ShopLiftr's trade promotion database reveals that Canadian promotions run across multiple banners within the same week, and two in three Canadians now shop at more than one banner. The gap is in off-site media; a targeted Canadian campaign that put the live deal into the ad increased household penetration by 4.61%.

OTTAWA, ON, Oct. 20, 2026 /CNW/ -- ShopLiftr, the off-site performance engine for CPG brands and retailers, has released new Canadian insights from its proprietary trade promotion database, along with results from a recent Canadian campaign. ShopLiftr turns live, hyper-local deals into dynamic programmatic ads across display, video, and digital out-of-home. It reaches shoppers across every retailer simultaneously and measures the in-store sales those ads generate. The data reveals Canada's off-site performance gap: the disconnect between the trade promotions brands run at individual banners and the off-site media intended to amplify them.

The Canadian shopper is on the move.

The findings come as Canadian shoppers progressively prioritize value. Two in three Canadians changed where they purchase household goods in the past year, with increased promotions cited as a top three reason, according to Caddle's September 2026 Pulse Report. Discount grocery is now the most-frequented channel, and 56% of Canadians expect to keep shifting over the next 12 months. NielsenIQ reports that discount banners account for 50.7% of Canadian FMCG dollar sales, with private label volume rising as national brand volume declines.

"Promotions are one of the top three reasons Canadians switched retailers this year. The deal is literally moving the shopper," said Ransom Hawley, CEO of Caddle. "The question for brands is whether the shopper ever sees that deal before they decide where to go."

The promotion remains locked inside the banner.

ShopLiftr's data analysis highlights this challenge. During the two weeks around Victoria Day (May 18 to 31, 2026), promotional activity increased by approximately 10% compared to a typical week in 2026. In this period, 55% of promoted products were featured at two or more banners simultaneously, and one national snack brand appeared at 15 Canadian banners with seven different prices. Brands promoting only within individual retailer ecosystems must manage multiple live deals, each featuring unique creative requirements, attribution periods, and audiences, without a unified view of shopper behaviour across banners.

The structure of Canadian grocery retail widens this gap. Three parent companies operate most conventional and discount banners, each having distinct loyalty programs and private labels. Shoppers who trade down often remain within the same corporate family, while brand promotions remain fixed at their original placement. According to the 2026 Bond Loyalty Report, Canadians participate in an average of 15 loyalty programs, making membership widespread and loyalty to any single banner uncommon.

On-site retail media addresses the unified-store challenge by reaching shoppers where promotions are active within a retailer's footprint. Off-site media, however, faces the unified-shopper challenge: engaging the same shopper across multiple banners in a single week, beyond any one retailer's view. The issue isn't the level of trade investment; it's that the supporting media is disconnected. Promotions stay in-store while media runs off-site, leading to lost returns. Vividly's 2026 research found that half of brands that increased trade investment last period saw incremental ROI decline.

"In Canada, a brand can run promotions across 15 banners in the same two weeks, and each promotion stays within its own walls. The shopper does not," said John Scott, Co-Founder & CEO, ShopLiftr. "We built ShopLiftr to deliver the live deal to the shopper wherever they are headed and to prove the sale it drives. The marketers who walk into a business review with causal proof walk in with a case. Everyone else walks in with a request."

Proof at the register, not just the click.

This proof is available in Canada. In a recent 12-week campaign, a national microwave popcorn brand used dynamic creative to deliver its promotions across all Canadian retailers. An independent receipt panel study of 76,064 households, using matched test and control groups, recorded:

• 4.61% lift in household penetration.
• 4.03% lift in sales per household versus control, significant at 99% confidence.
• $2.08 in incremental sales for every media dollar, on a $65,000 investment.

These results are true incremental gains, not just attributed outcomes. ABCS Insights independently reports the numbers. ShopLiftr never grades its own homework.

Put deal data first, audience second.

ShopLiftr bridges the gap by focusing on the deal first. For over 20 years, ShopLiftr has helped brands and retailers across the U.S. and Canada put the right deal in front of the right shopper. Its foundation is North America's largest database of live trade promotions, more than 200,000 deals from over 300 U.S. and 50 Canadian retailers, refreshed weekly, retailer-verified and never scraped. It integrates those local deals into dynamic creative across programmatic display, video, and digital out-of-home, rendering each impression in English or French and matching it to the shopper. Audience is the input; deal data is the differentiator. Retail-agnostic by design, the platform reaches every banner simultaneously, works alongside retailer media networks, and reports store-level incrementality using matched test-and-control groups. Agencies retain their DSP and buying control.

For brands, and for retailers who want their weekly flyer to reach beyond their own channels, the result is the same. Shoppers see the deal at the store they plan to visit each week, and the brand can prove which baskets it won.

Start by understanding where your off-site media stands. ShopLiftr's Off-Site Readiness Score is nine questions, two minutes, and maps directly to the three realities behind the gap. Take it at shopliftr.com/scorecard.

Genevieve Castonguay, VP Marketing at ShopLiftr, will present the Canadian findings at Connected Commerce Summit Toronto on October 22 in the session "Follow the Shopper, Not the Store: Canada's Off-Site Performance Gap."

About ShopLiftr

ShopLiftr is the off-site performance engine for CPG brands and retailers. Built on a proprietary, retail-agnostic trade promotion database, the largest in North America with more than 200,000 live deals from 300-plus U.S. and 50-plus Canadian retailers across 80,000-plus store locations, refreshed weekly and never scraped, ShopLiftr injects live, local retail promotions into dynamic creative across display, video/CTV and digital out-of-home, and proves in-store impact with incrementality measurement. Headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. Powered By Data. Designed To Inspire. Purpose-Built To Drive Sales.

Media contact

• Genevieve Castonguay, VP, Marketing, ShopLiftr | gcastonguay@shopliftr.com
• Ian Clark, SVP, Sales, ShopLiftr | iclark@shopliftr.com

Data and methodology

• Promotional findings: ShopLiftr's proprietary trade promotion database for promotions live May 18 to 31, 2026: 112,029 unique promotions across 146 North American retail chains, including 16 Canadian banners.
• ABCS Insights: campaign results come from an independent third-party receipt panel study using matched test and control households (N=76,064) over a 12-week flight.
• Shopper figures: Caddle Pulse Report, September 2026 (n=8,331, weighted to age, gender and province)
• Loyalty figures: Bond Brand Loyalty, 2026 Loyalty Report, Canadian sample.
• Market figures: NielsenIQ Canada, 52 weeks ending June 27, 2026, as published in Grocery Business, September/October 2026.
• Trade investment figures: Vividly, Trade Promotion Success Guide.

SOURCE ShopLiftr