Canadian Tire Contacts and links

There are many ways to check out, get in touch with, and research Canadian Tire.

First you can check out the Canadian Tire website here where you will find their extensive online catalogue as well as history and other information on the company.

If you have an Apple iPhone, there is a great Canadian Tire app in the App Store. You can use it to search for products, or if you’re in the store and can’t find a price, simply use the scanning feature and it will bring up the price and all the information. It also has a store locator and the latest flyer.

Canadian Tire is a great place to work! If you want to look for a job with them, start your search here.

And of course, they are on all the major social media sites:

LinkedIn    


Facebook  


YouTube


Twitter

Here’s some info on investing in a Canadian Tire retail store as well as the application to do so.

Need a Canadian Tire Options MasterCard? Click here to apply.

Want to donate to Jumpstart? Check them out here then donate here.

Here’s some helpful contact information:

Online Customer Support
1-866-SHOP-CTR (1-866-746-7287)

Corporate Customer Relations
English: 1-800-387-8803
French: 1-800-565-3356

Canadian Tire Roadside Assistance
1-888-727-7478

Options MasterCard
1-800-459-6415

Please forward your comments & questions to the following address:

PO Box 2000, Station Main
Welland, ON
L3B 5S3

The Evolution of Mark's

It used to be known as Mark’s Work Wearhouse, and was known for overalls, steel toed boots and other work related apparel. In an effort to stay relevant, Mark’s, which is under the Canadian Tire banner has rebranded itself and its stores. With over 380 stores nationwide, this has been a massive effort.  Have you shopped at Mark’s lately?

Mark's old storefront

The Canadian Tire Corporation bought Mark’s Work Wearhouse, a Calgary based company, in 2001 and in the last 12 years have helped make many improvements. The biggest improvement is the newly rebranded Mark’s which is targeting the female demographic. When I was younger, I would never have dreamed of going into Mark’s Work Wearhouse for anything – that’s where construction workers shopped, clearly there couldn’t be anything nice in there. When I got a job with the City of Brampton and needed steel toed boots, I went in and found suitable boots, bought them, and left without looking at anything else in the store. Clearly this was a trend and it needed to change. Firstly they decided to shorten the name. “The words ‘work’ and ‘wearhouse’ over our door were creating misconceptions about the brand,” says Wendy Bennison, vice-president of operations. Mark’s has long been known as a store for the working man, but they wanted to appeal more to women. Mark’s had held the number one spot in Canada for men’s casual wear for years, but they were lagging far behind for the women’s spot. While they are still focusing on durability with their no-iron, fade-resistant, sub-zero insulation, water-resistant fabric, no-pill yoga pants and more, they want to add something more to the shopping experience for women. Some of the things they have updated are the change rooms, which are now larger and better lit. At some stores, they have games for kids to keep them busy while mom shops. In the Toronto Eaton Centre, their store even has a walk in freezer for you to test out cold-weather apparel in simulated 40 degree wind chill conditions.

The new Mark's

Another change they have made hoping to appeal to women is the hiring of Brad Goreski as their spokesperson. He is known for being on the Bravo reality show The Rachel Zoe Project and now his own show It’s a Brad, Brad World. Being a popular Canadian in the fashion industry made him a great choice for the new face of the company. Another great side effect to hiring Goreski is that he is in the process of filming the second season of his reality show. This means that as the camera follow him around; Mark’s will get some free advertising on his show.

With all the new updates in clothing and store appearance, Mark’s is sure to do better with the female demographic. I do a lot of camping, cottaging and hiking so I think I will start checking them out first before making the drive into Toronto to go to MEC or Sporting Life. How do you feel the rebranding has come across? Have you shopped at Mark’s before or will you give them a try now?

http://www.thestar.com/life/fashion_style/2012/10/02/brad_goreski_is_spokesman_for_the_rebranding_of_marks_work_wearhouse_now_just_plain_marks.html?app=noRedirect

http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/09/27/joe-lunchbox-does-yoga/

Olympic Partnership

We all remember when Roots had the contract for the Olympic apparel, and then they were beat out by The Hudson Bay Company where we all get our trademark red mittens for the Olympics. Now, Canadian Tire has gotten in on the action with a partnership with HBC, and they are excited at what is to come.

