How to Win the Quebec Market on Amazon.ca: French-Language Listings, Bill 96, and the Compliance Gap Most Brands Miss
Most brands treat Amazon.ca as a single national marketplace. In reality, it is two very different audiences sharing one storefront, and the smaller of the two is governed by some of the strictest language laws in North America.
Amazon is the largest online retailer in Canada, holding roughly 40% of the country’s retail e-commerce sales and posting about CAD 19.8 billion in net sales in 2024. A meaningful slice of that demand sits in Quebec, the second-largest e-commerce province in the country. For sellers, that creates a clear opportunity and an equally clear obligation: if you want to sell into Quebec, your listings, packaging, and advertising have to speak French, and recent legislation has raised the bar on what that means.
This article breaks down how the Quebec market behaves on Amazon.ca, what Bill 96 now requires of product listings and advertising, and the practical steps brands can take to capture French-speaking demand without risking suppression or removal.
Un marché distinct
Why Quebec Is a Distinct Market on Amazon.ca
75%
of Quebecers have French as their mother tongue
69%
of newcomers to Canada pay attention to ads in their own language
68%
feel stronger brand belonging when ads are in-language
Quebec accounts for more than a fifth of Canada’s population, and French is the language the province lives in. About 75% of Quebecers have French as their mother tongue, more than nine in ten can hold a conversation in it, and it is the primary language of commerce across the province. Quebec also ranks as the second-largest e-commerce market in Canada after Ontario, accounting for over a fifth of national online sales in recent measurements.
That combination matters because language preference is not a soft signal in Quebec. Research from Think with Google on multicultural marketing found that 69% of newcomers to Canada pay attention to ads in their own language, and 68% feel a stronger sense of belonging to brands that advertise in their language. In a province where French is the everyday language of the majority, a listing written only in English is not just a missed conversion. It often reads as a brand that was not built for the customer in front of it.
One recent change is worth clearing up, because it confuses sellers: in January 2025, Amazon closed its seven Quebec fulfilment facilities and returned to delivering in the province through local third-party carriers, the model it used before 2020. Nothing changed on the customer side. Quebec shoppers still buy on Amazon.ca the way they always have, and sellers’ inventory still reaches them. The shift was logistical, not commercial.
For Amazon sellers, the takeaway is that “Canada” is not one keyword set, one set of bullet points, or one creative strategy. Quebec demand responds to French content, French search terms, and culturally relevant messaging, and the brands that treat it as a first-class market rather than a translation afterthought are the ones that win share there.
Ce que la Loi 96 exige
What Bill 96 Actually Requires of Product Listings
Quebec’s language rules are anchored in the Charter of the French Language, first adopted in 1977. The Charter was significantly strengthened by Bill 96 (now Law 14), assented to on June 1, 2022, with new obligations phased in over the following years. The last major provisions took effect on June 1, 2025.
One common misconception is worth correcting up front: the requirement to publish commercial content in French is not new. The Charter has long required French versions of catalogues, brochures, commercial websites, and other commercial publications aimed at Quebec consumers, along with French on product inscriptions, packaging, and accompanying documents. The general rule is that text in another language is permitted, but it cannot be given greater prominence than the French.
What changed on June 1, 2025 is the strictness at the edges. Generic or descriptive terms embedded in a non-French trademark on a product (think “gentle formula” or “extra strength” under an English brand name) must now appear in French on the product or its packaging. On public signage, French must now be “markedly predominant,” which in practice means roughly twice the visual space of any other language. And the employee threshold that triggers mandatory registration with the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) and the associated francisation process dropped from 50 employees to 25.
There is a transition window: products manufactured before June 1, 2025 that do not meet the new trademark rules can still be sold until June 1, 2027. For brands carrying older packaging inventory, that deadline is now less than a year away.
Enforcement has real teeth. The OQLF acts largely on complaints, and anyone can file one; the office received nearly 6,900 complaints in 2022-23, about half of them concerning packaging and more than one in ten concerning websites. It can issue compliance orders, and fines for businesses run from $3,000 to $30,000 per offence, doubling for a second offence and tripling thereafter, with each day a violation continues counting as a separate offence.
For brands selling on Amazon.ca, this translates into a few concrete realities. Product detail pages that present content to Quebec consumers are commercial materials and fall within scope. Packaging and product inscriptions for goods sold in the province must carry French. And the French version must be at least as prominent as any other language, not buried beneath the English as an afterthought.
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. Quebec’s language rules are detailed and change over time, and how they apply to a given product category, trademark, or packaging element can be genuinely complex, so the points here should not be relied on as a compliance assessment for any specific situation. Brands with meaningful Quebec exposure should confirm their obligations with a qualified Quebec legal advisor before making decisions.
What is clear at a strategic level is that French is no longer optional for the Quebec portion of an Amazon.ca catalogue.
Une seule fiche produit
How Amazon Handles Bilingual Listings
Amazon mirrors Canadian language expectations in its own marketplace policies, and the platform mechanics matter as much as the law.
For regulated categories such as food, cosmetics, and supplements, bilingual labelling is already required by Canadian law, and Quebec’s Charter can demand French prominence or stricter treatment for certain elements. Amazon enforces this on the listing side, which means non-compliant listings can be suppressed or removed, and repeated issues can put account health at risk.
