LH Home manages tariffs to grow in U.S. and Mexico

Intro (00:00): Looking for peace of mind during uncertain times? Export Development Canada has economic insights, quarterly outlooks, and country-risk reports to help you make informed decisions when it matters most. Discover tools to grow your business and maximize your export potential at edc.ca/economics.

Bruce Croxon (00:25): Welcome back to the Export Impact Podcast, brought to you by Export Development Canada. I'm Bruce Croxon, the host of the Export Impact Podcast. On today's episode, we're talking trade, tariffs, and tenacity with a business leader who has helped steer her company through recessions, rapid growth, and very complex global supply chains.

Jade is a partner at LH Imports, a Vancouver based furniture company that specializes in the import and distribution of home furnishings across North America. With operations spanning Canada, the US, and Mexico, and a business model that crosses borders multiple times, LH is deeply impacted by trade policies, tariffs, and international shipping realities. Jade brings years of on the ground experience navigating those challenges, and she's here to share what she's learned.

I’d like to begin today’s episode by acknowledging that we’re recording from my office in Toronto, which is on the traditional unceded territory of Many Nations, including the Missassaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat Peoples, and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Metis. We value taking this moment to deepen the appreciation of our indigenous communities, wherever we are, and to remind ourselves of our shared debt to Canada’s First Peoples.

Welcome to the show. Jade, very happy to have you join us today. We're really looking forward to hear your story.

Jade Merriman (01:57): Bruce, thank you so much. I've been looking forward to this.

Bruce Croxon (02:00): Yeah, we've been trying to get this one together for a while. Great honor, but I'm glad we got to pull it together and thanks for taking the time. For those that may not be familiar with your business, can you give us just sort of a snapshot of the company. You know, what you do, who your clients are, and you know, maybe some other recognizable consumer brands like Restoration Hardware, Wayfair. I mean, Round 13 My Investment Company has an investment article, for example, in other Vancouver based e-commerce furniture store. Where do you fit there and how does the business work?

Jade Merriman (02:34): So we're definitely competitors on a no good or bad side. So we are working with businesses, so designers, retailers, architects, builders, hotels, restaurants, and like you mentioned through Canada, US, and Mexico. So you don't always see our brand, we're definitely behind the scenes, but you will see us on Wayfair and on different platforms as well online, throughout all of those countries that I just mentioned.

Bruce Croxon (03:05): So how is your business broken down between sort of business to business then where you're supplying outlets like hotels and direct to consumer, or it's actually not necessarily direct to consumer, it goes through sites like Wayfair?

Jade Merriman (03:17): Yeah, so we have some business partners that are online and then we also have different products. So when it comes to hotels and restaurants and hospitality, we do a lot of customization, which we actually don't market enough at the moment. It's more who we come in contact with, but we'll customize. We have a team overseas in Vietnam that helps us to make the best product quality control and make all of that happen.

Then on the B2B side, of course there's our brick and mortar is the bulk of our business throughout North America with a huge growth happening in our hospitality sector because of our ability to be flexible and customized.

Bruce Croxon (03:57): And by brick and mortar you mean selling into brick and mortar? You don't have LH stores popping up all over the place. Got, okay, gotcha.

Jade Merriman (04:05): Right. We sell to retailers. As for where we fit in with the price level, when it comes to Perry Golder Wayfair, we're definitely on their mid to higher level price point. We are not the prices of Restoration Hardware. We're probably set right under the price levels of kind of West Elm and Pottery Barn when it comes to the retail prices. But the quality and the material and everything that goes into it is on that level. We're still working in solid woods, solid marble and unique materials.

Bruce Croxon (04:37): I mean sourcing materials and keeping track of who's supplying what and under what kind of pricing must be huge. Do you bring the materials into Canada and put it together and then out it goes? Is that how it works?

Jade Merriman (04:52): We basically import the furniture from different countries, so Vietnam, India. That being said, we do have some Canadian-made product on the upholstery side, mostly due to what we're about to talk about tariffs. But yeah, it is imported and from there we distribute it and some things will be imported specifically for one customer only and other items will be specifically imported for our distribution in volume to retailers and designers.

Bruce Croxon (05:24): And when did LH sort of first start exporting beyond Canada? I mean the roots were bring it in, sell it to Canadian customers, and now you're like US, Mexico, and I do wanna ask, you know, what percentage of the business is between all those three countries, but what first prompted the move? How was it executed initially?

Jade Merriman (05:46): So I have been with LH for almost 16 years. When I first joined Lisa, my partner, we were very much Canadian-based, a few collections, and as we grew the Canadian business as the main focus, we started with a Seattle gift show. And at that time we saw that there was a lot of potential. So from there, let's say that was five years in, so maybe 10, 11 years ago when we really started to look at the US market. At that time, it was a little bit scary.

Bruce Croxon (06:21): Yeah, it, it is a big move, Jade, to pop off into the states for the first time. And you know, a lot of our listeners are tuning in because EDC, they want to look beyond our borders and think about international expansion. What was scary about it for you and what did you encounter and how did you overcome it? For the benefit of our listeners.