HBC will retain the current deal that have with the Canadian Olympic Committee to be the outfitter of the Canadian Olympic team, providing them with the outfits for the opening and closing ceremonies and podium as well as continuing to sell the branded red mittens, scarves and hoodies in their stores. CT will be the high performance clothing provider selling a new line of more than 70 Adidas products with the Olympic logo in their Sport Check and other sports stores. HBC has a contract with the COC until 2020 and CT has snagged an 8 year contract. CT currently has partnerships with Canada Games, Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, the National Hockey League, and NASCAR so this is a great addition to their already impressive list.

CT is also looking to help amateur athletes every step of the way. “From playground to podium, we will play a role in helping Canadian families and amateur athletes succeed,” says Stephen Wetmore, President and CEO, CTC, Limited. “From learning to play, loving the game and competing to win, everyday sport in Canada depends on us. Whether it’s parents teaching their children how to skate on a backyard rink or supporting Canadian athletes pursuing dreams of Olympic gold, sport has the power to unite families, communities and the entire nation.” This is evident in their continuing commitment to their Jumpstart charity which helps underprivileged kids play organized sports. They are taking it one step further now with the Olympic contract and putting in place a national employment program for amateur athletes. They will soon have a website where athletes with rigorous training schedules can find a job across CT’s 1700 retail outlets and corporate offices that will accommodate their schedule.

CT plans on year round Olympic themed advertising instead of keeping it to every two years when the Olympics are running. “There’s no reason you can’t do a kitchen spot with athletes talking about healthy living and healthy eating. There’s no reason why you can’t do an outdoor yard spot with two guys competing on who’s going to have a better lawn,” said Duncan Fulton, head of communications for CT and chief marketing officer at Forzani Group. CTC has already signed advertising contracts with seven Olympic athletes, and some of these athletes have already appeared in commercials for Sport Check this year.

You can look forward to the Adidas line of high performance jackets, fleeces, long- and short-sleeved t-shirts, hair bands and more with the Olympic symbol showing up in stores as soon as November 7^th this year. Let’s hope Team Canada can “Own the Podium” at next year’s Winter Games in Sochi, Russia! How many medals do you think Canada will get?

http://olympic.ca/news/committee/canadian-tire-embraces-the-power-of-sport-2

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/canadian-tire-inks-canadian-olympic-sponsorship-deal/article7660605/?service=mobile

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/canadian-tire-joins-hbc-on-the-podium-with-olympic-clothing-pact/article12793078/?service=mobile

A Great Company to Work For

Canadian Tire is a retail powerhouse, and it is also a great place to work. There are many divisions in the company from retail stores to distribution centers to their Head Office.  I’ll focus mainly on their Head Office in this post. It’s a tough interview process to get in, but once you’re in, you’ll want to stay there!

Their Head Office is located at Yonge and Eglinton in Toronto, a great location when it comes to getting to work via public transit. It’s also a bustling intersection with many places to go out with your work mates for a casual lunch or after work drink. There is a great atmosphere in their HO with everyone being close to the same age, meaning lots of comrade.  CT likes to encourage team lunches and events (like bowling for example) to promote a positive attitude and happiness in the workplace. They also like to have a full afternoon outside of the office for team activities twice a year. CT has a lot of events to boost their Jumpstart charity like raffles, dress down day, BBQ day, Ice Cream day, etc. – all money raised goes to Jumpstart charity. They even have VP smoothie day – you buy a smoothie from your favourite VP and money is donated.

Another great aspect of working for CT is the stock options. Employees can use up to 10% of their paycheck to buy CTC shares, and at the end of the year, CT matches half your contribution. For example, if you purchase $4,000 worth of stock, then CT will match $2,000. You can then choose what to do with that money like put it into RRSP’s, take it out as cash, etc.

Who doesn’t love their time off? CT allows vacation to be carried over for 10 months into the next year. This means that if you have 3 weeks’ vacation and you didn’t use one, you can carry it over until October of the following year essentially giving you 4 weeks off in that year. It’s a great flexibility to have when it comes to planning major life events like a wedding! CT also gives their HO employees the afternoon off every Friday of a long weekend so they can get started early. Small things like this really go a long way in boosting employee morale and loyalty to the company. And of course, if it’s needed, you are allowed to work from home occasionally which is helpful if you live far away or if there is inclement weather that prevents you from getting to work and you don’t want to lose a day.

