Canadian Tire
Encyclopedia : C : CA : CAN : Canadian Tire
The chain sells both major brand name products as well as house brand items. Generally, house brand automotive products fall to the Motomaster brand, Mastercraft is the name given to tools.
The chain is also known for its Canadian Tire "money" and innovative advertising.
Corporate history
The first Canadian Tire store opened on September 15, 1922 in Toronto, Ontario by J. William Billes and Alfred J. Billes. This store, was located at the corner of Yonge and Isabella. In 1937, the store & head office was moved to Yonge & Davenport. This location remains as an associate store in the chain today. In 1928, the store issued its first catalogue, becoming one of Canada's most famous mail order businesses. The company grew to over 450 stores today, and has remained in the Billes family. A publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Canadian Tire Common shares are widely held. However, the company has a dual share structure that gives voting control to the holders of a relatively small number of "Class A" shares. Following the settlement of Alfred Billes' estate, in 1997 his daughter Martha Billes bought out her brothers and, through a majority of the "Class A" shares, she has a controlling interest in the company. As the current head of the company, she is considered one of Canada's most powerful business women. The CEO is Tom Gauld, who took over for Wayne Sales in 2006.Canadian Tire's business strategy has never successfully translated outside of Canada. In the 1980s and 1990s, the chain tried to expand into the United States, and was met with failure both times. However, it remains one of Canada's most successful retail chains, successfully competing with the rise of big box stores, such as Home Depot, in the 1990s by redesigning and expanding many of its stores.
Canadian Tire Financial Services is the credit arm of the company. This division is considered a bank, under Canada's Bank Act. Since achieving the bank designation, Canadian Tire Financial Services has launched additional credit and loan products including Personal Loans and Lines of Credit.
Canadian Tire Petroleum is the country's largest independent retailer of gasoline
Canadian Tire owns Part Source, dealing exclusively with auto parts and Mark's Work Wearhouse, a popular Canadian chain of clothing stores.
Canadian Tire Money
Canadian Tire "money" distinguishes the company from other retailers in Canada. These coupons, an incentive for non-credit purchases, are a national cultural fixture. Customers using Canadian Tire's Options Mastercard for their purchases also receive an additional 20% Canadian Tire money, in electronic form, on the card.
Store Operations
Ownership
Canadian Tire stores are unusual in the retail world as they are all independently owned and operated companies in and of themselves. The exception is the stores in the Vancouver, B.C. area, which are owned by 2 brothers. Each store is owned technically by an Associate Dealer who owns everything within it, down to shelf fixtures, computers and the like. The corporation always retains ownership of the land and building. Associate Dealers are generally not responsible to the head office in Toronto, Ontario but are regulated by Regional Managers who bi-annually assess the state of the store and employees.Management structure
Although no Canadian Tire is exactly the same, the typical set-up for Management personnel is as follows.General Manager - This position is the highest management position available within a Canadian Tire store. They are only outranked by the Associate Dealer who physically owns the store. The GM is responsible for scheduling other managers, operating budgets, creating policy and hiring new employees.
Store Managers - They typically are given the overall duty of running day to day floor operations during their shifts. They can also write up employees and lower managers, and conduct the termination of employees.
Logistics Manager - This manager is responsible for the stock and product within the store. He or she is also responsible for the receiving crews, fill crews and deal crews who mainly operate within the warehouse, commonly known in other stores as the 'stock room'. These managers, depending on the GM can also act as acting store managers and can supervise the entire store at a given time.
Department Manager - These managers control, supervise and operate an entire department and the personnel within. These managers generally give the day to day operational orders within the department, maintain the department in peak operating shape, conduct disciplining of employees, and conduct employee reviews. These people are generally assisted by subordinate Supervisors, who are a form of management, but possess only the powers of seniority and signing of orders and rainchecks.
Service Manager - This manager operates the auto service centre. They are in charge of day to day operations both within the shop and at the counter.
Duty Manager - A rotating assignment among managers, this person is essentially in charge during their time on duty. Some charges include high level customer service and authorizations.
