Canadians

are willing to pay more for

home-grown products

, but where to find them — and exactly what qualifies Canadian-made — is a challenge, according to a new report by the

Business Development Bank of Canada

(BDC).

The BDC survey said that 60 per cent of Canadians are

willing to spend more

on

Canadian-made products

, while only 40 per cent find it easy to identify which products fall into this category.

The likelihood of Canadians spending more on

Canadian products

might have to do with changes in the global economy.

“Canadians are much more aware of this new world of order, and something they can do is, when they make a decision, they can vote for Canada. When they buy something, when they travel, when they buy a service, they can actually have an impact, a positive impact,” said Pierre Cléroux, the chief economist at the BDC.

On average, survey respondents said they’d be willing to

spend about 23 per cent more

on Canadian-made products and services. This is despite 47 per cent citing higher price points as a

barrier to buying Canadian

. Two thirds of respondents said they base buying decisions on price.

The survey asked Canadians which types of products they would most be willing to spend more on if they were domestically made. Home appliances, high-end fashion products and pharmaceuticals ranked highest, while the answer “none that I can think of,” ranked closely behind.

Clearer signals that a product is Canadian made was important in respondents’ purchase decisions, with many saying that a standard product label or symbol would be effective.

Forty per cent of those surveyed said that unclear labelling and packaging creates difficulty in buying Canadian, while 22 per cent said there was a lack of clarity in defining what is actually a Canadian-made product.

Cléroux believes that clearer visibility of Canadian-made products and competitive pricing will encourage consumers to make more of these purchases.

Beyond price, 64 per cent of the consumers surveyed said the quality and durability of a product would most motivate them to make a purchase. The BDC report said that by appealing to this value, rather than price-point, Canadian-made products can be better marketed.

This is even as the price of goods is expected to increase due to the conflict in the Middle East.

“The survey says beside the price, they’re also looking for value. Value comes with quality, but it also comes with being a Canadian product,” said Cléroux.

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