A new Canadian website is making it easier for consumers to find domestic alternatives to familiar U.S. brands as trade tensions continue to influence purchasing decisions across the country.

TryCanadian.ca officially launched September 8, the same day Canada’s latest round of counter-tariffs on selected U.S. goods took effect. The platform allows consumers to search for an American brand, product or service and find Canadian companies offering potential alternatives.

Founder Tomas Svec spent roughly three to four weeks developing the platform ahead of its launch, with much of that time devoted to researching and building a database that now includes more than 900 companies and is approaching 1,000. The challenge, he said, was not simply finding Canadian businesses, but determining what being Canadian actually means.

“The database was the hardest part because I wanted to be very rigorous about the sources I was using,” Svec told Retail Insider.

The premise is straightforward. A shopper can enter a familiar U.S. company and receive suggestions for Canadian businesses serving a similar need. During the Retail Insider interview, for example, a search for Ralph Lauren produced alternatives including Penningtons, RW&CO., Province of Canada and Quartz Co.

Svec said the idea grew out of conversations with consumers who wanted to shift some of their spending but did not necessarily know where to go.

“People started reaching out to me and to friends asking, ‘Do you know any alternatives to this U.S. company?’” he said.

Svec does not position TryCanadian as an anti-American boycott platform. He describes it as a discovery tool that gives consumers more options while making smaller Canadian businesses easier to find.

“I’m trying not to promote it as a boycott of the U.S. It’s about offering people more alternatives,” he said. “There are many options and many small companies. I’m also trying to help smaller businesses become more visible because I think this is a great time to support local economies.”

There is not always a direct Canadian substitute for a large multinational company. A platform such as Amazon spans an enormous number of categories, meaning replacing it with Canadian alternatives could involve several specialized businesses instead of a single competing retailer.

Defining What Is Actually Canadian

One of the more complicated parts of the project is determining what qualifies as Canadian. A business can be founded and headquartered in Canada while ultimately being controlled by a foreign owner. A Canadian-owned company, meanwhile, may manufacture some or all of its products outside the country.

TryCanadian therefore separates characteristics such as ownership, headquarters and manufacturing rather than applying a single Canadian designation to every business.

“When I say Canadian-owned, I’m looking at who ultimately controls the company,” Svec explained. “A company can be founded and headquartered in Canada, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it isn’t foreign-owned.”

The distinction becomes more complicated when products are marketed as Canadian. Competition Bureau guidelines generally require at least 51 per cent of total direct production or manufacturing costs to have been incurred in Canada for a non-food product to carry a qualified “Made in Canada” claim. The last substantial transformation must also have occurred in Canada, and the claim requires an appropriate qualifier indicating imported content.

The threshold for a “Product of Canada” claim is considerably higher, generally requiring at least 98 per cent of total direct production or manufacturing costs to have been incurred in Canada, with the last substantial transformation also occurring here. The definitions illustrate why Canadian ownership, headquarters and domestic manufacturing are separate considerations.

Svec said transparency around those distinctions became a priority while developing TryCanadian. He wants consumers to understand why a company has been categorized in a particular way instead of simply accepting a broad Canadian designation.

“I’m trying not to be vague,” he said. “I want to be transparent so people understand what these terms actually mean.”

That work remains labour-intensive. Svec researches companies himself and plans to contact businesses when information about ownership, headquarters or manufacturing cannot be confidently established. TryCanadian’s methodology says it prioritizes corporate disclosures, government and regulatory databases, manufacturer information, reputable news sources and other credible business information, while using “Unknown” when a claim cannot be sufficiently verified.

On launch day, Svec had already assembled a list of approximately 50 companies he intended to contact for additional information.

“The verified badge means I’ve been able to verify the information about the business — where it is headquartered, where its products are made and whether it is Canadian-owned,” he said.

The designation is TryCanadian’s own verification system and should not be confused with government certification. The Competition Bureau provides guidelines for Canadian-origin claims but does not approve or certify individual “Made in Canada” or “Product of Canada” claims.

Buy Canadian Moves Into Consumer Spending

TryCanadian’s launch comes as the Canada-U.S. trade dispute continues to affect consumer sentiment and spending behaviour. Effective September 8, Canada imposed counter-tariffs of 15, 25 and 50 per cent on selected U.S. products covering $27.6 billion in imports, including products in sectors such as steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper and electronics.

