Shopping Canada

What Shopping Canada does

Shopping Canada (shopping-canada.com) is a privately operated web-based directory of Canadian shopping centres, malls, and stores, launched in 2015 and run by Malls Online Information. The platform indexes 2,228+ shopping centres and malls across all 13 Canadian provinces and territories, organized by geography and city, with supporting directories for stores and brands, weekly promotional flyers, grocery deals, farmer and specialty markets, editorial blog content, and user ratings and reviews. Coverage spans Ontario (962), Alberta (290), British Columbia (340), Quebec (330), Nova Scotia (77), Manitoba (69), New Brunswick (53), Saskatchewan (50), Newfoundland and Labrador (31), Prince Edward Island (17), Yukon (5), and Northwest Territories (4). Content is manually collected from open sources and updated on a daily (articles) and weekly (flyers) cadence.

The underlying technology is a server-rendered web directory with searchable, structured pages by province, territory, and city, with a GPS-enabled shopping locator, an embedded map/directions widget, and a price-tracking module that compares current grocery prices against a 90-day average. The platform is free to use, requires no registration, and has no mobile app or B2B/transactional surface; content updates are accepted via a submission form. Primary technology integrations are Google Adsense and Google Analytics for monetization and measurement, with MailChimp handling weekly newsletter distribution.

Shopping Canada is monetized entirely through advertising and affiliate referral rather than through subscriptions, transactions, or enterprise licensing. Google Adsense display advertising (using remarketing and tracking cookies for personalized ad delivery) is the principal revenue stream, supplemented by an affiliate/referral partnership with Hotels Combined that earns fees when users book hotels near listed shopping locations. The platform serves general Canadian shoppers as the primary segment, with secondary segments for business travelers and tourists, supported by SEO-optimized curated shopping guides (e.g., biggest malls, malls with cinemas, outlet shopping, family-friendly malls) that capture long-tail organic search demand.

Name

Shopping Canada

Legal name

Malls Online Information

Website

https://shopping-canada.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Shopping Canada is a free web-based directory of 2,228+ Canadian shopping centres, malls, stores, weekly flyers, and grocery deals across all 13 provinces, monetized through Google Adsense advertising and Hotels Combined affiliate referrals for Canadian shoppers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Mississauga

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Advertising Revenue: The platform generates revenue through Google Adsense advertising displayed on its web pages. The site also uses remarketing and tracking cookies to deliver personalized advertisements to visitors.
2. Affiliate/Referral Revenue: Partnership with Hotels Combined for hotel referrals near shopping locations generates affiliate revenue when users click through to book hotels.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Shopping Canada operates an online directory of Canadian shopping centres, malls, and retail stores, providing store locations, hours, contact information, product categories, weekly flyers, deals, and coupons. The website, launched in 2015 and operated by Malls Online Information, aggregates retail content from hundreds of shopping centres and thousands of stores across Canada, available to consumers free of charge in English, French, and Spanish.