One of the most important aspects of working for CT is how the managers spend a lot of time with the employees on career progression. They believe it’s always better to promote from within and want their employees to be happy in their position. They like to work with you get to where you want to be by helping you develop skills and by offering free in-house classes like Excel, Access, etc.  They even have classes such as “Business Writing 101” or “How to be a Skilled Presenter”.  These courses are pricy ($500+) but company will pay for it. It’s nice to work for a company that is truly invested in your future.

Canadian Tire cares about its employees and understands that a happy employee works harder for their company. How do these benefits of working for CT compare to what your place of employment has to offer?

To fin a job at Canadian Tire, click here.

Many thanks to the Canadian Tire employees interviewed for this post.

Print/Online Advertising

Canadian Tire has one of the oldest and most widely distributed print flyers in Canada. Although many stores have moved to the internet for the majority of their advertising, CT knows that many customers still prefer reading through a paper flyer rather than an online one. CT still relies heavily on print media, including in store displays to promote business due to the nature and expectation of their main customer (i.e. older, family oriented, etc).

CT is also looking to retain current female customer as well as gain new ones with their advertising. They anticipated that many women would be interested in Target coming to Canada so they put more money into ads in glossy magazines and developed their online presence (women are disproportionately active users of Facebook and Pinterest). 

Canadian Tire is moving with the times and has developed a very strong social media presence (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.). CT recently unveiled a digital catalogue which is a first of its kind for a mass retailer and will evolve to sell products too.  And not only can you view, research and review CT products on-line, you can also set-up notifications to your e-mail for products that you are interested in as they go on sale so that you ensure getting the best deal. Canadian Tire’s website is the most visited retailer site in Canada and they have one of the strongest app’s in the market (much stronger than Wal-Mart, Sears, etc.). They are also doing a lot of work with Google to promote online searchability and advertising.

All in all, Canadian Tire has a very successful marketing and advertising campaign. How do you feel about print catalogs and flyers? Would you rather have a hard copy to flip through, or an online version and save a tree?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/pumping-up-the-canada-in-canadian-tire/article4543680/

TV Advertising

Canadian Tire has its fair share of competitors. They need to stay relevant to their market with constantly evolving advertising campaigns. CT has managed to survive large US companies coming to Canada like Home Depot, Wal-Mart, and now Target. With each new competitor, they needed to update their advertising to meet new challenges and stay true to their roots.

There are many old Canadian Tire TV commercials that we all remember, whether we loved or hated them. Some of the more memorable commercials were the old Christmas spots with Scrooge that featured the slogan “Give like Santa, Save like Scrooge”. One of the most memorable Canadian Tire commercials was “The Bike Story”.

Another set of commercials that were not the most loved and ran for 8 years featured a bearded man with an impeccable garage and his wife. Unfortunately Canadians didn't take to this character and he has since been retired.  In fact, I even found a forum entitled “EverybodyHates the Canadian Tire Guy”! He has now been replaced by a new character that is more humorous and likable. In this commercial you can see one of CT’s many new slogan’s – this one being “Canada’s Kitchen Store” which is meant to be a direct competition with Target.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wj3h9pO4pk

In 2011, CT brought out their new ad campaign featuring the slogan “Bring it on” which refers to Canada’s seasons. It is said that it was also a slogan around head office as the ad campaign was brought out soon after Target announced it was coming to Canada.

Personally I like the new CT commercials, both the ones featuring the “Bring it on” slogan and also the new Canadian Tire guy with humour. I look forward to what CT comes up with next. Do you have a favorite CT commercial? Were you as annoyed as everyone else with "The Canadian Tire Guy"?

Staying Relevant in Today’s Marketplace

There are many big name stores in competition with Canadian Tire - Lowes, Home Depot and Rona to name a few. As consumers, we are inundated with TV advertising and paper flyers with retailers vying for our business.

 Here are some key facts about Canadian Tire Retail:

• Canadian Tire consistently ranks among the top 10 brands in Canada
• CTR stores are conveniently located to serve more than 90 per cent of the population
• 50–60 per cent of Canadians shop in CTR stores every month; 90 per cent every year
• 67 per cent of CTR’s 19 million sq. ft. of retail selling space is new or was retrofitted in the last five years

http://corp.canadiantire.ca/EN/NewsRoom/MediaKit/Pages/CompanyFacts.aspx

How is CT, as one of Canada’s oldest companies, staying relevant in in today’s marketplace?

Canadian Tire strives for differentiation in the marketplace. CT is the only mass retailer that carries the assortment depth and service in the Auto business. Also, CT offers a wide range of assortments from Tools and Hardware to Sports to Home to Auto. Where else can you buy a leaf blower, car oil and a kitchen Aid stand mixer all in one place!

