Canadian consumers are responding to American tariffs with more passion and fury than we have ever experienced. Many are adamant they will buy only Canadian -- anything but American. Retailers are putting up signage to help consumers make informed choices. Loblaw Companies Ltd, for example, has responded very quickly to highlight products from the U.S. impacted by tariffs with a large “T” on shelf labels.

In a statement on LinkedIn, the CEO and president Per Bank, said the organization has created a tariff symbol (T) to help customers make choices on goods.

“Because of the tariffs imposed from the U.S., the Canadian government has been forced to put a range of retaliatory tariffs in place, on roughly $30B worth of goods,” Bank said in the statement, “things like poultry, dairy items, fruits and vegetables, and more. This will unfortunately have consequences.”

In stores there are many examples of U.S. products that are not selling. Social media is full of pictures of U.S.-grown strawberries reduced below the cost of goods because people are just not buying them.

During my time in this industry, I have never experienced such a swift and drastic change in consumer behaviour.

Challenges for retailers

Take a moment to consider what is happening within the four walls of your customers: the retailers. They have worked for years to establish good working relationships with U.S. producers. Prior to the threat of tariffs, the U.S. was a great source of product for Canada and consumers wanted these items. Now, category managers and buyers are forced to look for product elsewhere or face the challenge of consumers leaving it on the counter.

There are U.S. products throughout the store, but produce is one of the departments with the highest penetration. For several reasons – winter weather prohibiting a growing season in Canada being the most obvious -- Canadian grocers had a lot of U.S.-grown produce from the southernmost states. Now they are scrambling to decide if they should keep them or look across the globe for options.

A great time to build relationships with customers

With retailers scrambling to find options, now is a great time to be a great supplier. Communicate with them to ensure you understand any changes coming to the category. For example, if you supply apples and they decide to reduce or eliminate U.S. SKUs in the category they might need more product from you. Let them know if you can deliver 10-15 per cent more product and make sure you understand when they will need it.

With the challenges they are facing, your service level (cases delivered divided by cases ordered) is more important than ever. Strive to exceed 95 per cent.

Make sure it is very obvious your product is produced and packed in Canada. Not the fine print on the back -- up front! Consumers want to know and you should make it simple for them. Make it clear on your shipping boxes so employees in the store know it is Canadian.

Provide as much information as you can to your customers about your product so they have what they need. 

Check stores and retailers’ websites to make sure your product has the correct Product of Canada labelling. They rely on systems for this information. It is not always perfect. If there is an issue in the store, ask the employees and try to understand the root cause. If the signage is not correct there is a reason. 

With close to 10% of food being purchased online you should also check retailers’ websites to ensure labelling is correct. Loblaw introduced a swap option for consumers to shift from American products to Canadian. Check to confirm this is working properly for your items.

This could be a long-term shift

If you were ever thinking of making investments to extend the season or implement other technology to provide a Canadian product in place of an American product, now is the time. Walk the stores and look for U.S. products that could be replaced here in Canada. It could be primary production or packing/processing products from different growing regions. If you have connections in other growing regions from your involvement in industry associations or other initiatives there could be opportunities for you or them.

Talk to your customers to assess the viability and get some commitments from them. They are actively looking for options. Make sure you are the first one through the door. You will be a solution to their challenges which can take your relationship to another level. It is important to get the commitments as the situation south of the border seems to change daily.