Product overview

Shopping Canada is a directory website providing a comprehensive online guide to Canadian shopping centres, malls, stores, and deals. The platform operates as a single unified website (not a modular platform) offering multiple integrated services including an online shopping directory with mall and store listings sorted by Canadian provinces and territories, a store/brand locator with 175+ Thai Express stores and hundreds of other brand locations, weekly flyers from retailers, a grocery deals price comparison tool tracking current prices against 90-day averages, a shopping locator with map functionality, editorial shopping blog content, an email newsletter subscription service powered by MailChimp, and a customer review system. The site monetizes primarily through advertising (Google Adsense) rather than transactions. Content is manually collected from open sources and updated daily.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Shopping Centre and Mall Directory
• Weekly Flyers and Promotions Aggregation of current weekly flyers and promotional offers from Canadian retailers, refreshed weekly. Targeted at deal-seeking Canadian consumers looking for current promotions in one place.
• Deals and Coupons Curated deals and coupon listings from Canadian retailers, providing access to discounts across multiple store categories. Targeted at price-sensitive Canadian shoppers seeking consolidated promotional offers.
• Store and Product Category Search Searchable listing of thousands of retail stores organized by product categories including fashion, beauty, electronics, sports, food, pharmacy, and home. Targeted at Canadian consumers looking for specific store types and product categories.
• Email Newsletter (MailChimp) Email communications delivered via MailChimp, providing subscribers with shopping news, weekly flyers, deals, and promotional content from Canadian retailers. Targeted at Canadian consumers who opt in to receive retail updates.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Google AdsensecoreTechnology or IntegrationGoogle Adsense is used for displaying targeted advertisements on the Shopping Canada website. The platform uses remarketing and tracking cookies to deliver personalized ads based on visitor browsing behavior.
• Google AnalyticscoreTechnology or IntegrationGoogle Analytics tracks website traffic and visitor behavior patterns to help understand how users navigate the site and what content is most popular.
• MailChimpcoreTechnology or IntegrationMailChimp is used as the third-party service provider for the newsletter email system, enabling weekly flyer deal emails to subscribers.
• Hotels CombinedminorGTM or Marketing PartnerAffiliate partnership providing hotel recommendations near shopping centres. Shopping Canada receives referral fees when users book hotels through the partner link.
• Malls Online Information (mallsonline.info)coreOthersMalls Online Information is the parent company/operator of Shopping Canada, with content updates managed by their team including Michael Rodriguez and Alex Johnson.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Flipp: Flipp is a Canadian-headquartered digital flyer and shopping deals platform that aggregates weekly retailer flyers and offers. It is a direct peer to the flyers and grocery deals sections of Shopping Canada and competes for the same Canadian deal-seeking shopper audience.
• Yellow Pages Canada: Yellow Pages is a long-standing Canadian business directory site where shoppers find local stores, services, hours, and locations. It overlaps Shopping Canada's directory model for finding retail locations across Canada and monetizes via ads and merchant listings.
• Reebee: Reebee is a Canadian mobile app for browsing weekly flyers and digital coupons from major retailers. It directly competes with Shopping Canada's flyers and deals functionality in the same Canadian market and target user.

Broad incumbents

• Yelp: Yelp is a global business-directory and user-review platform with strong Canadian presence. It shares the user-reviews-plus-store-locator model with Shopping Canada and competes for shoppers discovering local retailers, though Yelp's scope is far broader than shopping centres.
• Tripadvisor: Tripadvisor operates shopping-category listings with reviews of stores and shopping destinations worldwide, including Canada. It is comparable as a discovery and reviews platform for shopping locations and tourist shopping centres, while being significantly broader in scope.
• Google Maps: Google Maps is the dominant maps, location, and business-discovery platform including for Canadian malls, stores, hours, and reviews. It competes directly with Shopping Canada's locator and store-directory features and is the principal alternative for users searching for nearby shopping.

Regional players

• Canpages: Canpages is a Canadian online business directory that lists local stores with addresses, hours, and categories. It is comparable to Shopping Canada as another Canadian business-directory listing Canadian retailers, though it covers all sectors rather than focusing on shopping centres.

Emerging players

• RetailMeNot: RetailMeNot is a deals, coupons, and cashback platform with Canadian retailer coverage. It is comparable to Shopping Canada's deals and flyers features for shoppers seeking promotions and savings at Canadian retailers, though it emphasizes digital coupons over physical-store locator content.
• MapQuest: MapQuest offers maps, directions, and business listings including retail stores and shopping centres. It is comparable to Shopping Canada's locator feature with similar mapping, directions, and merchant listings.
• FourSquare City Guide: Foursquare provides location-based discovery, user tips, and reviews for retail venues including malls and stores. It is comparable to Shopping Canada as a discovery-plus-reviews platform for shopping destinations and retailers, though it uses an app-first model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/meadowvale-town-centre

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Shopping Canada