erin brings to CIRA a background of marketing experience in higher education and the not-for-profit sector. In 2015, she participated in ISOC’s Youth@IGF Programme and traveled to Guadalajara, Mexico to attend the IGF. She has a Bachelor of International Business from Carleton University.

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