Canadian Tire: The 5 W's

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Canadian Tire Corporation is a large retail company that offers many different goods and services to consumers. The departments that consist in Canadian Tire include a seasonal department, hardware department, housewares department, sporting goods department, and an automotive department. Aside from those departments, Canadian Tire also offers a key cutting service and an automotive area in which customers can bring their vehicles into the garage to be serviced by mechanics for a fee. If you didn't think that was enough, this large corporation also deals with financial products, including their Canadian Tire MasterCard. You can visit the Canadian Tire website to find out more information on the products and services they offer and choose a store close to where you live by using the address www.canadiantire.ca.

The following are a few interesting facts about Canadian Tire I thought I would share:

• "In 1922, two Toronto brothers, John W. and Alfred J. Billes, with a combined savings of $1,800, bought the Hamilton Tire and Garage Ltd. at the corner of Gerard and Hamilton Streets in Toronto. They then named it Canadian Tire Corporation" (corp.canadiantire.ca, 2011). 
• Aside from the main store, Canadian Tire Corporation also owns Mark's Work Warehouse, PartSource, Sportchek, Hockey Experts, Sports Experts, Pro Hockey Life, Atmosphere, and numerous signature gas stations. 
• Their current stock price is around $126
• There are over 480 Canadian Tire stores across Canada

So why shop at Canadian Tire aside from the fact that so many consumers stay loyal because they get the sense that they are supporting our country because this company is Canadian? Tell me why in the comment section below!

References

Canadian Tire History. (2011). Retrieved from http://corp.canadiantire.ca/EN/AboutUs/Pages/History.aspx 

  

Tire Safety & Maintenance from Canadian Tire

Have you ever wondered about your tires and thought "I wonder if they are flat" or "do I know everything I need to about my tires"? If you answered yes to either of these questions, or if you aren't an expert when it comes to tire safety and maintenance then I would suggest that you check out this video to help you better understand your tires!

References

Canadian Tire. (2011, May).  Tire Safety & Maintenance from Canadian Tire. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rV3wLeHQv0

Online Shopping & Delivery

As it is a must have in today's society, Canadian Tire offers online shopping, where customers can easily purchase goods through Canadian Tire's website rather than the hassle of having to get ready and physically go into the store to purchase. This is a lot more convenient for people and although it doesn't allow for people to see the in-store specials, it is something managers and owners have to deal with because online shopping is more common than in-store shopping today. 

Once the shopping process is completed, customers pick up their product(s) at their local Canadian Tire store, which is always free of charge. This is a smart marketing decision because free in-store shipping allows for customers to see all of the specials and deals that are inside the store and hopefully purchase more goods and services.

Note: Canadian Tire does not ship its products directly to your house. However, they do deliver!

That's right, Canadian Tire also delivers. Some of the products they offer are simply too heavy and/or large to take home in your vehicle, which is why they have introduced delivery. Each Canadian Tire has a shuttle van and a cube truck which is strictly for product deliveries to its valuable customers. Products such as treadmills, snow blowers, and riding lawn mowers are perfect examples of the types of products that can be delivered to your home. Although there is a fee (varies from the weight and type of product) this is still an extremely valuable service, especially to consumers that don't have the vehicle space or even a vehicle in general. 

If you have had an experience with online shopping or a delivery from Canadian Tire than please feel free to share in the comments section below! 

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"Here at Canadian Tire we offer financial services including a variety of credit cards and an insurance plan" (www.ctfs.com, 2015). There are three credit cards and one insurance policy that Canadian Tire has to offer which are: 

• Canadian Tire Options MasterCard
• Gas Advantage MasterCard
• Cash Advantage MasterCard
• Credit Protector (insurance)

The Canadian Tire Options MasterCard is the main credit card seller and I personally know many people with this credit card. It is exactly the same as a regular credit card with interest, minimum monthly payments, etc. however, the added bonus with this credit card is that the more money you spend on it, the more Canadian Tire money you accumulate (which I will talk about in another post). 

The Gas Advantage MasterCard lets you swipe the card at any Canadian Tire gas station and allows you to save 10 cents on every litre! Of course this is still a credit card, so there are interest fees just like the Options MasterCard, but instead of earning Canadian Tire money, you get 10 cents off of every litre of gas! You can check out 

https://www.ctfs.com/Products/CreditCards/GasAdvantageMasterCard/  for more information on this product.

The Cash Advantage MasterCard is one of the more recent credit cards Canadian Tire has to offer. It is quite similar to the Options MasterCard, with the exception that instead of earning Canadian Tire money, "you can earn 1.5% cash back on all eligible purchases and up to 3% cash back at Canadian Tire stores, Canadian Tire gas bars, and Mark's Work Warehouse" (www.ctfs.com, 2015). Plus, you get the added bonus of no annual fee. For more information, you can visit 

https://www.ctfs.com/Products/CreditCards/CashAdvantageMasterCard/. 

The insurance policy that Canadian Tire has to offer is called the Credit Protector. What this policy does is simply protects the payments of any Canadian Tire credit cards. You can learn more at https://www.ctfs.com/Products/Insurance/. 

