Can an American company do business in Canada? The answer is a definitive yes. However, there are expensive and risky ways to do it, and there are smart and efficient ways to do it.
With the help of the right kind of Canadian 3PL, brands from all over the world can successfully register as a Canadian business. Evolution Fulfillment, a 3PL fulfillment company in Vancouver, helps foreign brands register and operate as Canadian businesses every day; giving them access to the entire Canadian marketplace without the cost, risk and hassles of establishing a company headquarters in Canada.
If you’re an American or other foreign company looking to expand your operations into the Canadian marketplace, it may benefit you to learn about a little-known method we call the Brand Fulfillment Model.
Brand Fulfillment Model
Incorporating in Canada from your home country can be risky, but using the brand fulfillment method significantly reduces the risk and expense. This is because you don’t have to establish your own commercial company or invest in your own HR or warehouse infrastructure. Instead, if you decide to use Evolution Fulfillment’s fulfillment services, we will guide you on how to become a non-resident importer (“NRI”). A non-resident importer means that your company can operate in Canada while continuing to have your fixed place of business located in the United States or any other country.
There are numerous important benefits when you work with a Canadian 3PL like Evolution Fulfillment:
- You don’t need to invest in an office or warehouse because we designate our warehouse as your location.
- We’ll help you register with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and obtain a business number (BN).
- You don’t have to go through the stress of setting up and integrating new software for your Canadian division Evolution Fulfillment uses multi-channel inventory management software to integrate seamlessly with your existing order and inventory systems.
Advantages of the Brand Fulfillment Model
There are also significant business advantages of the Brand Fulfillment Model compared to the traditional Distributor Model:
- You gain an estimated 10% more in profit
- You don’t give up control over end-consumer pricing
- You maintain direct relationships with retailers
- You keep direct control over your sales channels and marketing efforts
- You get greater control over margins
- You stay focused on your core business instead of staffing a corporate office in Canada
- You retain ownership over inventory and AR
When you use the brand fulfillment method, you can take all the dollars you save and reinvest them into doing what you do best: designing, producing, and brand building. It’s also a highly scalable method because the more you sell, the more cost-effective it becomes. Whereas, with a distributor, the more they sell, the more they earn.
With the brand fulfillment method, your team, systems, and warehouse are already built for you. Whereas with the direct method you need to endure complicated registration processes and build the entire back end yourself, your 3PL essentially acts as a registered back end extension of your brand that you can simply plug into.
You can see now why more and more international brands are choosing to work with 3PLs like Evolution Fulfillment to register and operate in Canada. If you’re interested in learning more, visit our brand fulfillment model page.
