History

Before Canadian tire was established there was not a large one shop for Canadian family's to go to get their needed and wanted products to help make their life's a little bit easier. It wasn't until September 15th 1922 when J William Billes and Alfred Billes opened up the first Canadian tire location in Toronto on a corner lot with a combined savings of 1800 dollars. It wasn't until 1934 were the first associate store was opened in Hamilton when the idea of Canadian tire as a large chain location was in mind. They turned the first location into the main office and the rest was history. IN 1928  the Billes decided to release a catalogue which would feature new products and popular products that everyone would most likely need and want. Th popularity and success of the store catalogue earned the title of the top mail ordering business in Canada. Since that time there are over 482 store locations spread across Canada and the locations are popularly growing, not only gaining respect but gaining returning customers due to the true Canadian roots and exciting products that are constantly featured at a reasonable price for all types of family's. A few years ago Ct tried to expanded their success with Canadian market into Us market failing on both occasions. in 1980 they tried to expanded locations in Texas losing the company 200 million dollars and again in 1991 which was to promote the new auto power chain which quickly failed costing the company about 80 million dollars to fold the locations. By learning their lessons and sticking to their Canada locations they have won the hearts and have keep family's and customers coming back for more.

Marks Work warehouse and other inside companys

When any company's stocks goes down it causes a slight panic no matter the scale or size of the company. In 2001 that's what happened with Canadian tire, the economy wasn't recovered yet and sales for different company's were decreasing and fairly many were increasing. IN a way to increase profits and give a new edge and a new name and title to add to CT they decided to ADD new branch into locations. On December 21st 2001 Canadian tire annoucned that they were buying Marks work warehouse, a store that sales clothes and shoes for women and men that are work worthy and durable for all kinds of professions. They purchased the company for 116 million dollars and quickly started to add the new division into old locations as well as new locations that they were planning on to build. With the high demand of Canadian tire locations they started to increase the size of normal size locations to buying propriety that use to occupy large retail stores such as walmart jamming all of the older products and new products they wanted to display with the largest location located in Nova Scotia. By placing the clothing department into CT it increased the clientele and demographic because it gave yet another reason on why people should shop there as well as increasing the variety of different departments to shop in. IN recent years following their large purchase of marks CT announced that that they were purchasing the Forzani group which owns different types of store including the largest Sports good store in Canada , sport chek.

On- Line stores

With everything on the Internet with the new technology Canadian tire expanded their store into a online store which gave customers access to merchandise and special deals and promotions only featured online. Surprisingly their top selling item that was featured on the website was car tires for all seasons, including winter and specialized tires for cars that tires couldn't be find easily in stores. The main purpose for expanding into a online store because it first off reached a larger demographic for people and housewares that were close to a Ct location or if there wasn't one located in that part of Canada, and secondly it gave more storage in store locations to supply other items while the larger items could reside in a warehouse being shipped to either a store location or in special cases the individuals houses. In 2009 though CT made the decision to close down the online store due to customers changing their online habits and in simple terms lost interest in the online store the following January. CT still had a website featuring products that they sold in the stores as well as a site were you could find special deals and promotions but instead of purchasing the item online they had to go inside the store and purchase it themselves. Currently this year CT has decided to retry the idea of having a online store featuring tires solely to see if the website is worth giving a second chance.

Canadian tire Gas stations

Canadian Tire is know for their large retail status and for featuring house ware products that help every Canadian family improve their lifestyle, by offering products are reasonable prices, but in 1958 Canadian tire thought of a idea that many company's wouldn't dare to go because of the large effort and large profits that could have been lost if the idea was not a success. In 1958 Canadian tire not only was Canadians largest retail store but it expanded into a change of gas bars. To this day they are currently still the largest independent gasoline chains globally. They offer over 273 locations and have over 73 Simoniz car wash locations ( which is a co-company featured at the stations). Many locations also offer pit shops which makes the gas stations a truly one stop shop for Canadians car needs. They offer oil changes , rust checks and other procedures that every car eventually needs in its lifetime. With the attempt of Getting for shoppers who shop at the Canadian tire store to continue their business to the gas stations they came up with a another loyalty program that offers different coupons and sales that can combined in store and in the gas stations which was called the "gas bar coupons". Extending on to the success of the branching of going into a different direction is created a chain reaction with other leading competitor stores. IN recent years Stores including Walmart, Loblaws , Home Depot and Safeway all in recent years have created their own changed gas station related to their stores, many failing which loses respect and profit for that company. IN recent years CT updated certain locations into including mini convenience stores to the gas stations to increase the "one stop" shop for individuals who don't have time to go into the large Canadian tire store.