There is also a critical structural rule that trips up brands trying to “solve” Quebec the wrong way. Sellers should not create one English listing and a separate French listing for the same product. Amazon treats duplicate listings for an identical product as a policy violation. The correct approach is a single listing that is properly localized using Amazon’s own translation and localization tools, so the same product surfaces in the right language for the right shopper rather than splitting into competing detail pages that cannibalize each other’s reviews and ranking.
In practice, that means the work is not “build a French store and an English store.” It is “build one well-structured listing that carries compliant, high-quality French content alongside the English, with the localization handled inside Seller Central.” Done correctly, this protects the listing’s review velocity and search authority while satisfying both Amazon’s policies and Quebec’s requirements. One detail sellers routinely miss: the French pass has to cover everything the customer sees or searches, including A+ modules, image alt text, and backend search terms, not just the title and bullets.
La recherche en français
French Search Behaviour and Keyword Strategy
Compliance gets a brand in the door. Search visibility is what actually drives Quebec revenue, and this is where most catalogues leave the largest gap.
Quebec shoppers search in French, and French search terms are not literal translations of English ones. A direct, word-for-word translation of an English keyword set frequently misses the phrasing real customers type, the regional vocabulary they use, and the search volume that sits behind French-language queries. Quebec French is not France French either; a keyword set built for a Parisian shopper will miss terms a Montrealer actually types. A backend and front-end keyword strategy built natively in Quebec French, rather than run through a translation pass, is what allows a listing to rank for the terms Quebec buyers actually use.
The same logic applies to the persuasive elements of the page. Titles, bullet points, and A+ content that are translated mechanically tend to read as stiff and generic, which undercuts conversion even when the listing technically ranks. Content that is written for a French-speaking audience, with attention to tone and the way benefits are framed, performs better on the metrics Amazon rewards. Because the platform’s ranking is heavily influenced by conversion and sales velocity, a listing that converts French traffic well will compound its visibility over time, while a poorly localized one stalls.
The strategic point is that French localization is not a checkbox at the end of a listing build. It is a parallel optimization track, with its own keyword research, its own copy, and its own creative considerations, run with the same rigour a brand would apply to its primary English listing.
La publicité au Québec
Advertising to the Quebec Market
Quebec’s language requirements extend into advertising, and Amazon’s ad products give brands the levers to act on it without wasting spend on the wrong audience.
Because the Charter’s rules cover commercial advertising and marketing materials, including websites, the creative used to promote products into Quebec should be available in compliant French. On Amazon specifically, that means Sponsored Brands headlines, the creative in Sponsored Display and Sponsored Brands video, and any custom Store content intended for Quebec consumers should carry French that is at least as prominent as the English.
The upside is that French creative is not only a compliance step, it is a performance lever. Given how strongly Quebec consumers respond to in-language advertising, brands that serve French creative to French-speaking audiences typically see stronger engagement than those running English-only ads across the whole country. The practical play is to treat Quebec as a deliberate segment in the advertising plan rather than an undifferentiated part of “Canada,” with creative, keywords, and messaging built for that audience.
This is also where higher-funnel Amazon advertising, including Sponsored Brands video and Amazon DSP, can be used to build awareness with Quebec audiences in their own language, while sponsored search captures the French-language demand that already exists. Aligning the creative language with the audience is what makes that spend efficient.
Nos conseils
Our Insights and Tips
Strategy
Treat Quebec as its own market, not a translation.
Build a dedicated French strategy with its own keyword research, copy, and creative, rather than running your English listing through a translator and calling it done.
Listings
Localize within a single listing, never duplicate.
Use Amazon’s localization tools to serve compliant French content from one detail page. Separate English and French listings for the same product are a policy violation and split your reviews and ranking.
Compliance
Confirm your Bill 96 obligations early.
The product, packaging, and advertising rules are detailed and category-specific, and the grace period for non-compliant products manufactured before June 1, 2025 closes on June 1, 2027. Validate your exposure with a qualified Quebec advisor before assuming you are compliant.
Design
Make French at least as prominent as English.
Across listings, packaging, and ad creative, French text cannot be given less prominence than another language. Audit your A+ content, Store, and Sponsored Brands creative against that standard.
Keywords
Research keywords natively in Quebec French.
Build your French keyword set from how Quebec shoppers actually search, including regional vocabulary that differs from European French, rather than translating your English terms one to one.
Media
Segment your advertising by language.
Serve French creative to French-speaking audiences and treat Quebec as a distinct line in the media plan. In-language advertising tends to drive stronger engagement, so the segmentation usually pays for itself.
En conclusion
Conclusion
Amazon.ca’s scale makes it easy to think of Canada as one market, but Quebec behaves differently, expects French, and is backed by some of the strictest commercial language rules in North America. With Bill 96 now fully in force and the last transition window closing on June 1, 2027, French-language listings and creative have moved from a nice-to-have to a baseline requirement for any brand with Quebec demand.
The brands that pull ahead are the ones that treat that requirement as an opportunity. Compliant, well-localized French listings protect account health and avoid suppression, while genuinely native French keywords, copy, and advertising unlock a large, underserved audience that competitors are still trying to reach with translated English. Approached that way, Quebec stops being a compliance headache and becomes one of the clearest growth levers available on Amazon.ca.