Canadians have already made up their minds about shopping local

Canadians have already made up their minds about local

This isn't a fringe sentiment anymore.

Interac's most recent surveying found that supporting local businesses now matters to nearly four in five Canadians more than it did a year ago, and by last summer, most Canadians said they were actively making an effort to shop local rather than just thinking about it.

Ask people directly whether supporting small business matters to them personally, and you're looking at close to nine in ten saying yes. Over half would even pay a few dollars more to buy local instead of defaulting to the cheapest option, and a third would go further than that.

At the same time, none of this has slowed down online shopping. Canadians haven't pulled back from buying online, and roughly three-quarters of the population still does, which adds up to a whopping tens of billions of dollars a year.

What's changed is that more people wish they were buying when they open their laptop or phone. The intent has undeniably shifted toward local, especially in the wake of the US-Canada tariff war. And, unfortunately, the habit hasn't caught up yet, and it's largely due to the question of "how," not being able to confidently source local at the click of a button.

So why does Amazon still win by default?

It's safe to say that it's not because people prefer Amazon over supporting a local business. We often pull out our phones and begin our search there because it's easy and reliable to find exactly what we need, and finding a local alternative usually isn't.

Local brands are scattered across their own individual websites, with no reference of where they're based out of, a handful of social posts, and maybe a listing on one pop-up marketplace and not another.

There's no single, reliable place a shopper can go looking for "local" in the same way there is for "everything," so old habits win by default, even among people who'd genuinely rather buy from someone in their own city.

That's the actual gap myShopfront was built to close.

It's not about convincing people to care about local, because the stats show they already do. It's about giving that intention somewhere real to land.

What a Canadian shopper gets by choosing local instead

Every business on myShopfront is a real, vetted local business, not an anonymous listing buried in a warehouse of millions.

Money spent there stays circulating closer to home instead of leaving the country.

Instead of wading through search results engineered to surface whoever paid the most to be seen,

Canadian shoppers get to actually discover the brands and businesses in their own community. The ones with a story behind them, the ones making things in their own community.

Why this matters for your business right now, not eventually

If you're a local brand or business reading this, that shift in consumer sentiment isn't just an interesting stat, it's your opening cue.

Demand has already moved toward local. What hasn't caught up yet is supply: most local brands still aren't easy to find in one place, which means the shoppers who are actively looking for you often can't find you.

That won't stay true forever. The brands that lean in now, while that gap is still wide open, are the ones who capture this wave of demand before every other local brand in their category has already claimed the same customers.

Being part of a curated, digital marketplace isn't something we see as a nice-to-have. It's a strategic business decision that moves you away from the way business used to operate and into the future. It's how you show up in front of someone who has already decided to buy local instead of defaulting to Amazon, at the exact moment they're looking.

If you are a small business in Canada, start today by creating your free business account and get listed on our myShopfront marketplace.

If you're a supporter of Canadian business and want to shop local, create your free account here, start to explore, and tell your neighbour to join.

FAQ

Is it more expensive to shop local than Amazon?

Sometimes, and most Canadians say they're willing to pay a bit more for it anyway. For many local brands, prices end up comparable once you factor in quality and shipping.

How do I find local Canadian brands online?

myShopfront brings local Canadian brands together in one curated, searchable marketplace organized by city, so shoppers aren't hunting across dozens of individual websites and social pages to find them.

Does shopping local actually make a difference?

Most Canadians believe it does. The majority say their spending directly impacts their own community, and every dollar spent with a local brand stays circulating closer to home instead of leaving the country.

Question? Get in touch with us: info@myshopfront.ca.