Search Notification - details

The Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) invites you to submit offers as part of Ready-to-drink (Coolers) invitation for products to be sold in its store network during the 2025 Summer Campaign.

Your spontaneous product offers, filled out online and including payment of a non-refundable fee of C$240 per offer, must be submitted BY JULY 4, 2024, NO LATER THAN 11:59 p.m. Montreal, Quebec (Canada) time. (Hereinafter the "deadline of the invitation").

Through this invitation, the SAQ is aiming to meet customer demand for new and diverse products, and emerging trends.

Remember, no promotion submitted for the personalized store layout for the Ready-to-drink (Coolers) segment will be selected. All products of this type will be promoted in summer campaign packages or on a private agreement basis through PromoPunch or directly with the stores (limited to SA products).

IMPORTANT

All offers submitted in response to this invitation must be spontaneous offers (OS) submitted through the catalog of offers by the above deadline. The code COLR25 must be entered in the Other - Remark section of the Product and Offer page.

The best-performing products from the 2024 Summer Campaign will be maintained as continuous supply specialty products (SA) and can be called on to participate in the 2025 Summer Campaign (see the Promotional Investment section).

If a product cannot be ordered by the SAQ on the planned date for any reason not ascribable to the SAQ, the SAQ reserves the right to cancel the awarded order, as P01-2025.

Any false or erroneous information entered in the offer, any changes made after a product has been selected or any failure to meet the various deadlines may result in the offer being withdrawn.

The SAQ intends to select around FIFTEEN (15) products (including renewals) from among the following types of product:

FIFTEEN (15) Ready-to-drink (Coolers) / PREMIXED COCKTAILS
Offers must meet the following criteria:
Origin: any country
Format: 473 ml or less
Sales unit: between 1 and 12 units per package
Alcohol content: between 0.5% alc./vol. and 7.0% alc./vol.
Container: must be recyclable1 in Québec, avoid sleeves
Multi-packs: must be recyclable2 in Québec and free from excess packaging3. Single-use flexible plastic rings are now forbidden. Rigid rings remain authorized for sale to customers.
Asset: brand leader at the SAQ
Excluded product types: flavored wine and flavoured sparkling wine.

Container and packaging

All aluminum containers have been subject to the regulation expanding the deposit system since November 1, 2023. All glass, plastic and aseptic (Tetra Pak-like) containers will become part of the deposit system on March 1, 2025.

1. Recyclable and recycled containers in Quebec: glass, aluminum, aseptic (Tetra Pak type) or PET (#1), HDPE (#2), LDPE (#4) or PP (#5) plastics.
2. Recyclable packaging in Quebec: cardboard, PET (#1), HDPE (#2), LDPE (#4) or PP (#5) plastics.
3. Overpackaging: Packaging that does not serve a purpose or use deemed necessary in the manufacturing, packing or shipping processes, to protect the product or to provide information to consumers.

Good to know

• The SAQ encourages reducing packaging (e.g. cardboard boxes) at source, the elimination of all overpackaging and the incorporation of recycled content into containers and packaging. These actions help reduce the environmental footprint of products.
• One of the SAQ's objectives is to increase the offer of products packaged in eco-responsible containers (lightweight glass, plastic, aluminum cans, aseptic multi-layer Tetra Pak-like containers).
• One of the SAQ's objectives is to increase the offer of products certified eco-responsible. It therefore welcomes offers for products with organic or responsible practices certifications.

To submit a spontaneous offer (OS):

• Log into the SAQ-B2B.COM web portal;
• If you haven't joined the transaction website, you can create an account, free of charge, that you can use to submit your offers. To create an account, go to SAQ-B2B and click on the Subscribe link.
• Select "My products" tab;
• Access the module "Catalog of offers and Private import requests";
• In the "New Offer" section, select "Spontaneous Offer (OS)", then click Create;
• Fill out the form and submit it online.

On the "Product and Offer" page, the following fields must be completed as shown:

Product nature: Miscellaneous beverage
Family: Cooler or Cocktail

Please pay special attention to the following fields of the Product Offer form:

Container section:

• Container size: Refers to the individual container, so the number of millilitres (ml) per can or bottle.
• Sales units per case (UVC): Number of cans/bottles in a shipping case, usually 24.
• Be sure to check "Yes" in answer to the question "Is your product offered to the detail in multiple packing?" if the sales unit comprises more than one container.

Multi-packs section:

• Number of containers by packaging: refers to the consumer sales unit, so 4, 6, 8 or 12, for example.
• Number of packaging(s) per case: the number of consumer sales units in the shipping case, so, for example, 2, 4, 6.

Preselection criteria:

For the 2025 Summer Campaign, a preselection of up to 150 products will be made before the tasting stage. Here are the preselection criteria:

• The brand's sales in Quebec and other markets
• Assortment available
• Product visual

IMPORTANT

To improve our understanding of the offered products and expedite the preselection process, please send the additional product information, if possible, in the form of a PowerPoint-type presentation or a PDF file, by email to SAQCommercialisation@saq.qc.ca when you submit the offer and by no later than the offer submission deadline, July 4, 2024.

In the subject line of your message, be sure to include the offer number (e.g. OS-xxxxxx), the product name and the following identifier: Ready-to-drink (Coolers) 2025 Summer Campaign.

