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.