The Canadian Office Products Association and the Canadian Home Products Trade Association jointly invite you to attend Repatriation of the Canadian Consumer, our morning symposium sponsored by Global Furniture.
This event will feature conversations with Canadian retailers and retail data experts who will provide an in-depth analysis of regional consumer trends such as the growing rise of “patriotic purchasing”—the “Buy Canadian movement. These important discussions will explore how shifting consumer behaviours—driven by tariffs and global trade disputes—are reshaping the Canadian retail landscape. Executives in retail will share their insights on how their business is navigating the impact of these shifts.
Date and Time: Tuesday, May 6, 8:30 – 11:30 AM EST
Location: Headquarters of Global Furniture
Chris Saniga as Chief B2B Officer, is responsible for leading Staples’ B2B businesses, including Staples Professional and acquisitions Supreme, Denis, Beatties, and Monarch, to drive growth and elevate the digitization of their sales function for their customers. Chris joins Staples with more than 25 years of sales and leadership experience across digital, consulting, and software industries. With deep B2B sales experience leading large sales teams and successfully deploying digitally enabled sales strategies, Saniga has helped to drive transformational growth at some of the largest companies in Canada.
Shawn Ettinger has been recently promoted to the position of Senior National Procurement Manager for Timber Mart. In this new role, Shawn will be responsible for all Hardlines buying programs, direct imports, and vendor relationships, including Timber Mart’s relationship with Orgill Canada and Canadian Hardlines buying group, Spancan. Shawn has over 30 years of experience in Hardlines procurement within our industry, which he’s gained by working for a variety of organizations, including big box stores, buying groups, and vendor companies alike. He joined Timber Mart in 2019.
Sophie Marai is Vice President, Account Management for Environics Analytics. She brings 15 years of strategic retail leadership to support developing market-leading initiatives. Her passion for problem-solving has resulted in her leading initiatives across multiple areas of retail and CPG, focused on customer strategy, assortment optimization, store format development, and marketing. Sophie specializes in market gap analysis, customer growth development, and problem solving for end-to-end growth management.
More Speakers and Retail Representatives to be announced.
Repatriation of the Canadian Consumer will be a deep dive into Canada’s Homegrown Consumer Movement. This symposium will examine the current retail climate in Canada; key consumer segments driving the homegrown movement; how this movement is influencing the durables sector, including home appliances, furniture, and other long-lasting consumer packaged goods; the role of marketing and branding in promoting Canadian-made goods; and how the foot traffic impacts and changes customer needs.
Breakfast will be served at this event.