Jade Merriman (06:44): At first it was more about payment I think was one of the things we were most worried about. You know, in Canada you could very easily go and have a sales rep go knock on a door and look for payment if you needed to. And the other thing was crossing the border, you know, what did the paperwork look like? Who were our contacts gonna be? And so we reached out to different customs brokers. We already were working with one obviously for our import side of business. And so that was the best option that we went with. And then we did reach out to EDC in the early stages and they supported us with insurance on orders that were going out, which gave us a lot more confidence in continuing to grow the export side of the business.

Bruce Croxon (07:35): And as we look at the business today, flash forward, you know, 2025, what percentage of the business is Canada, US, and I think I heard Mexico too is one of your markets.

Jade Merriman (07:46): So our business is about 50% in Canada, US about 45%, and Mexico 5%; all of that's about to change.

Bruce Croxon (07:58): Maybe this is the lead into our next topic then and change and uncertainty. And I gotta imagine that a lot of this, particularly in your business, is linked to the tariffs and how things seemingly change every day as we record this in September, 2025. How have you navigated the tariffs and how have you stayed on top of it? What changes has it prompted in the model? How has it impacted your life?

Jade Merriman (08:26): Okay, deep, deep question. Over the past eight months, it's been very interesting. When the tariff first started to kick in was in January, all the talks of them coming and so forth. So today where we're at is we're looking at other markets because it is really difficult as a Canadian business importing into Canada, exporting into the US. We're at a complete disadvantage with our US competitors in the sense that they're landing their product into the US direct and therefore they're paying their tariff on their cost. For us, we sell it from Canada into the US, that means we are paying the tariff or the customers if it gets passed down or paying the tariff on the selling price. It's pretty much double the tariff for us, you know, shipping from Canada into the US.

So one aspect has been looking at different markets, which is going well and is exciting and the other is doing different things. So we've looked at a Vietnam consolidation warehouse and so we'll be able to supply our customers in the US directly from our Vietnam warehouse prices. We've had to modify our prices to include part of the tariffs on the US side. So it's definitely increased prices there. The same time, we are very value-driven, so there's always been a gap against a lot of our competitors that we've been up against. So now it's just that our prices have come closer together and so less of a price point, competitive edge and more, you know, the other things that we offer, the unique product, customer service is extremely important to us. And what we understand is that's harder to find these days.

And then the last thing that I should point out is communication. So the transparency has been extremely important and we found that our partners in the US have appreciated at least that, where we are providing the updates on how it impacts the product and prices. And some of our customers and partners even say that the most information they get on tariffs is from us. Not sure if that's a good or a bad thing, but it's an interesting one.

Bruce Croxon (10:46): No, I think it does and I think it's a theme I'm hearing over and over again. It's tough to click on the news without seeing the emphasis being on, hey, we've relied so heavily on this convenient market to the south. And not saying that we've been lazy, but it's been tough to ignore when 45% of your business is just over the border and then you wake up one day and it's not so easy forcing us into markets that, you know, under different circumstances we would've been exploring anyway. So it's in some ways it's forcing change that is a good thing. But god, it's gotta be painful in the short term. Is it an option to set up down there and import directly into the US?

Jade Merriman (11:31): Yes, so we have looked at that. We do have third party partners. We've warehoused in the US previously and then it was unneeded so we pulled out and we just continued to warehouse in Vancouver. But we do still have partners, you know, across the border that are there to receive from our Vietnam warehouse, for example. So there are other solutions. It's just seeming like on the midterm, you know, where should our focus be?

The US was a huge market for us. I mean we have trade show presence at the world's largest trade show, high Point North Carolina for furniture, Las Vegas market as well, and we were looking at others. So coming into this year, the US market was actually, our growth plan. So it's definitely a challenge that we're overcoming. The good thing is we've been growing our Mexico business over just the last few years, so it's really picking up, and so we're excited about that. But at the same time, if the tariffs keep changing so drastically, from 10% to 50% to 30% and every week you don't know, it doesn't excite us to go bigger and full force at this exact time.

Bruce Croxon (12:56): Yeah, it's very paralyzing. And as we record this, there's rumors that they're gonna target the furniture industry specifically I hear for even more tariffs. Don't know why, but that's a rumor. And I guess the only hope we have is this is time sensitive, but the challenge on Trump's ability to put tariffs on is going before the Supreme Court. Maybe the whole thing will be illegal and roll back and we go back to business as usual, but you've opened up a whole other handful of markets as well on top of that, right? Let's hope for the best.

Jade Merriman (13:29): So on that, you're right, they are supposed to be going to the Supreme Court soon. What we are hearing through our industry is maybe one of the reasons to look at furniture as a whole is because a lot of furniture many years ago was produced in the United States. And if you look at metal, the metal tariff is not one that is being classified as illegal. So perhaps the furniture tariff could also be a way that a tariff stays. That's my take on what I understand and what my partner understands from it; it changes. So, I can't speak fully to understanding that completely, but that is one take on it is that if the other tariffs do go away, well maybe the metal tariff will stay, maybe a furniture tariff will stay, which is again, just another reason why it's so challenging to work in this market at the moment. And it's unfortunate because we've worked with our American partners the same way we work with our Canadian partners. We have really great relationships. We love traveling there and visiting our customers and it's really sad actually for us anyways.

