The end of the online product catalogue: our program returns to its true purpose

After investing considerable time and energy in trying to display, on the ici-here.ca platform, all the products accredited by the Well Made Here program, it has become clear that the effort is not producing the expected results. Participants now offer far too many products and, like us, do not have the time required to keep their product lines up to date on the site.

Why? Because too few visitors make use of such informational portals. The situation is similar across the websites of certification and accreditation bodies such as Energy Star, FSC, UL, CSA, and others. Consumers and professionals rarely visit these organizations’ websites; instead, they simply look for the logo directly on products and in stores.

“It became unrealistic to require manufacturers to keep their product listings up to date on ici-here.ca — a recurring and somewhat tedious task — when neither the general public nor construction professionals consult these non-transactional platforms in sufficient numbers,” explains Richard Darveau, President and CEO.

Consequently, our organization is returning to the essentials: we will focus our efforts on supporting partner manufacturers and retailers in integrating the logo — and the values it represents — into all their communication tools (websites, Facebook pages, printed materials, etc.), their promotions and advertising, as well as, of course, directly on the relevant products or their packaging.

The ici-here.ca platform has already been redesigned to take on a simpler role: providing objective information about the program’s purpose, its history, its governance, and so on. It also hosts our news feed and statements issued by the organization to the media and government bodies.

Mr. Darveau takes this opportunity to call on partners and manufacturers for greater responsibility: “Only two partner groups — RONA and Canac — have systematically integrated the Well Made Here logo into their online search engines and their in-store signage. And barely a quarter of the roughly three hundred manufacturers apply the logo to their Canadian-made products or their packaging. These are the two aspects of our mission that we will prioritize in the months and years ahead.”