Strategy: Colour Me Canadian

Sizing Up the Market

There are approximately 33 million people and 12.5 million consumer households in Canada. Similar to the United States in many ways, Canada has an affluent, high-tech and urban society. Almost 20 percent of the total Canadian population resides in the province of Quebec, where French and English speaking people are split about 70-to-30. There are three groups in Quebec: French unilingual, English unilingual and bilingual. Language laws are a touchy issue. Therefore, when mailing to Quebec, select only English-speaking addresses. Avoid sending an English-language catalog to a non-identified English speaker. Although this reduces the size of the potential universe, it’s the safe thing to do.