Slogans and Tv Ads

Commericals and Ads are usually always the top was to promote an product or company, But without good promotions and slogans advertising can be a difficult thing. Canadian Tire is know for experimenting with different TV ads and slogans which creates new clientele and refreshes the company every time a new campaign is displayed. CT most famous for their Christmas Ads which feature characters including Santa Claus and Ebenezer Scrooge. They feature the benefit of shopping at a store that offers low prices during the holiday season so any customer can "give like Santa but save like scrooge". This campaign ad ran for several years featuring different festive ads which attract a majority of holiday shopping. Another campaign that CT is famously known for ran through 1997 to 2005 featuring the characters that were created for the ad, "the Canadian tire couple". The main purpose of the " CT couple" was to show consumers new products that were featured. The couple would be seen with a neighbour or a friend and one of the couple would show a new product and how exactly the product worked. This was a hit for years until the Ct couple was voted most annoying couple in Canada a few years later. Newer campaigns that were created were family's and individuals in every day situations, with the conclusion that they needed a product ( that was sold or found at CT). The ad would conclude with a sign hanging above the aisle that the product would be featured in. other ways of promotion that they have featured in past years are little in store deals which lets Canadian tire show the customers there appreciation for shopping there including in 2007 during Christmas time they gave away free Cd's and advent calenders and this year at there grand reopening sale in certain locations they offered half price deals and every customer shopping received a free reusable bag, a small gesture but one that increases sales.

Canadian Tire's Jump Start

Canadian tire may be known for their famous loyalty program as well as the fact that they are one of the largest retail stores in Canada, but along with that high reputation in recent years they have also gained a highly reputation for their foundation called “jump start” which was launched in 2005. Reports have shown that one in three Canadian families cannot afford to put their children into sports and recreational activities because of financial barriers. So in an attempt to give back to Canadian families, jump start tears down as many financial barriers as possible, helping families pay to put kids in sport programs, with their main enrollment being hockey. The organization helps pay for enrollment fees for the sport, equipment and even transportation to and from the arena. Since 2005 over 348,800 kids and families have been helped out financially resulting in the healthy activity of kids in Canada.

            In the few recent months Canadian tire wanted to expand their knowledge and awareness of the foundation so they decided to do what most companies do, which is creating publicity using celebrity endorsers. Keeping the spokesperson true to their sport and to the Canadian aspect , nhl caption of the Chicago Black hawks Jonathan Toews was chosen to represent jump start. He was signed on for a 5 year partnership agreement not only keeping true to jump start but to the sub program that was created called “ Canadian tire hockey school”. Which is a program that helps parents and children learn the skills necessary to make it as a hockey player. “Canadian tire will cover the broad spectrum of Canadians, so its the mom, dad, kid, grandparent and from that standpoint we love the ability to market a much broader audience, and from a licensing standpoint they sell our products. put it all together and you really have a unique partnership and a long term marriage where we can do some very innovative things together. It’s a win win for everybody”.

By marketing to a large audience it creates brand awareness for jump start, resulting in more sponsorships, donations, volunteering which overall helps the community and creates a larger impact to encourage Canadian kids to live a healthy active lifestyle. "In so many ways it was a perfect fit for me. Canadian tire is an authentic Canadian place. you find a store like this anywhere else. It goes a long way in my career. My dad got all of his tools here, all of his stuff to fix his car. I got my first skates here and the list goes on", Spokesperson Jonathan Toews' explanation on his reasoning for agreeing to join up with jump start. This was a good choice on Canadian tires part, Not only he is a famous know hockey player, he is a Canadian who's been where a lot of family's are so he really fits the part because he can relate to the charity which gives a high advantage.

Canadian Tire Money

Canadian Tire money was first introduced in 1958 and inspired to create by the president AJ Billes. When it first came out it was only able to use in participating Canadian tire gas bars, but with its popular demand and success it was expanded into all retail stores. Seems simple enough right? But how exactly does Canadian tire money work? When making purchases at any leading Canadian tire or gas bar CT money is given out with cash or debit purchases based on the pre- tax total. The rate of the money started out as 5% cash back but since has declined to 0.4% cash back. There were some issues with the loyalty program that is still causing some issues. In Ontario the retail sales tax law states that the "coupon must be reimbursed by, the franchisee". Canadian tire made a mistake though instead of sending the '' coupons'' to be reimbursed Canadian tire submitted them to other merchants which were in essence of breaking Ontario law. This issue has been an ongoing issue from the day Canadian tire was first introduced. The denominations of the money have changed numerous times in years. In 1958 it was composed of 5 different amounts, 5 cents, 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents and 1 dollar. In 1962 the introduction of 4 lower values (1 - 4 cents) and 12 higher amounts including 35 and 60 cents. Numerous times the amounts were changed and added but the CTM that is currently produced is 5 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents, one dollar and two dollar amounts. Every Canadian past and present knows Canadian tire money, every Canadian uses it. It was the greatest loyalty program Canadian tire could have done to bring another reason on why customers should shop there. Every Canadian reading this will agree at some point of their lives they have collected and used Canadian tire money. It’s been there all along and it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere.