Love it or hate it, Canada is famous for poutine, that ooey gooey concoction of piping hot gravy, thick-cut French fries, and fresh curd cheese. (Canadians know you have to use fresh curd cheese, the kind that was made this morning and squeaks when you chew it.) Perhaps that’s why the Government of Canada website lists exhaustive details about our potato industry including seeds, harvest, yield, storage, use, prices, exports, and so much more. (Sounds like a thrilling read!) Our love for all things potatoes means that we don’t grow enough of our own and we import more from the United States.
Which makes me think. What other types of products and services should companies from around the world research and market here? What is interesting enough about Canada’s geography, economy, and population to encourage companies to reach outside familiar territory and test their products and services here?
First of all, we’re not as tiny as you might think. Our population is larger than each of Singapore, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Australia, and Peru. We’ve got a solid economy, and an educated and healthy population, features that are sufficient and necessary to underpin reliable growth of new products and services. If you’re looking to test out a new product using a mall intercept study, an IHUT, or Central Location Testing, we’d love to welcome you to Toronto, our largest city with a regional population of more than 6 million people or Montreal, our largest French/English bilingual city with a regional population of more than 4 million people.
- Population: Canada is ranked 39th out of 232 countries with 37 million people. WorldPopulationReview
- GDP per Capita: $60 592 per person. Statista
- Education: Canada is 5th best out of 187 countries for the number of young children attending school, 0.0615 out of 1000. Only Japan, Iran, Netherlands, and Tunisia have lower/better rates. NationMaster
- Health: Canada is 11th best for their probability of reaching the age of 40. Countries with better rates include Israel, Sweden, Japan, Malta, Iceland, Norway, Italy, Australia, Netherlands, and Greece. NationMaster
We have a lot of TVs, a lot of internet users, and millions of French speakers. Bring us your English and French language programing and mobile apps.
- Television Receivers: After the USA and Malta, Canada has the third highest rate of TV receivers. 716 per 1000 people. NationMaster
- Internet Users: After Greenland and Netherlands, Canada has the third highest rate of people access the internet at least once every several months, 850 people per thousand. NationMaster
- Language: 17.9% of Canadians speak both French and English, and 11.9% speak only French. That’s more than 10 million people who speak French. Commissioner of Official Languages.
We’re a BIG country with lots of surface area, lots of time zones, and lots of roads. It can take more than 16 hours to drive from one side of the Province of Ontario to the other. Driving all day to get to Aunt Lisa’s house is just a normal weekend trip for us. So bring us vehicles with more innovative interiors that feel like mini-living rooms on wheels. Bring us your one-handed, healthy snacks for eating while driving, and your innovative tools, toys, and games that keep the kids quiet and make the drive feel so much shorter.
- Surface Area: After Russia, Canada has the second highest surface area of land and water. 9.98 million square miles, only slightly more than the USA. NationMaster
- Time Zones: Canada has 6 time zones distributed across 4.5 hours.
- Length of All Roads: After China and the USA, Canada has the third greatest length of all roads in their country – 16 900 km, in 2014. NationMaster
We’re a water country with more lakes and coastline than anywhere else. There seems to be a rule that every Canadian must own some kind of boat, whether a canoe, kayak, rowboat, or yacht so bring us your innovative new products for boating, fishing, and swimming. And since we’re a cold country, we’d love to test your innovations in sub-zero diving, swimming, and surfing.
- Lakes: Canada has the largest number of lakes, more than 2 million lakes, and more than 60% of all lakes in the world. WorldAtlas.
- Coastline: Canada has the longest coastline in the world at 202 080 km. NationMaster
We’re environmentally responsible. We have lots of land and we try to take care of it. Bring us your innovations in reducing, recycling, reusing, and recovering. Show us your new products and services for reducing pollution and supporting the environment. Help us keep our beautiful country clean and green for many generations to come.
- Arable Land: After Australia and Kazakhstan, Canada has the third largest area of arable land used for temporary crops, meadows, pasture, gardens, and fallow. NationMaster
- Pollution: Canada is 10th best out of 116 countries for their perceived satisfaction with the quality of air in their city. NationMaster
At Canadian Viewpoint, we know Canada. We live here and we know the cultural, economic, and political landscape. Just as you now have the inside scoop on curd cheese, our Canadian experts would love to help you too get the inside scoop about Canadianisms that would help you better market your products and services here. Please get in touch with us!
You might like to read these:
- 7 ways to reduce your research costs
- What exactly is the IHUT research methodology?
- The Pros and Cons of Telephone Research
- Research and Analytics Dashboards: From Idea to Design
With nearly 40 years of experience, Canadian Viewpoint is a field and data collection company that specializes in English and French offline and online services. We offer sample, programming, hosting, mall intercepts, pre-recruits, central location recruitment, mystery shopping, site interviews, IHUTs, sensory testing, discussion boards, CATI, facial coding, and other innovative technologies. Learn more about our services on our website. Canadian Viewpoint is a founding board member of CRIC (Canadian Research Insights Council).
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