Uniform
The Canadian Tire uniform consists of any of acceptable shirts. The older style consisted of a light blue shirt and red tie with dark pants. The new style is a red CTC golf shirt with black trim or a red CTC button up shirt. Black pants are worn in most stores, but some allow navy, white or beige pants or shorts. A red CTC baseball cap is acceptable for employees who work outside. Store managers generally wear a red shirt with CTC logo and gold name tag. Some stores allow female manages to dress semi-casual with gold name tag to identify them. The general manager usually wears a white CTC logoed shirt with gold name tag.Trivia
- Kingston, Ontario is home to Canada's largest Canadian Tire Store. This is also, coincidentally enough, the hometown of Ted Simonett, who played the male half of the "Canadian Tire couple" in the company's TV spots.
- Canadian Tire is often called Crappy Tire. In 2001, Canadian Tire took Mick McFadden to the World Intellectual Property Organization over the website crappytire.com. The company claimed that it had rights to the name because the nickname has become so ingrained among Canadians that it no longer means anything bad and therefore is neither satire nor parody. They further claimed that by owning the domain, McFadden was "attempting to create an impression of an association with Canadian Tire". In his defence, McFadden wrote, "Respondent inquires 'since when is the word "Canadian" interchangeable with or similar to "crappy"'?" Canadian Tire's complaint was dismissed. As of June 2006, the crappytire.com domain is owned by Canadian Tire.
- In Central and Northern Alberta, Canadian Tire is sometimes also known as Ukrainian Tire. This is likely a poke at the large Ukrainian-Canadian population in this part of the country.
Advertising
For many years, Canadian Tire's Christmas ads featured Santa Claus and Ebenezer Scrooge arguing about whether Canadian Tire's great selection or their low prices are the better reason to do your Christmas shopping there. A stamp was issued by Canada Post commemorating Canadian Tire's 75th anniversary which depicted the famous ad of a boy receiving his first bicycle which was purchased by his father at the Tire.Most recently, the company's ads have featured the "Canadian Tire couple". The male role, formerly played by Canadian actor Ted Simonett, and Gloria Slade played the female role. They are usually showing off a new product to one of their neighbours, who are in need of a certain tool. The 'Canadian Tire Couple' were once featured on Royal Canadian Air Farce as one of their targets of the year, as "Canada's most annoying couple".
In 2005, Canadian Tire hired Toronto-based advertising firm Taxi as their primary corporate advertising firm.
In 2006, the company opened a new Taxi-developed television campaign which did not include the famous Canadian Tire couple, explaining that the commercials had become less effective.[link] However, rumours stll circulate within Canadian Tire about the true reason for the couple's departure, some believing that the actor who played the male role felt that he was not being given enough opportunity to develop and diversify his portfolio, and therefore resigned from his role.
Slogans
- 1992: "There is a lot more for a lot less"
- 2001: "I'll start with you" (Originally from a song released as a solo in 1992 by Paulette Carlson, the lead singer of country group Highway 101 )
- Various Christmas seasons: "Give like Santa, save like Scrooge" "Scrooge Approved prices"
- 2005 The chain began using a talking dog named Gilbert. The slogan, "I smell gifts", which the dog says, also appears on instore Christmas advertising displays. The dog proved unpopular both with the viewing public and among Canadian Tire Corporation's employees.
Canadian Tire Petroleum
Launched in 1958, Canadian Tire Petroleum is Canada's largest independent gasoline retailer with over 260 locations. Canadian Tire was the world's first hard goods retailer to begin selling gasoline at their stores as a means of driving customer traffic. This model has since been copied by most of the world's top hard goods retailers, including Wal Mart, Home Depot and Safeway.
Canadian Tire's famous "Canadian Tire Money" loyalty program was launched through the gas bars as "Gas Bonus Coupons". The program proved so popular that it was later expanded to the entire enterprise.
Canadian Tire Online
Canadian Tire Online is an online purchasing system where customers of Canadian Tire can choose to either provide a representative with their billing and shipping information over the phone and then have the goods selected delivered to their home via mail or courier service. Customers also have the option to place the order themselves on the Canadian Tire website. While revenue from store purchases go primarily to the dealer, the revenue from online and telephone shopping goes directly to the corporation.See also
- Canadian Tire Financial Services
- Motomaster
- List of Canadian department stores
External links
- [Official website]
- [Canadian Tire Currency] -- Canadian Tire Currency Picture Catalog Index, 1958-2003 Issues
- [crappytire.com decision]
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