EMERGE Commerce Ltd., a Canadian e-commerce brand portfolio, says its truLOCAL banner, a premium meat and seafood subscription brand that connects local farmers with a health-conscious audience across Canada, is seeing a surge in growth.
truLOCAL, EMERGE’s largest brand by revenue, experienced a surge in new customer acquisitions in February 2025, following the growing “Support Local” movement sweeping the country, it said, adding that during February 2025 growth was 193% increase in net new subscriptions compared to February 2024.
Net new subscriptions is defined as new (paid) subscriptions initiated minus subscriptions cancelled in that same period.
Despite it being a shorter month, February 2025 was truLOCAL’s highest month of net new subscriptions since May 2020, during the height of the pandemic, said the company.
Contributing to these results, truLOCAL benefited from a reduced cost per customer acquisition of nearly 20% YoY in February 2025, implying increased brand resonance and product appeal with Canadian customers prioritizing local options, it said.
“We believe the Support LOCAL movement is here to stay and has the potential to be a defining moment for truLOCAL, and for ‘Made in Canada” businesses at large. We are thrilled to see this influx of new members joining our growing community and believe this is exactly the right time to double down on our truly, local brand and business model,” said Ghassan Halazon, EMERGE CEO and truLOCAL President.
He described it as an “explosive level of growth.”
In light of these positive trends and favourable unit economics, truLOCAL has been ramping up advertising to drive brand awareness and grow market share with a focus on high ROI opportunities.
As an example, the company launched its “truLOCAL Retaliates: 25% OFF Campaign Meat and Seafood” ad campaign on February 5 as a response to the escalating tariff situation with the U.S., added Halazon.
“truLOCAL is like a premium meat and seafood subscription business. It connects local farmers with Canadian customers across the country on things like organic chicken, grass-fed beef, wild-caught salmon, that sort of thing. And then it’s a sort of a monthly delivery box. We’ve started to see some really exciting signs,” he said.
Unlike the COVID lift driven by the circumstances of the pandemic with store closures and people cautious of going out, this trend truLOCAL is seeing is driven by sentiment. “And we believe it’s here to stay. These are choices they’re making and they really believe supporting local is a priority now.”
Just last week, EMERGE announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire all issued and outstanding shares of Tee 2 Green Ltd.
The company said T2G is a profitable, discount golf apparel and equipment business with a 38-year track record of operations, focused on the Canadian market. T2G achieved revenue of $6.4M, Adjusted EBITDA of $1M and positive net income of $700K in 2024 (unaudited). T2G is based in Ontario and was founded in 1987 by Robert J. Fell, who will continue to support T2G under EMERGE in his capacity as a consultant. T2G has a diversified revenue stream comprising two retail stores, dozens of roadshows, an online store, and a private label golf apparel brand, NORTHERN SPIRIT, added the company.
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