Location, location, location! With over 90% of the Canadian population living within 10 minutes from a CT, it’s no wonder they can reach a wider audience than their competitors. They also have over 450 stores; that kind of presence is pretty powerful, especially in rural environments where they almost have a monopoly merely because they are the only ones there.

Brand recognition- A few years ago, CT took out the words Canadian Tire from the logo because it was found irrelevant - everyone knows the CT symbol at what it represents. That kind of brand recognition is something major US retailers (Home Depot, Lowes, etc) are striving for but still don’t have at the level CT does.

CT’s dealer based model allows each store to tailor their assortments to their regions.  When Home Depot and Lowes entered the market, one of the biggest challenges was going to be who would win the garden centre market share.  Because Home Depot and Lowes are “push” retailers, their assortments aren’t always best in all areas of Canada.  At Canadian tire the garden centre manager tailors their live goods selections to their zones.  So the garden centre manager is Halifax will sell to its customers the flowers that grow best with their weather patterns, and the garden centre manager is Sudbury will do the same, but could be entirely different from each other.

It’s obvious from their success and dominance of the market that Canadian Tire has stayed relevant and will continue to do so. Would CT be your first thought if you needed to buy a blender? What about a lawnmower? 

Many thanks to the Canadian Tire employees interviewed for this post.

Canadian Tire 'Money' - Canada's Oldest Loyalty Program

At some point in our lives, we've all had some Canadian Tire ‘money’ in our wallet. As kids we would find it in our parent’s room and use it to play shop with, as adults we save it until we can get a few dollars’ worth to put towards a purchase. Getting that paper piece of ‘money’ back when we make a purchase always seems to make us feel a little better. Canadian Tire money was first introduced in 1958 and has long since become a treasured second currency in Canada; in fact, it’s printed on genuine bank note paper!

Canadian Tire money is the oldest loyalty program in Canada and “pioneered the loyalty program concept”. It was the wife of co-founder A.J. Billes who came up with the idea for the coupon. It originally feature a smiling tire and a dollar sign running hand in hand, which was the Canadian Tire logo dating back to 1926. In 1961 the Sandy McTire character was created by an employee and is still on the ‘money’ today. There are 21 different series of the ‘money’ and it comes in many different denominations: 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, 50¢, $1 and $2. Since its inception, over 1 billion Canadian Tire ‘money’ notes have been in circulation.

There are many charities that accept Canadian Tire ‘money’ and they use it to help fund or buy supplies for their programs. You can even donate your CT points directly to Jumpstart, CT’s charity to help children in need play organised sports. Canadian Tire is very community conscious and will donate 25 points for every 25 points donated to a local community charity to a maximum of 2000 points. Not only to they promote loyalty for their company, but they help out the community in the process.

Through the ‘money’ program, Canadian Tire has promoted customer loyalty and in turn given back more than $100 million dollars every year. They have strived to stay current and in 2000 they introduced the Canadian Tire ‘Money’ on the Card program through the CT Options MasterCard to earn everywhere MasterCard is accepted. The CT Options MasterCard also allows CT to be able to cater to their customer’s needs based on their spending, i.e. you just bought a children’s bike, so here is a coupon for a bike helmet in the mail. It’s incentives like this that keep customers coming back to Canadian Tire. Do you have a CT Options MasterCard to earn points? Have you ever saved up a lot of CT 'money' to buy something good?

Candaian Tire Jumpstart

Canadian Tire is not only a retail power house; they are also a responsible corporate citizen and are involved in the local community around them. The Canadian Tire Jumpstart program was originally launched in 1999 as the Canadian Tire Foundation for Families. It was created to help families in need to get life’s basic needs like food, shelter, clothing, and other essential goods. The Foundation for Families had donated over $28 million dollars to help Canadians before it evolved into Jumpstart in 2005. Jumpstart’s main focus was the inactivity in children and the fact that many families could not afford the high cost of organized sports.

