How to Distribute to Montreal

Montreal is the second-most populous city in Canada and the most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec.

Montreal’s 2020 population is now estimated at 4,220,566. Montreal has grown by 150,444 since 2015, which represents a 0.73% annual change. These population estimates and projections come from the latest revision of the UN World Urbanization Prospects. These estimates represent the Urban agglomeration of Montreal, which typically includes Montreal’s population and adjacent suburban areas.

The urban agglomeration — which includes all municipalities on the Island of Montreal — has an estimated population of 1.95 million. The Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) has a population of 4.06 million.

In simpler terms, there is a large market to sell to in Montreal.

One thing Montreal is well-known for is the multiple international conferences and events it hosts. These events bring in a lot of money and sales into the city. This factor has made it very attractive to wholesalers and manufacturers looking to expand distribution.

However, Montreal is a large city. To understand how the distribution of products works, it may help look at areas that make up the city.

Distributing Products to Pointe-Claire

Pointe-Claire has over 33,000 people. Pointe-Claire is a municipality on the Island of Montreal in Quebec, Canada. It is entirely developed, and land use includes residential, light manufacturing, and retail.

It is of a moderate population, known as the ‘heart of Montreal west.’ The area has always been open to retail as over 17% of its employed residents work in retail. It features local branches of large retail chains.

Getting into retail stores in this municipality may require some strategizing. Whatever strategy is put in place depends, of course, on the product. But a strategy may not succeed if adequate marketing is not done. This is not just the case in Montreal or North America, but almost all over the world.

You could go through retail associations or work with an established distributor who understands the market.

To go through a retailers’ association, you may have to work with either the Retail Council of Canada or the Retail Council of Quebec. These two can get you direct connections with the retailers in the area.

Distributing Products to Brossard

By estimate, Brossard’s population in 2020 is 92,578. This makes it one of the big municipalities in Quebec. Brossard is subdivided into many smaller sections. These sections are characterized by having street names that all begin with the same letter of the alphabet. The only notable exceptions are a few major arteries (such as Taschereau Boulevard and Rome Boulevard) that span across two or more sections.

Being a fairly large area with a sizable population, Brossard is good for business, and supplying products to this area may bring in millions of dollars in sales if the product resonates with the people of the area.

As always, with new products, marketing is vital. It determines up to 80% if a product is going to be successful. Thus, it is not surprising that brands pay as much as $25 million to get a 30-second spot at the Super Bowl.

Marketing also makes the work of distributors easier. They don’t have to start pitching the product all over to retailers. You’ve done the pitching with the marketing. Working with experienced distributors does a lot of good, but people buy what they know about most of the time.

Retailers’ associations and cooperatives are also very useful in helping you get your products before retailers. They provide you the opportunity to network and pitch your products to them. If you’re a popular brand, you don’t need much pitching, but you may do some convincing for an upcoming brand.

Distributing Products to LaSalle

LaSalle is a municipality under Montreal with a population of over 82,000 people. LaSalle is located in the south-west portion of the Island of Montreal, along the Saint Lawrence River. Commercial activities in LaSalle are vibrant as a lot of people visit the place for Tourism. The area is also experiencing immigration as new people are relocating into the area.

Since there are indigenous retailers’ associations in LaSalle, the other retailers’ associations, such as the Retail Council of Canada and the Retail Council of Quebec, can be a good place to start networking. Many retailers in the area are members of retailers’ associations and cooperatives, and they might be open to new distribution pitches.

Working with experienced and established distributors can also do a lot of help. These distributors understand the market better and know how consumer patterns are in the area. Working with them can help launch a new product or extend its distribution networks to new areas.

Tip to Note When Distributing Products to Montreal

Language

Montreal is in Quebec – a predominantly French-speaking area. However, this does not mean that people don’t speak English here or that it is rude to speak English there; it is just that some people speak French predominantly. So, in product descriptions, you may want to include French for those who mostly understand French.

Marketing

Since you’re entering a new market, you may want to see how marketing messages are communicated to the people of Montreal. You may have to understand language diversity and be ready to play by its rules.

Also, you need to understand that getting a new product into a new area will do well if the marketing message is communicated well enough. However, most people use ad blockers and a lot of devices to protect them from ads. You should employ unavoidable tactics like social media targeting, billboards, magazines, and other internet and mass media forms.