There is growing evidence that the Buy Canadian movement has extended beyond consumer sentiment. Bank of Canada research published in February found a modest but measurable shift in grocery spending away from U.S. products and toward Canadian ones following the escalation of trade tensions in 2025, although researchers cautioned that tariffs and resulting price changes may account for some of the substitution.

Bank of Canada consumer surveys have also continued to show a preference for domestic goods. In its first-quarter 2026 survey, consumers reported continuing to substitute toward goods made in Canada while spending less on goods made in the United States, with most respondents expecting that behaviour to persist over the long term regardless of what happens in the Canada-U.S. trade relationship.

Svec said people he knows had long expressed an interest in supporting Canadian companies, but convenience frequently determined what they actually purchased. He believes the current environment has pushed more consumers to put additional effort into finding alternatives.

“People would say they wanted to support Canadian businesses, but convenience was often more important,” he said. “Now, because of what is happening and the tensions we’re seeing, people are opening up to alternatives. Sometimes they’re even willing to pay a little more for a Canadian product.”

Price remains an important limitation. Bank of Canada consumer research found three-quarters of respondents were unwilling to pay more than an additional 10 per cent for Canadian-made products, highlighting the continued importance of affordability alongside origin, convenience, selection and quality.

For Canadian retailers and brands, that creates a more nuanced opportunity. Consumers may increasingly want to support domestic businesses, but they still need products that compete effectively on the fundamentals. What appears to be changing is the willingness of some shoppers to look for a Canadian option before making their decision.

Svec encountered the same trade-off while developing TryCanadian. He deliberately selected Canadian companies for services supporting the website, including its technology infrastructure, even where doing so cost considerably more than using international providers.

“For me, some Canadian services cost 50 to 60 per cent more than the other options,” he said. “But I wanted to support Canadian companies.”

A Discovery Opportunity for Smaller Businesses

Smaller Canadian businesses could be among the beneficiaries if the change in consumer behaviour persists. Svec said his research repeatedly uncovered companies offering domestic alternatives that consumers may simply not know exist.

“There are many small businesses offering these products, but people often aren’t aware of them,” he said. “Sometimes there is a business in your own community doing this, but you’ve always gone to the large retailer instead.”

That visibility gap has historically favoured larger national and international companies with greater marketing resources. Svec believes the current environment could alter part of that equation as consumers take a more active role in discovering domestic businesses.

“In the past, these businesses had to spend thousands of dollars on campaigns to compete,” he said. “Now people are actually seeking out and trying to find those businesses.”

The extent of that shift will take time to measure, particularly for TryCanadian itself. Svec acknowledged that the platform is too new to provide meaningful proprietary data about which companies or categories its users are searching most frequently.

Before launch, he examined discussions on Reddit, Facebook groups and other online communities to identify the kinds of alternatives Canadians were looking for. Technology services emerged as one area of interest, along with Canadian options for broad platforms such as Amazon.

The database is also designed to expand through submissions from consumers and businesses. Visitors can suggest a Canadian alternative that is missing, while companies can submit themselves for consideration. Those submissions are researched before being incorporated into the database.

“If somebody suggests a business that isn’t there, it goes into my database and I research it,” Svec said. “Once everything has been researched, I can add it.”

Originally from Slovakia, Svec moved to Canada approximately five years ago and has worked in journalism for about two decades, primarily covering technology and science. He continues to contribute journalism in Slovakia while working in communications with the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.

His work at the food bank has given him a close view of the financial pressures facing households, while building TryCanadian has become part of his own relationship with the country.

“Since moving here, I’ve started to understand what it really means to be proud to be Canadian,” Svec said. “I’m trying to support that with this small initiative.”

Whether the current shift toward Canadian products survives the immediate trade dispute remains an open question. Svec believes at least part of the behavioural change could endure because consumers are becoming more conscious of ownership, manufacturing and where their spending ultimately goes.

“When people buy something, I think they’re going to be more conscious of who is actually behind the business,” he said. “They’re thinking more about whether they are supporting a local company.”

For TryCanadian, the immediate task is to continue expanding the database, verify the information behind its listings and make domestic alternatives easier to discover. For Canadian retailers and brands, the broader opportunity is that some consumers who once needed to be persuaded to notice domestic alternatives are now actively looking for them.

More from Retail Insider:

• Trade war puts over 50,000 Canadian small businesses at risk: CFIB
• Canadian Consumers Keep Spending Despite Weak Economy and Trade War