I want to know if anyone of you would be interested in any of these products? Or if you already own one of these, I want to know what you think about them. Let me know below!

References

Canadian Tire Financial Services. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.ctfs.com/

Canadian Tire Cash Advantage MasterCard. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.ctfs.com/Products/CreditCards/CashAdvantageMasterCard/                               

Canadian Tire Money: A Different Way to Pay

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Canadian Tire has definitely succeeded in distinguishing itself from all competitors by incorporating its own form of money, "Canadian Tire Money". According to Francine Kopun, "In 1961, Canadian Tire began issuing the money in stores, hiring one of the Royal Canadian Mint’s official printers to produce the currency. It is still printed by the mint today" (Kopun, 2014). This means that this type of currency has been produced for over 50 years! 

What this money does is that it acts as real money. For example, if a Canadian Tire customer had $10 in Canadian Tire money, they could purchase any product(s) worth up to $10 and pay for it using that money, rather than Canadian dollars. Like I mentioned previously, if you own a Canadian Tire credit card, you have the opportunity to earn a certain amount of Canadian Tire money depending on how much you spend on your credit card. This money is also handed to you at the checkout by the cashier when you are finished paying for your items. It ranges slightly depending on how much you buy. 

So up until last year, this form of currency used to only be produced in the form of paper. However, just last year, Canadian Tire had the genius idea of turning their money into plastic. Check out the following article for an interesting story regarding this new era 

http://www.thestar.com/business/personal_finance/spending_saving/2012/02/15/canadian_tire_money_goes_plastic.html.

This creation has sparked a lot of interest and curiosity to other organizations and consumers. People who collect Canadian Tire money and/or credit cards now have a card that looks just like a credit card, only it acts as a way to keep track of Canadian Tire money. And now, instead of using Canadian Tire paper money, customers can now simply use their money with the swipe of this card. The screen and cashier also tells the customer their balance on the card and can add money to it with every purchase. 

I think this is an extremely clever breakthrough because not only is Canadian Tire one of the only big organizations that use their own form of currency, but now instead of customers always having to count and keep track of their paper money, they can simply carry this card with them at all times to pay. 

If you have any feedback regarding Canadian Tire's custom currency, please use the comment section below to respond.

References

Kopun, F. (2014, September). Canadian Tire money across the decades. The Star. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/business/2014/09/09/canadian_tire_money_across_the_decades.html 

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You probably have seen all kinds of TV commercials regarding Canadian Tire's Jumpstart program, but have you ever wondered what it is specifically all about? 

The Jumpstart program is a charity established by Canadian Tire that is dedicated towards helping kids that can't afford to play sports to be able to play. Since I am an athlete, I have had the privilege of being able to play a lot of sports with the help of my parents. However, I know that it can be tough for some parents financially to be able to put their kids into sports and that's why the Jumpstart program was founded back in 2005. 

Since then, this amazing organization has helped put over 500,000 kids into sports and that number continues to grow today. A variety of professional athletes have also greatly contributed to this organization to help kids all over Canada. If you would like to check out the website to learn more about this, feel free to visit http://jumpstart.canadiantire.ca/en/

I have also added the YouTube link so that you can view the Jumpstart page and watch many different videos regarding it.

References

Canadian Tire. (2014, November).  Jumpstart. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL108B0F50BECE77DE

Rain Checks & Layaway

Whenever Canadian Tire is out of stock of a particular item, customers always ask for a rain check on it. It is quite common in every Canadian Tire and being employed there, I get asked this question all the time. 

The process is thoroughly easy; the customer just has to have their name written down on the rain check slip along with their phone number so they can be contacted when the next order of that specific product arrives to the store. 

However, just like any other box store, Canadian Tire does not issue rain checks for every item in its store because some items are on sale and only for a given period and customers obviously want the price on the rain check to be the sale price. This creates a lot of havoc and many customers threaten to post bad reviews to that certain store which is why some managers will overlook the policy in hopes of keeping a loyal customer. 

The layaway policy is considerably similar to the rain check policy because Canadian Tire will happily hold a product for a customer, as long as there is not a limited supply of that item or a big sale. Sometimes you will see in weekly flyers that there is no holding products that are part of a sale. This is because Canadian Tire wants the sale to be first come-first serve in hopes that customers will buy more products alongside the sale product. 

I find it interesting when I hear people tell me the experiences they have had with rain checks and layaways regarding certain products and how some managers disregard the policy and some do not. I would like to hear if you have or know anyone that has had an experience with either of these in the comment section below! 

How To

Let's face it, not all of us are experts when it comes to every aspect of life. And what Canadian Tire has done in hopes of trying to help us be the best we can is that it has added a feature on its website called "How To" that shows customers different kinds of ways Canadian Tire can help choose the right products for the right jobs. You can learn more about this at http://howto.canadiantire.ca/en/.

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Survey

I hope you have all enjoyed reading this blog. I decided to dedicate this last post to a short online survey I created in order to obtain more feedback from you all. Please click on the following link to access and participate in the survey http://surveynuts.com/surveys/take?id=20429&c=112032653PFHP.