The additional product information consists of:

• Product name and description
• Visual of the product
• Alcohol base used
• Features and benefits (if applicable)
• Confirmation of the sales unit (e.g. 4 x 355 ml) and its retail price
• Québec category (Bottled in Québec, Made in Québec or Origine Québec) if the product comes from the province of Québec, as defined on SAQ.COM.
• Product shelf life : the products must have a sufficient shelf life to ensure that they are marketed within a reasonable time (we estimate this to be at least 1 year from the time the order is collected).
• Eco-design infomation (e.g. reduction at source, recycled content, lighter weight, etc.). or other product-related eco-responsible practices (e.g. circular economy, certifications that could be considered an advantage)
• Any other relevant information.

Labelling

For more information regarding labels for cooler products, be on the lookout for the coming update of the Cooler Labelling Rules document in the Quality Management section of the SAQ-B2B website.

It is important to avoid printing cans before receiving final, complete approval from the laboratory once it has completed its analysis. If the labels are non-compliant, the SAQ may cancel the order or require the labels to be corrected at the supplier's expense.

For all non-standardized cooler-type products, you need to fill out the allergen declaration form available on B2B. If you declare the product to be free of an allergen (e.g. gluten), you must have justifying documentation (certification by a third party) available on request for each lot received in our warehouses.

Risk-sharing agreement

Suppliers with products selected for release in P01 to P07-2025 must be prepared to agree to the risk-sharing terms and conditions for continuous replenishment specialty products.

Promotional investment

To spotlight Ready-to-drink (Coolers) products and get Quebec consumers interested in this single-appearance products, a promotional display package will be required to meet this need (up to $40,000 per period). The package will ensure the products are distributed and executed in a set number of stores (between 100 and 375) during a minimum execution period and may extend up to seven execution periods.

The Category Management Department will confirm the investment amounts with the agent before the product's selection.

Action plan

To plan for clearance of the 2025 Summer Campaign stocks, the Société des alcools du Québec will automatically apply a 10% discount to the retail price for products that have not reached at least 70% of the risk-sharing sales forecast after the 4th week of P04-2025.

The supplier will be charged directly for the rebate based on the number of unsold bottles. This amount will be automatically charged to the supplier in the first week of P05-2025.

Order

For the selected products, purchase orders will begin to be issued during the last week of November 2024. Suppliers will have to be ready to ship at the maximum during the last week of P12 2024-2025, ideally the last week of P11 2024-2025.

If the product is not ready for shipment prior to P13 2024-2025, it may affect whether the product will be kept in the summer campaign and/or the product's release date in stores.

Price

Refer to the Purchasing and Merchandising Policy, chapter 5 (Product Purchasing), section 5.2 (Price).

Exchange rates

The exchange rates applicable to this invitation are the latest published by the SAQ on SAQ-B2B.

Specific requirements

A) Certified organic products

Imported products bearing the ORGANIC or any similar declaration must comply with the standards of the Canadian Organic Products Regulations.

Local products from Québec bearing the ORGANIC or other similar declaration must comply with the requirements of the Conseil des Appellations Réservées et des Termes Valorisants (CARTV).

The name of the conformity verification body (certifying body) must be entered in the Additional Information box of the Other section of the Commercial Results tab. Proof of certification will be subsequently required.

B) Fair Trade Certified (FTC) beverage alcohol products

A producer that submits products bearing a fairtrade designation must have an appropriate licence allowing it to market its products as Fair Trade Certified (FTC).

A FAIRTRADE logo must be affixed to the product bottles. The name of the certification body (TransFair, Ecocert or Fairtrade) must be entered In the Additional Information box of the Other section of the Commercial Results tab. Proof of certification will be subsequently required.

C) Environmental claim

A supplier submitting a product with an environmental claim will have to meet the standards of the Guide for Industry and Advertisers of the Canadian Standards Association (CSA).

If the product is selected, the supplier has to fill out an Environmental Claims - Responsibility Charge form.

Conditions

The SAQ reserves the right to not accept any of the received tenders and to cancel this invitation and reject all offers with no compensation for the bids and with the SAQ being held harmless for any costs or losses incurred by the bidders.

The SAQ will consider that any omission, abstention, inaccuracy or items non-compliant with one or other of the provisions of this invitation will disqualify the bid and may result in cancellation of the offer.

No changes will be allowed after the offer submission deadline has passed.

The SAQ is not required to accept a product bid even if it fills a specific need listed in this invitation.

The SAQ will not assume any expenses incurred by bidders in order to prepare and submit their offer.

All offers submitted and all documents and other items received in connection with this call for tenders become the exclusive property of the SAQ.

If, at the end of the offer evaluation period, a product is selected, the supplier must commit to complying with all applicable terms and conditions of the Purchasing and Merchandising Policy.

To avoid confusion, please wait for the SAQ's reply and instructions before sending the required labels and samples.

Only the French-language version of this invitation is considered official. In the event of a discrepancy between the French-language version and the English-language version, the French-language version shall prevail.

For more information about filling out the submission form, please contact the Business Relations Assistance Service (SARA) by phone at 514-254-2711 or via the Contact Us module online.