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Search Notification - details
This page shows you the details of the selected Search Notification.
| Invitation – 2027 Summer Campaign – Coolers |
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| Product Line: | Specialty | ||
| Expiration Date: | 2026/06/16 (YYYY/MM/DD) | Time Left | 4 Day(s) |
| Notes: | The Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) encourages you to submit offers in response to this Cooler invitation for specialty products to be offered for sale in its store network during the 2027 Summer Campaign.
Your spontaneous offers must be prepared and submitted online, must include a C$254.75 non-refundable credit card payment for each offer and must be received by June 16. 2026. at 11:59 p.m. Eastern (Montreal, Canada) time.
In this invitation, the SAQ is seeking new products and greater variety in response to customer needs and emerging trends.
By way of reminder, no customized store layout promotion for the Coolers segment is planned for the P01 to P07 2027-2028 cycle. All products of this type will be showcased in Summer Campaign packages or via prebooking or mutual agreement in PromoPunch.
IMPORTANT
All offers in response to this invitation must be submitted in the Catalog of Offers as spontaneous offers (OS) before the above-mentioned deadline. The code COLR27 must be entered on the Product and Offer page, in the Other - Remark section.
The top-performing products from the 2026 Summer Campaign will be kept as continuous replenishment specialty products (SA) and may be considered for inclusion in the 2027 Summer Campaign (see "Promotional Investment" below).
In the event that the product cannot be ordered by the SAQ on the planned date for any reason not attributable to the SAQ, the SAQ reserves the right to cancel the selection, effective P01 2027-2028.
Any false or incorrect information included in the offer, any changes made once the product has been selected or any failure to meet the various deadlines may result in the offer being withdrawn.
The SAQ is seeking new products for the following two segments:
COOLERS The products must meet the following criteria: Origin: All countries Format: 473 ml or less while not exceeding the maximum 1.5 ratio as determined by the Standard Drink Calculator Sales unit: between 1 and 12 units per package Percentage alcohol: Only products with an alcoholic strength between 1.1% ABV and 7.0% ABV. Container: Must be recyclabe1 in Quebec and not come in sleeve-type packaging Multi-pack: Must be recyclable2 in Quebec and free of overpackaging3 Advantage: Brand leader at the SAQ
PREMIXED COOLERS/FLAVOURED WINES/WINE-BASED BEVERAGES The products must meet the following criteria and be complementary to the SAQ's product offer: Origin: All countries Format and sales units: Various Container: Must be recyclable1 in Quebec and not come in sleeve-type packaging Multi-pack: Must be recyclable2 in Quebec and free of overpackaging3 Advantage: Brand leader at the SAQ
Containers and multi-packs All aluminum containers have been included the expanded deposit system since November 1, 2023. All plastic containers have been subject to a deposit since March 1, 2025. All glass and multilayer cardboard (Tetra Pak-type aseptic) containers will be subject to a deposit beginning March 1, 2027.
_________ 1. Containers recyclable in Quebec: glass, aluminum, aseptic multilayer cardboard (Tetra Pak-type) and PET (#1), HDPE (#2), LDPE (#4) and PP (#5) plastic. 2. Multipacks recyclable in Québec: cardboard and PET (#1), HDPE (#2), LDPE (#4) and PP (#5) plastic. 3. Overpackaging: This refers to packaging that does not meet a requirement or serve a function deemed necessary for the manufacturing, packaging and/or transportation processes, product protection or consumer information.
Good to know
- The SAQ encourages reducing packaging at the source (e.g. eliminating or optimizing the use of cardboard boxes in multi-packs), eliminating all overpackaging and incorporating recycled materials into containers and packaging. These measures help reduce products' environmental footprint. - The SAQ aims to expand its selection of products packaged in eco-responsible containers (containers that meet the requirements for lightweight glass OR recyclable alternative containers with a smaller carbon footprint than traditional glass containers: plastic, aluminum cans, aseptic multilayer carboard (Tetra Pak type). - The SAQ aims to expand its selection of certified eco-responsible products. It therefore welcomes offers of products with organic or responsible practice certifications.
To submit a spontaneous product offer (OS), you should:
The following fields on the Product and Offer page must be completed as follows:
Product nature: Cooler Family: Cooler
Please pay special attention to the following fields of the product offer form:
Container section Format: The size of the individual container; in other words, the number of millilitres (ml) per can or bottle. Number of units per case: Number of containers (cans or bottles) held by the shipping container (usually 24). Be sure to check the Yes box in answer to the question "Is your product offered to the detail in multiple packing?" if the sales unit contains more than one container.
Multi-packs section Number of containers by packaging: Package here means the consumer sales unit, either 4, 6, 8 or 12. Number of packaging(s) per case: The number of consumer sales units in the shipping container, either 2, 4 or 6.
Pre-selection criteria
For the 2027 campaign, up to 150 products will be pre-selected prior to the tasting based on the following pre-selection criteria:
IMPORTANT
To make it easier to understand the products being offered and speed up the pre-selection process, we request that you send an email including any additional information, if possible via a presentation page in PPT or PDF format, to SAQCommercialisation@saq.qc.ca when you submit your offer and before the call for tenders closes on June 16, 2026.
Be sure to include the offer number (e.g. OS-xxxxx) and the product name and to use the following subject line for your email: 2027 Summer Campaign - Coolers invitation.
