Frequently Asked Questions

We are the Canadian operating company behind your brand. That means importer of record, licence holder, and day to day operator. We file the regulatory application, design and produce bilingual packaging, arrange pickup from your manufacturer, clear customs, warehouse the inventory, run Amazon.ca, and manage retail and wholesale distribution. You keep the brand and the equity. We run the market.

Yes. We do the filing. We identify which stream a product falls into, prepare and submit the application, build compliant bilingual artwork against the licence, and hold the site licence the import runs under. Where a product cannot be licensed here as currently formulated, we tell you before you commit inventory rather than after.

Canada is a wealthy, English and French speaking market of roughly forty million people with high per capita spend on wellness and beauty, sitting next to your existing distribution. The reason it stays underserved is that it looks easy and is not. Different regulator, different label law, a separate Amazon marketplace, and a retail landscape concentrated in a handful of buying offices. The barrier that keeps brands out is the same barrier that protects the ones who get in properly.

Yes. That includes Amazon advertising and content, retail trade collateral, packaging design, and the marketing materials brands usually have to source separately when entering a new market. Because we typically own the inventory, our incentive is sell through rather than billable hours.

Send us your product list. We review it SKU by SKU, identify the regulatory stream and realistic timeline for each, flag anything that needs reformulation or relabelling, and model the landed cost. That review costs you nothing. If the numbers work, the entry plan follows from it.

Neither description fits cleanly. An agency advises and invoices for hours. A distributor buys and resells. We do both, and we take on the regulatory position as well by holding the licence and acting as importer of record. That means we carry inventory risk and compliance liability rather than handing you a deck and a recommendation. The practical difference is that when something goes wrong at the border or on a listing, it is our problem to solve, not yours to manage.

Canada is a high-growth market with a population that values premium wellness and beauty. However, strict regulations make it hard to enter alone. We provide the "boots on the ground" to make entry seamless.

We are based in the Greater Toronto Area, which is where the majority of Canadian import, distribution, and retail buying activity is concentrated. Being physically here is what allows us to hold the site licence, act as importer of record, service retail accounts, and sit across the table from buyers.

Yes, in house. Amazon.ca is a separate marketplace with its own catalogue, ranking, buy box, and fee structure, so it has to be built rather than mirrored. We handle listing construction, inventory planning against Canadian lead times, advertising, pricing enforcement, and removal of unauthorized sellers.

Both. The variable that matters is not your size but whether your products are licensable in Canada as currently formulated, and whether the Canadian economics work at your cost structure. Those are the first two things we assess, and we assess them before either side commits.

Sometimes. Certain ingredients and doses permitted in the United States are restricted or prohibited here, and some claims that are routine on an American label will not survive review. We identify this at the product assessment stage and tell you the minimum viable change rather than sending you back to the drawing board. Where a product genuinely cannot be made compliant, we say so early, before you have committed inventory or design spend.

We do the filing ourselves rather than referring you to a consultant. That starts with identifying the correct stream, since NPN, DIN, DIN-HM, CNF, and medical device licensing each carry their own evidence requirements, submission format, and review clock. From there we prepare and submit the application, build the artwork against the licence, and manage any requests for information through to approval.

English and French are both required for mandatory label information across Canada, and Quebec applies additional French language requirements on top of the federal baseline. In practice this is a design problem as much as a legal one, because French text typically runs longer than English and panel space is finite. We design Canadian artwork from the licence outward rather than adapting an American layout, which avoids the reprint cycle that catches most brands.

Nothing. There are no fees, no retainers, and no cost sharing. We ask for one solid distribution price and we take care of everything else at our own expense, including the regulatory filing, bilingual packaging design and production, freight, customs and duties, warehousing, Amazon.ca management, advertising, and retail account development. You sell to us, we pay for the shipment, and the Canadian market becomes our investment to make work.

