Online Marketing: Canadian-Tailored Websites 

It has become more and more necessary for companies selling their drug and health products in Canada to have a dedicated Canadian facing website. Recently, this has become especially true for companies selling Natural Health Products (NHPs) in Canada, but similar expectations can be seen with other health and personal care products (e.g. cosmetics).  

What is a Canadian-tailored website? 

A website specifically tailored to the Canadian market is one that complies with all of Health Canada’s policy and regulatory requirements. Its focus is to attract the Canadian consumer gaze while adhering to compliance standards. What better way to effectively market your products (Natural Health Products (NHPs), Cosmetics, Drugs (DINs), etc.) to Canadians than through a website built specifically for the Canadian market and the Canadian gaze? Even if a Canadian website may seem an obvious concept, that does not seem to reflect what is currently happening online. Not all companies choose to invest in the time to create an online platform that caters to the Canadian market and their Canadian consumers but rather choose to use their global websites for the Canadian market, which leaves them caught between Canadian compliance and creative marketing that might be compliant only in other jurisdictions. The reasons for not doing this can vary, but this, oftentimes, leads companies to get caught between compliance and creative marketing. Below we will explore factors that necessitate Canadian tailored online content. 

What are the advantages of Canadian-tailored websites? 

• Direct access & Increased visibility to Canadian consumers
• Improved pre-market assessment experience 
• Compliance with Canadian regulations 

Direct access & Increased visibility to Canadian consumers 

• Canadian domain (.ca) 
  • If you can demonstrate a presence in Canada, you can capitalize on the advantages afforded by a .CA domain name. 
  • What does Canadian presence mean?
    • Your corporation or establishment is registered in Canada and has a place of business with at least one Canadian resident employee who fulfills registrar functions. 
  • Advantages 
    • Search engines can easily identify your website as designed for Canada leading to higher rankings during search queries and perhaps a competitive edge over foreign-tailored sites.
    • Search engines give priority to websites with a Canadian domain when they identify the users as being in Canada. This means you will be a top result for your target Canadian audience. 
    • Fosters trust with Canadian consumers. 
      • By tailoring your content to a Canadian lens, you are showing your dedication to providing content that meets the needs of your Canadian consumers and therefore strengthen the trust your consumers have in your offerings. Canadians have been shown to trust and give more credibility to websites with a Canadian domain because they view them as more reliable.    

• Non-Canadian domain 
  • If you don’t have a presence in Canada, you may want to consider other website features to restrict certain access to your website like Geo-blocking, also known as Geolocking. In addition to this you can choose to redirect Canadians to a Canadian domain (.CA) if available or to a webpage on your site that only allows Canadians to view Canadian tailored content. 
    • Geo-blocking allows you to restrict access to online content or services based on a user’s geographic location. 
    • Redirection – What does this look like? 
      • Use of prompts such as “Looks like you’re in Canada, want to go to our Canadian site?” 
      • Automatic redirection without a consumer’s input 
  • Advantages 
    • Foreign content and claims compliant in other jurisdictions but not in Canada do not have to be altered as Canadian consumers will not have access to them. 
    • Demonstrate commitment to compliance 

Improved pre-market assessment experience 

One of the most important considerations that companies looking to sell their health products in Canada need to keep in mind is that their website is considered an extension of their physical product labels. Depending on the type of product registration process, Health Canada may or may not expect to receive a proposed market label with an application. However, even if not required, Health Canada has been known to conduct their own online research when assessing a product submission. In fact, it has become increasingly common during the pre-market assessment of Natural Health Products, particularly as it relates to product brand names and claims, for reviewers to comment on information they see on foreign websites. Even though Health Canada has no jurisdiction over compliance in a foreign market, they are viewing information available on other countries’ websites as to how it may influence the perception of Canadian consumers, and this is playing a part in their decision making.  

• Real-life example: Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) products 
  • In 2024 NRTs gained much media attention because of concerns over advertising and marketing strategies leading to misuse by minors. Many of these concerns stemmed from the packaging of these products but also how they were advertised online. This led to a new Order that resulted in more robust guidelines in terms of labelling and advertising NRTs in Canada. It has also led Health Canada actively look up information on foreign websites for an NRT marketed or to be marketed in Canada as a key step in their assessment of compliance with this new Order. 
    • Are you an NRT manufacturer/product licence holder? Read our blog on this new Order for more information on how you may be impacted. 

Given the increased scrutiny of foreign websites, it becomes clear why a Canadian tailored site can be so advantageous – it can help ease the approval process! 

Compliance with Canadian regulations 

As expressed above, Canadians are more likely to view a Canadian site as more reliable because they trust the content shared is keeping in line with Canadian regulations. By tailoring a website to Canada, your commitment to adhering to the guidelines and regulations set out by Health Canada is more transparent. Canadian tailored websites help companies to effectively market their products in Canada all the while ensuring that compliance is met. As stated above, there are options available to filter or redirect your online platforms to promote Canadian content. A large part of the post-market phase of many health products is the ongoing monitoring of products already within the market. Companies that sell products in multiple markets can benefit from using Canadian tailored content because they can focus on featuring products that have gone through the necessary pre-market requirements without having to compromise the content they have tailored for other countries. 

How Can Dell Tech Help 

It is hard to miss the impact that e-commerce has had on retail sales across the globe. In Canada the popularity of e-commerce is growing and is expected to continue doing so. Now is the time to reflect on your online presence in Canada and how to make it better. 

Dell Tech has the regulatory expertise and tools to help you navigate the complex labelling and advertising requirements to thrive in the Canadian market.   

Need Help with Website Compliance and Labelling? 

Dell Tech Academy now offers a Labelling Compliance Course designed for Canadian health product manufacturers and marketers. 

Learn how to align your product labels and online content with Health Canada regulations—because your website is your second label.  

👉 Visit https://academy.npc-corp.ca/ to get started. 

DELL TECH HAS PROVIDED PROFESSIONAL, CONFIDENTIAL CONSULTING SERVICES TO THE SPECIALTY CHEMICAL INDUSTRY IN CANADA, THE USA, EUROPE AND ASIA FOR THE LAST 40 YEARS.