About Us

Don Schacter + Associates are a national rep organization covering all of Canada. Our 16 reps have experience in all retail levels including department store, mass merchants, grocery, supercenters, homecenters, specialty chains and individual stores. We have a large booth, #7019 in the Gourmet Housewares section of the CGTA Gift Show held in Toronto at the end of January and mid-August. We approach the market by understanding marketing not just sales. We aren’t your regular rep group; we want to know how your product fits and find ways to launch it or increase sales in Canada.

We recognize that some products require more product knowledge. 

Why Reps?

• Take advantage of the Canadian dollar which is at par and sometimes higher the U.S. dollar
• Reps build your business and offer your complete line
• In this way your company will begin to develop their own customer base
• Reps are the best employees a company can have as there are no costs except possibly for samples and if a rep. doesn’t perform they can be terminated
• Canadian reps know their customer base and will only sell credit worthy customers
• Selling directly via reps instead of through a distributor will make pricing more attractive to potential customers
• Customer service will be handled by your customer service people as it is done in the U.S.

Entering the Canadian Market

Here we will talk about Pricing, Trade Shows, Shipping, Brokerage, and Sales Management.

• Initially prices can be in U.S. dollars, prices would include duty (you can get back U.S. duties paid via duty drawback by asking your customs broker), brokerage and freight to the Canadian border. Large orders could ship FOB your warehouse.
• Shipping, Brokerage information can be handled by FedEx, UPS or someone like Kuehne & Nagel. They all have Canadian programs.
• You would pick and pack your orders by individual customer like you do for the U.S. and your carrier would pick up a consolidated shipment once a week or twice a month at your facility and bring it to the Canadian border, clear it and either pass the individual orders off to UPS or FedEx or they can also handle the individual shipments. Pick and packing orders as you would do in the U.S. and then consolidating them will save on entry costs. However we have found that shipping individual orders and building in duty, brokerage and freight will build your business even faster.
• You might also consider a 3^rd party warehouse as your business grows.
• Your company’s products would be displayed in the DS+A booth at the CGTA Show where orders are written for stores across Canada and where all major buyers attend. A participation fee will be required to exhibit in the DS+A booth.
  
• Sales Management would be handled by Don Schacter who would hire all reps, train and manage them. DS+A reps do not work for all lines we represent. We select the best rep for your company and travel to work with them.
• Don Schacter would handle certain key accounts on his own, but would work with reps on others. It all depends on who has the best rapport.
  

The Canadian Marketplace

• The following will give you an idea of how sales breakdown in Canada on an average

  • Ontario	50%
    Quebec	20% (requires bilingual packaging)
    Alberta	12%
    BC	10%
    Manitoba/Sask.	3%
    Maritimes	5%

• Most head offices are located in Toronto

• Reps would be hired in the following way:
  • Ontario (Toronto, Southwestern Ontario, Eastern Ontario, Northern Ontario)-5 reps
  • Quebec (Montreal & the rest of the province can be handled by one rep group with a number of reps)-4 reps
  • Alberta (one rep can cover Calgary & Edmonton)-2 reps
  • BC (one rep group can cover the province)-4 reps
  • Man/Sask (one rep can cover both provinces)-1 rep

Who is Don Schacter

Don Schacter has over 30 years experience in the gift, Housewares & home décor industries. He has extensive knowledge of the Canadian marketplace and has worked with some of the best reps in Canada. He has:

• Been a Sales Management consultant for Precidio, Bohemia Crystal & Enchante Accessories
• Kitchen Accessory store owner
• International Sales Manager for InterDesign (brought them into Canada and hired, trained and managed their reps)
• Sales Manager at Umbra for U.S. & Canada
• President of Design Motivation
• Chairman, Canadian Hardware & Housewares Manufacturers Assoc.
• Board member of the CGTA

Current Lines

• Silvermark-Gadgets
• TruBamboo
• Ignite-Travel Mugs & Water Bottles
• Kai USA (Shun knives)
• Welcome Home Brands
• Wellness Mats
• Regal Ware
• Parasia
• Merritt USA
• The Companion Group
• Grosche