We handle it entirely. We arrange pickup from your manufacturer or warehouse, prepare the customs documentation, act as importer of record on the entry, and manage duty classification, brokerage, and taxes. You are not filing anything or appointing anyone. Correct classification is worth attention, since HS coding drives duty rates and the difference across similar products can be material.

Most brands should plan for three to six months from agreement to first sale. Licensing and artwork run in parallel rather than in sequence, so the critical path is usually whichever finishes last, plus production and transit time. Brands consistently underestimate label revision cycles and overestimate regulatory review. Complex or non monograph products extend this, and we will tell you where a SKU sits before you build a launch plan around it.

Yes, as part of a full service engagement. We manage reverse logistics and Canadian customer service so that returns are processed domestically rather than shipped back across the border, which is slow and expensive for everyone. Scope is agreed per brand.

An NPN, or Natural Product Number, licenses natural health products such as vitamins, minerals, herbals, and probiotics. A DIN, or Drug Identification Number, applies to drug products, which in Canada includes over the counter items many brands do not think of as drugs, such as chemical sunscreens, antiperspirants, and anti dandruff shampoos. The distinction matters beyond paperwork: importing DIN products requires a Drug Establishment Licence rather than a site licence, so the classification determines who can legally bring your product into the country.

Yes. We warehouse inventory in Canada and handle pick and pack, direct to consumer fulfilment, marketplace replenishment, and wholesale shipments to retail accounts. Holding stock domestically is what makes competitive delivery times possible, since cross border shipping on every order is neither fast enough nor economical.

It depends on the stream and on whether the submission is complete. Monograph compliant applications move considerably faster than those requiring full evidence review, and most timeline overruns come from deficiencies rather than from the review itself. Across the products we file, our average approval time is two to three months. We assess the realistic timeline per SKU at the start and structure filings to use expedited pathways where a product qualifies.

We do. A Canadian product licence requires a Canadian applicant with a registered address, and the sites that handle the product must be covered by a Health Canada site licence backed by GMP evidence. Museo holds all of it: the Canadian entity, the registered address, the site licence, and GMP certification. That is what allows us to file, import, and hold the licence on your behalf rather than sending you to assemble a Canadian legal presence from scratch. Because licence ownership determines what happens if the relationship ends, we recommend settling it in writing at the outset. We are direct about our position so there are no surprises later.

Health, supplement, wellness, and beauty brands with proven traction in their home market that are ready for a compliance first approach to Canada. Existing sales history matters more than size, because it tells us which SKUs are worth the licensing investment. What does not work is a brand looking to test Canada casually, since the regulatory groundwork is the same whether you are serious or not.

In house, and as a separate marketplace rather than a mirror of your American listings. Amazon.ca has its own catalogue, ranking, buy box, and referral and fulfilment fee structure, with a higher cost base than Amazon.com. We build your Canadian presence off your existing listing content so you keep the creative investment you have already made, while ranking, pricing, inventory, and account health stay fully independent. That covers catalogue setup, A+ content, sponsored advertising, inventory forecasting against Canadian lead times, and pricing enforcement.

Yes, and we manage the accounts afterwards, which is the part that decides whether a listing survives. Canadian retail runs on distributor margins, listing fees, and buyer calendars set months ahead of the shelf reset, so timing matters as much as the pitch. We prepare the buyer package, make the introductions, negotiate terms, and handle the ongoing replenishment and service behind the account.

Usually, yes. Grey market listings exist because of a price gap or an unmanaged supply channel, so the fix combines pricing discipline, controlling authorized supply, and Brand Registry enforcement. As licence holder and importer of record, we have standing to act on infringement directly rather than only filing reports.

We buy inventory outright, upfront. You are selling to a customer, not funding a market entry. Everything downstream of that purchase, including the regulatory filing, packaging, freight, customs, warehousing, marketplace management, and retail development, is carried at our cost. Payment terms are the one variable and can be discussed based on volume and order size.

Yes. Brand partners receive regular reporting covering sales, inventory position, marketplace performance, and regulatory status across every SKU we hold a licence for. Reporting cadence and depth are agreed at the start of the engagement.