Canadian Tire: innovating toward another 100 years of customer loyalty

The storied Canadian brand is focussing on enhancing its offering and value proposition to continue meeting the needs of an evolving Canadian consumer // By Sean Tarry

Whenit comes to truly iconic Canadian brands – retailers that represent and stand for the values of those living in provinces and territories across the country – few come to mind quicker than that of Canadian Tire. The highly acclaimed, oft-celebrated homegrown organization has prided itself for 100 years on its commitment to helping improve the lives of Canadians through its innovative products and services, by continuously investing in neighbourhoods and communities from coast-to-coast-to-coast, and with an honest approach to business that has long engendered trust and admiration from its loyal legion of customers. Today, as it enters its second century of business, amid an accelerated digitization of the world around us and shifting consumer behaviour, the revered brand is further sharpening its focus on the experience and value it offers. And, as Jason Blanchette, SVP of Loyalty and Customer Insights, Canadian Tire Corporation, points out, it’s a focus that’s being driven by the needs of the Canadian consumer.

“The last three years have seen many challenges and uncertainty for Canadians,” he says. “And, this year is no different. Canadians are spending more purposefully and looking to stretch their dollars. Because of this, we’ve been focused on ensuring that when consumers are making the important choice of when and how to engage with a retailer, that we’re offering a compelling and meaningful value proposition to achieve customer satisfaction and long-term loyalty.”

Rewards and incentives

One of the ways in which the brand has set out to execute on its vision is by enhancing its popular Triangle Rewards program. Launched in 2018, the program provides Canadians with a broader range of choices to earn and redeem their Canadian Tire money, and the company with greater opportunities to engage with customers. Since its introduction, Blanchette explains that an extraordinary amount of effort has gone into optimizing the program and the Triangle app, which now provides members with the ability to view personalized offers for Canadian Tire’s group of companies – which include Canadian Tire, SportChek, Mark, Party City, Atmosphere, Sports Experts, Pro Hockey Life, Trio Hockey, PartSource, CT REIT, and Canadian Tire Gas+in one central location. In addition, the app now allows members of the program to manage their loyalty accounts and credit cards from anywhere, enabling them to track credit card and loyalty transactions, view and activate offers, and even swap offers between banners. The robust nature of the program’s offering is not lost on Blanchette, who also recognizes the incredible amount of research and planning that was involved ahead of rolling out these improvements.

“With Triangle Select, we used a series of customer studies through 2020 to conceptualize and refine this program,” he explains. “In 2021, we built the program. And in August, we began a year-long beta test to a subset of our customer. As we monitored the results through 2022, we made the decision to launch nationally once all key metrics had been achieved. We then spent the back half of 2022 building the program in our new digital platform before finally launching in January 2023.”

Enhanced offering

Blanchette goes on to explain that Triangle Select is an enrichment to Canadian Tire’s existing Triangle Rewards Loyalty program - a subscription-fee based program which was designed and developed by the company to enhance the value proposition that it offers its customers, allowing them to earn Canadian Tire Money even faster on everyday purchases across its group of companies. In addition, bonus, stackable rewards can be earned on all eligible purchases in-store at Canadian Tire, Mark’s, SportChek, Sport Experts, Party City, L’Équipeur and more, including 10x in-store bonus, 20x in-store brand boost, and 20x annual top up.

“The Triangle Select program offers Canadians a new way to stretch their dollars and earn even more rewards on their everyday purchases,” he explains. “It’s another way we’re delivering on our Brand Purpose: We Are Here to Make Life in Canada Better. In our beta test of Triangle Select, the average member’s annual incremental earnings through select-specific bonuses were more than three times the subscription fee – demonstrating the incredible value this program will bring to our customers this year and beyond. And, because we know that Canadians love streaming, we worked with Bell to develop a partnership for beta to see if retail and con- tent together could be a powerful offering. Beta confirmed that customers valued this feature and we worked to include it in our launch plans and continue to offer this extra value to our members. Currently, for a limited time, Triangle Select members will receive a special offer from Crave for a six-month Crave subscription upon signup.”

Meeting evolving customer needs

The Triangle Select program, which has been a tremendous success for the company to date, not only provides its members with a range of incentives, offers and rewards, it also serves as an anchor of sorts, to which the entire Canadian Tire customer experience is rooted. It’s a conduit of interaction and engagement. And, as Blanchette explains, it goes a long way toward bridging any gaps that may have previously existed within the brands omnichannel experience, integrating the entire ecosystem of banners, offering and available channels to meet and exceed the evolving needs and behaviour of today’s Canadian consumer.

“The majority of consumers start their shopping journey online, which brings to light the importance of building a seamless omnichannel experience across web, our app and in store,” he says. “We are continually testing out new offerings to meet the different ways our customers want to shop, including services like locker pick up and express delivery to name a few. During the pandemic, we saw heightened engagement with our 1:1 offers and growing engagement with our Triangle program as customers shopped more across our banners and had a keen focus on getting the most value for their dollar. As we move ahead, we’re focused on telling the Triangle Rewards story, including how Select works to elevate our base loyalty and credit card products. In our beta test for Triangle Select, almost 70 per cent of members had one of our credit cards, so we know it’s a compelling message to demonstrate how the programs work together to deliver the best value. We also saw that the program drives significantly more spend and cross-shopping at our different stores - members that cross shop spend an average of three times more than those who shop at only one of our stores.”

An integrated vision

Blanchette explains further that particular focus was paid to the company’s bricks-and-mortar stores, given how critical they are to Canadian Tire’s corporate and customer strategies, designing the Triangle Select product to support the growth and continued success of its physical locations through the in-store only Canadian Tire Money bonuses. However, he also acknowledges the omnichannel nature of today’s consumer who traverses channels during their shopping journey and expects the retailers they shop with to help make it seamless and rewarding to do so. To address this, the company introduced ecommerce benefits within the Select program, including shipping fee re-imbursement and lower free shipping thresholds. In fact, he says that heightened emphasis is being paid by the company to create a cross-channel experience that’s seamless, engaging and rewarding.

“To meet our customers ever-changing needs, we’re focused on improving the connection of digital and physical channels and driving an enhanced customer experience,” he asserts. “We’ve recently launched our Better Connected strategy – a plan to evolve from a group of banners, brands and channels to one integrated Company. By using our brand purpose of Making Life in Canada Better as our north star, this strategic direction towards a single, connected platform will help modernize and create a more contemporary experience for our customers for an improved omnichannel customer journey.”

Continued innovation

More than a century of successful business operations is quite a remarkable feat – one that can’t be claimed by many. What’s perhaps more impressive, however, is the insatiable desire inherent within the Canadian Tire brand to continuously enhance and improve the products and services that it provides for its customers all over the country, and the innovative approach it takes to just about every project it undergoes. It’s a testament to its storied history and tenure within the Canadian retail market and the foundation on which its reputation in the minds of consumers has been built. And, according to Blanchette, the brand has absolutely no intention of relenting any time soon.

“For 100 years, we’ve been a mainstay in communities across Canada where we are constantly evolving and adapting to meet the needs of our customer. Adding value for our customers has always been a priority and Triangle Select is another way we deliver on this purpose. We’re focused on telling the full Triangle Rewards story, and weaving this into our customers’ everyday shopping habits across our stores. For the millions of Canadians who already earn meaningful amounts of Canadian Tire Money, through new additions like Triangle Select, we’re working to create even stronger bonds with even more Canadians to deliver one of the most rewarding shopping experiences in Canada.”