The information should include the following:
- Product name and description - Product visual - Alcohol base used - Features and special advantages (if applicable) - Confirmation of the sales unit (e.g. 4 x 355 ml) and its retail price - Québec identification if applicable (Bottled in Québec, Made in Québec or Origine Québec) if the product is from the province of Quebec, as defined on the SAQ.COM website - Product life span - Eco-design information (e.g. reduction at source, recycled content, lightweight) or other eco-responsible practices applicable to the product (e.g. circular economy, certifications) that could be considered an advantage - Any other information deemed relevant.
Label
For more information about labels for ready-to-drink products, be on the lookout for the coming update to the cooler labelling rules (in French only and only as reference).
It is important not to have your cans printed before receiving final and complete approval from the laboratory following its analysis. If the labels are non-compliant, the SAQ may cancel the order or require corrections at the supplier's expense.
For all non-standardized cooler-type products, you must complete the Allergen Declaration form available on the Partner Hub of the SAQ.COM website. If you declare that a product if free of a specific allergen (gluten, for example), you must also ensure that supporting documentation (third-party certification) is available on request for each lot/batch received at our warehouses.
Risk-sharing agreement
Suppliers whose products have been selected for release from P01 to P07 2027-2028 must be prepared to accept the terms and conditions of a risk-sharing arrangement for a continuous replenishment specialty product (SA).
It is the sole responsibility of the supplier/agent to verify orders before accepting them. You may contact the buyer at any time to review or modify quantities at any point during the year.
Promotional investment
For the purposes of showcasing the Cooler products and spark Quebec consumers' interest in these distinctive-looking products, a promotional display package will be required (up to $78,000 per period). The package will ensure that the products are distributed and displayed in a specified number of stores for at least one and as many as seven execution periods.
The Category Management Department will validate the required investment amounts with the agent before the product is confirmed for selection.
Action plan
To plan for clearance of the 2027 Summer Campaign inventory, the Société des alcools du Québec will apply an automatic 10% discount to the retail price of products that have not sold at least 70% of their risk-sharing forecast, effective after the fourth week of P04 2027-2028.
The supplier will be automatically billed for this discount on its remaining bottles. The amount will be billed starting in the first week of P05 2027-2028.
Order
For the selected products, the issuing of purchase orders will begin in November 2026. Suppliers should be prepared to ship the order no later than the last week of P12 2026-2027 and ideally the last week of P11 2026-2027.
If the product is not ready for shipping before P13 2026-2027, this could have an impact on whether the product is kept in the summer campaign and/or the date of its in-store release.
Products must have a sufficient shelf life to ensure they can be sold within a reasonable time frame (we estimate this to be a minimum of one year from the date the order is placed).
Price
Please 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 those published on May 18, 2026, on the Partner Hub section of the SAQ.COM website.
Currency Country Standard code of origin Currency rate
CAD Canada Dollar 1.0000 USD United States Dollar 1.5705 XEU Europe Euro 1.3538
Specific requirements
A) Certified organic products
Products labelled as ORGANIC or with other similar wording must meet the requirements of the Canadian Organic Products Regulations in this regard. The products must also meet the requirements of Part 13 of the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations and the requirements of the Conseil des appellations reserved designations and value-added claims for Quebec agri-food products (CARTV). Proof of certification or accreditation will be required.
B) Fair trade-certified beverage alcohol products
Suppliers submitting products with the Fair Trade claim must hold a recognized certification, such as Fairtrade or Fair for Life.
The name of the accreditation body (TransFair or Fairtrade) must be entered in the Additional Information box of the Product and Offer tab in the Other - Remark section of the form. Proof of certification will be required at a later date.
C) Environmental claims
Producers submitting a product with an environmental claim must ensure they are in compliance with all legislation applicable in Quebec and be able to demonstrate that any such environmental claim is based on sufficient and appropriate evidence, as provided in the Competition Act.
Terms and conditions
The SAQ reserves the right not to accept any of the received tenders, to cancel this invitation and reject all tenders, with no compensation to the tenderers and without the SAQ's being held liable for any costs or losses incurred by the tenderers.
The SAQ considers that any omission, abstention, inaccuracy or instance of non-compliance with one or another of the provisions of this invitations will render the tender unacceptable and may result in the cancellation of the offer or the charging of an administrative fee.
No changes will be allowed once the invitation is closed.
Any false or incorrect information included in the offer, any changes made after the product has been selected or failure to meet various deadlines may result in the withdrawal of the product.
The SAQ is not bound to accept a tender for a product even if the product meets a specific requirement specified in this invitation.
The SAQ will not assume any expenses incurred by the recipient of this invitation to prepare and submit its offer.
All submitted offers, all documents and all other items received during the processing of the offer become the exclusive property of the SAQ.
If, at the end of the evaluation of the offers, its product is selected, the supplier must commit to complying with the applicable conditions of the Purchasing and Merchandising Policy.
To avoid possible confusion, please wait for the SAQ's reply and instructions before sending the required labels and samples.
Only the French version of this invitation has official value. In the event of any discrepancy between the (official) French version and the English version, the French version shall prevail.
For more information about filling out the form, please contact SARA, our business relations assistance service, at 514 254-2711 or via the Contact Us module. |
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