According to Vision Critical (2011), one in three Canadian families cannot afford to put their child in organized sports. Jumpstart’s aim is to help these families in need to pay for the rising costs associated with sports like registration, equipment, and transportation. Through organized sports, they hope that children can gain self-confidence, self-esteem, and leadership skills to last a life time. “We see it as equipping kids for life, because participation in organized sport and recreation increases a child’s chance for success in life.” There are currently 332 local chapters involved in the program who are staffed by volunteers. They work closely with other local non-profit organizations to help identify families who could use the support of the program. Children between the ages of 4 to 18 can gain funding and there are currently 73 sports and recreation activities funded including: hockey, swimming, soccer, basketball, dance, yoga, climbing and martial arts.

So far, over 540,000 Canadian kids have had the chance to play in organized sports thanks to the Jumpstart program. Canadian Tire retail stores hold Jumpstart Days to help fundraise and the stores always have donation boxes where you can give your CT money. This year there will also be a “Pedal for Kids” campaign hoping to raise $200k where partners and employees will ride 500km from Hinton to Calgary. In 2014 they will again be summiting Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for the program with a goal of $300k. Canadian Tire Corporation also funds all general and administrative costs as well as the program delivery so that 100% of all donations can go directly to the program. Canadian Tire is truly a proud community ambassador. Do you know anyone who has used the Jumpstart program? Does knowing a company supports a charity make you more likely to shop there?

To donate to the Jumpstart program clickhere. 

A Brief History of Canadian Tire

Who among us hasn't shopped at Canadian Tire? Whether it be for a new set of tires for our car, a new tent for the next camping trip or a hockey stick for our kids first game, we all seem to make a trip there at least a couple times a year. With more than 90% of the Canadian population living within 15 minutes of a store, it’s no wonder they are so popular. Canadian Tire, started in 1922 by the Billes brothers has grown into a Canadian institution and icon.

John W. and Alfred J. Billes bought the Hamilton Tire and Garage Ltd for $1800 in 1922 with great ambition for their future. A year later they sold the garage and moved to a new location in Toronto with a new name – Canadian Tire Corporation.  From there they developed their brand and cultivated customer loyalty. They were officially incorporated in 1927 and went on to release their first catalogue – now a tradition in Canadian households – with a handy roadmap of Ontario on the back in 1928. In 1934 they expanded and opened their first associate store in Hamilton; they were on their way to what is now one of the largest retail chains in Canada. In 1937 Canadian Tire moved their main store to a vacant supermarket in Toronto and introduced a much loved addition – clerks on roller-skates who could quickly get to customers to fulfill order and requests. They expanded further in 1958 with the first gas bar where they gave customers discount coupons for in store discounts that would eventually become Canadian Tire money. Canadian Tire opened their first distribution centre in 1962 and quickly grew with their corporate revenue exceeding $1 billion for the first time in 1980. The Canadian Tire online shopping website (www.canadiantire.ca) was launched in 2001 and has since become one of the busiest online shopping sites in Canada. They continue to grow and in 2011 acquired the FGL group.

Canadian Tire has many groups under its umbrella:

•          Canadian Tire Retail
•          PartSource
•        Canadian Tire Petroleum
•         Mark’s
•        Canadian Tire Financial Services
•        FGL Sports Ltd.

PartSource, launched in 1999, is an automotive parts speciality chain which is staffed by professionals to sell auto parts to professional installers as well as do-it-yourselfers. (www.partsource.ca)

Canadian Tire Petroleum is one of Canada’s largest gasoline retailers pumping out more than 1.7 billion litres of gas per year.

Mark’s was established in 1977 and currently has 385 stores across Canada. They specialize in men’s and women’s work, work related, casual and active wear clothing and footwear. (www.marks.com)

Canadian Tire Financial Services is the parent company of Canadian Tire Bank which issues the Canadian Tire Options MasterCard. They also offer high interest savings accounts, tax free savings accounts and GIC’s as well as insurance products and the Canadian Tire Roadside Assistance. (www.ctfs.com)

FGL Sports Ltd was acquired in 2011 and is the largest sporting goods retailer in Canada. Some of the stores under their banner include Sport Chek and Sports Experts.

Canadian Tire currently has 488 retail stores, 5500 auto service bays and 287 gas bars, and has almost 68,000 employees across Canada. Their financial services division has one of the largest MasterCard franchises in Canada with more than 4 million of the Canadian Tire Options MasterCard’s in circulation. The company is involved in the community with their Canadian Tire Jumpstart program (originally founded in 1999 as the Canadian Tire Foundation for Families) to help underprivileged kids become involved in sports. With a company like this, it’s clear to see why more than 80% of the population shops at a Canadian Tire store every year. How often do you shop at Canadian Tire?