Bruce Croxon (14:43): I hear it in your voice and I hear the challenges that a lot of small businesses are trying to combat. And being a lifelong entrepreneur myself, I've got so much empathy for what you guys are going through. It's hard enough as it is to grow and scale and survive as a small business, and then you throw this stuff on top, it's a real test to your resilience. Any tips for people that are up against it or having to grind through this time of uncertainty and how are you doing it personally? Like, what do you do, double down?

Jade Merriman (15:16): Communication is super important. You know, as we receive information or as we're seeing information, we have meetings with our whole team daily or weekly just to bring everyone up to speed so that when they're talking with their customers directly, they have the information they need and it's current.

Being flexible and willing to change, we've always been like that. If something has to change, we're not going to give it too much thought before making a change. If you wait too long, then you've passed your opportunity. So I think being flexible and having your team flexible is super important. And to do that, I think transparency and communication are probably the most important.

It's stressful, it's challenging, but I show up with a smile and you know, we're gonna make it through this, and I feel strongly about that, and I tell our team that. We are a smaller to medium-sized company and so because of that we have the ability to adjust and change maybe more rapidly. Just letting them know that in 2008 when I first came into the company, it was a recession here in Canada and we grew during it and then the pandemic, things shut down.

We didn't know what was gonna happen and we came up with some ideas as a team and we put them out there and we came out of it stronger than ever. Mind you, the industry, our industry in general did have some strong years during the pandemic because people were traveling less. Their money was shifted to different things. That was one thing of it. But right when the pandemic kind of shut everything down, we got together and we were communicating and figuring out what we need to do, what are people thinking, what our retailers need. And so our focus was always on also our partners.

So what are partners lacking right now? And a lot of it was they just needed to know that they had their vendor support. And I think the same thing is kind of relevant now. The furniture industry is one that is experiencing some significant challenge. It's high price items that are coming in often by import, and so the tariffs are high and they're changing. We're there for our partners. If they come to us and they let us know what they need, then individually, our team members are going through that with them and walking through what we can do on our side, can we shift you to a different product? Can you wait for something that doesn't have so much metal because now there's metal tariffs as well that are quite high. Is this something that we need to offer a discount for this one order so that your customer in the end is satisfied and gets what they need through this challenging time? So yeah, communication is I think, the most important thing along with flexibility.

Bruce Croxon (18:13): Yeah, it sounds like you've developed a real culture there of resilience and open-mindedness and we're in it together kind of thing. So yeah, good for you. Just shifting gears for a second. You are a woman-led business, yourself and your partner, which is a rarity I would say, statistically in North America. We talked a little bit off camera that given all the things that are going on, it's not something that you've actively marketed, but I think it's notable enough that I would love to talk to you about it. Have you experienced any challenges in your industry or in business in general as a woman leader? Do you have some words on the topic for other potential women leaders? I know you have a daughter who is probably watching your every move through this time. Talk to us a little bit about that experience.

Jade Merriman (19:03): Yeah, so I would say going way back to maybe not 16 years ago, but when I first started with the business, being a young woman in the industry, I found quite challenging. We would go to trade shows internationally and it was very much a man's world in our industry. Over time, it's changed a fair amount where it's a lot more women in the industry as well, which is great to see in different types of businesses that are related to furniture.

I think the challenges were maybe the way we were taken. So it felt at times you weren't taken as seriously and that was something that I had to overcome for myself and also not worry about it. I guess my tip would be to not change your personality for this. If you wanna be fun and happy and someone wants to take that less serious, that's okay. What matters is that you take your business serious and you go in with the confidence that you need to lead your team or lead operations. So I think don't lose yourself in it. That's an important thing.

You know, it is changing. There is more women coming into business. We are proud of it. It's just something that, you know, while we're busy, like you said, it doesn't come to the forefront of something we can focus on right now. But we are proud of it and we really hope to see more women come into the business.

On the trade show side, we see a lot more women businesses, whether they're design retail owners, online entrepreneurs, there's a ton of different companies that are coming out and really unique ones as well. So I mentioned we work with retailers and designers and all these types of businesses, but some unique ones like rental furniture companies and just unique design companies are popping up. Like there's a design group that we just started working with and they are based in North Carolina, but it is all women-owned and we just keep coming across more and more.

Bruce Croxon (21:20): Well listen, challenging times, you know, women-led business, which brings some challenges to the front that you've briefly touched on as well. So I've got so much respect for Canadian-owned and fighting the fight and it is a tough time, but I think the audience is really gonna appreciate your message of resilience and some great tips there on how to navigate it. So really do appreciate your time and insights today and it's been a real pleasure hearing the story and all the best and good luck to you moving forward.

Jade Merriman (21:52): Thank you so much Bruce, for the opportunity, and to EDC.

Bruce Croxon (21:55): Thanks for joining us today on the Export Impact Podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, we'd love for you to subscribe, rate, and leave us a review on your favorite streaming platform. Until next time.