Customer Centricity: Canadian Tire Research Report - Centennial

This report provides a detailed analysis of Canadian Tire's customer-centric strategies, target customer, and customer experience. It identifies the company's target market as homes, adventurers, hotels, building and constructions, auto mechanics, children, and parents, emphasizing the wide range of products offered, including automotive, hardware, sports and leisure, and home essentials. The report highlights Canadian Tire's initiatives such as online shopping, chat rooms and social media interactions, special offers and discounts, and a variety of products to enhance customer experience and build brand loyalty. It also discusses the importance of employee training, particularly for cashiers, in delivering excellent customer service. The analysis concludes that Canadian Tire's customer-centric approach has been instrumental in its success and market growth, positioning it for potential global expansion.

Running head: CUSTOMER CENTRICITY RESEARCH REPORT 1
Canadian Tire
Customer Centricity Research Report
Student Name
Student Number
Submitted in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for
MGMT223
Customer Centric Strategy
School of Business, Centennial College
Toronto, Ontario
Professor Kerri Shields
Xxxxxx xx, 2019

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Target Customer and Customer Experience
Target Customer
Canadian Tire is a Canadian company dealing with a wide range of retail products in
automobile, hardware, sports and leisure, and home products. Some of its stores spread across
the country also sells toys and foodstuffs. The automobile products that the company sells
include Hillman metric automobile studs, Haynes repair manuals, Cargo Smart aluminum s-
curve fixed ramp repair, MasterCraft 8 gallons vertical compressor, MotoMaster AWII tire,
MotoMaster SE3 tire, MotoAaster aluminum and steel garage jack, among other automotive
products. Sport and leisure products range from bikes and accessories, boating and water sports
equipment, camping and hiking, fishing, team sports, golf, and fitness and exercise products.
Hardware products include garage storage, organization and solutions, power tools, air tools and
compressors, plumbing, tool storage and workbenches, power tool accessories, hand tools,
electrical, garage door openers and hardware, ladders and scaffolding, welding, soldering and
torches, shop vacuums and air movers, measuring tools among other hardware tools. The
company also sells home and essentials used in the kitchen, home furniture, cleaning supplies
and vacuums, storage and organization, small appliances, home décor, lighting, heating and
cooling appliances, home electronics, outdoor living products, laundry room products,
bathrooms, home ventilation among other products and appliances. Besides, Canadian Tire sells
outdoor living products which range from outdoor furniture, BBQ, smokers and accessories,
outdoor power equipment, watering and irrigation, outdoor heating to shed and outdoor storage
among other quality products. The wide range of products targets a large market of consumers in
Canada.

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The target market for Canadian Tire is homes, adventurers, hotels, building and
constructions, auto mechanics, children, and parents. The company is not limited to specific
customers since it sells a variety of products that can be used by many customers in various
industrial and home applications. The target market is divided into homes, automobiles,
hardware, and sports. The products are of quality, affordable and available on the online
company market. Consumers seek to have a variety of products which they can compare prices,
quality, and usability. The target markets have the benefit of shopping and making payments
online and have home deliveries. Also, most of the products, especially electronic products, have
warranty and guarantee of quality which assures customers the value for their money and
investments besides having flexibility in ordering and deliveries. The company customer
oriented approach has built a large pool of customers across Canada and neighboring countries.
Customer Experience
Customer experience is critical in creating satisfaction and brand loyalty (Homburg,
Jozić, & Kuehnl, 2017). By knowing the vital roles customers play, the company creates a
customer experience that exceeds expectations. It takes more than quality products and services
to win in the market. Successful businesses understand how building customer service that
translates to memorable customer experience. Good customer experience is built on great
customer service relative to the competitors in the market. If a competing company offers a
better experience, then it wins the loyalty in the market and hence a larger market. When a
company fails to deliver competitive customer experience, it risks losing the hold of its
customers and diminishing market.
Canadian Tire has mastered the art of offering the best experience that has won the heart
of many Canadian customers. In so doing, the company has an online retail store that buyers can

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access a wide variety of products of their choice under one site. Each of the products is sorted in
groups as per the needs of the various customer. For instance, there are hardware, sport and
leisure, home, and food stores that make it easy to access. The management has learned that
when interacting with customers, patience is not a virtue in the market full of competition but
rather offers prompt services that save on time. It has been established that consumers and
business buyers need real-time responses (Meesala & Paul, 2018). The state of interaction with
customers is expected in the purchase process where the company has installed computer devices
that create an on-demand consumer culture of prompt services. In all its retail store, the company
has integrated computer systems that ensure purchases, packing, and delivery is up to the speed
that exceeds expectations of its customers. Also, Canadian Tire offers 24/7 customer services
that have extended the brand loyalty. Research shows that the 24-hour service and personalized
care influences consumer loyalty for brand loyalty. Therefore, the company employees work
closely with customers and have authority and resources solutions when issues arise.
Additionally, the company provide support to the customers, make transaction clear, and
close any gap between the customer and the company. In the e-commerce era, customers opt for
self-service, but the company has not taken this for granted to leave online shoppers with no
choice but to fend themselves. Creating autonomy in shopping has always been the aspiration of
many companies in response to customer preferences. However, not all customers are tech savvy
or need to be self-sufficient during shopping and hence need support. At times, some customers
may not figure out how and what they need and where to get it and thus need to ask for guidance.
May it be online on in person, some of them may prefer human interaction to complete their
transactions. In this context, Canadian Tire has ensured that every customer receives the support
they need in both in person and online interactions. Research has shown that 80 percent of the

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customers say their loyalty is influenced by how companies react to their help (Meesala & Paul,
2018). On the other hand, when customers are making transactions need them to be
straightforward. In the digital age, the use of mobile devices to make online transactions is
imperative to consumers. Fifty percent of consumers feel that if the company does not offer an
easy-to-use mobile experience, they may switch brands. Thus, a clear FAQ is needed to provide
guidance and direction to customers who are not sure what to do. Furthermore, Canadian Tire
has tried to build much-needed trust. Customers need to be attracted to come back a second time
by providing them what they are looking for when they need and expect them which build trust
between the company and the consumers. Canadian Tire’s market has continued to grow over the
last decade, and management is optimistic of making it a global company.
Customer Centric Strategy
A customer-centric strategy is a way of doing business that provides customers with great
experience before and after the transaction so that to create brand loyalty (Palacios-Marques,
Guijarro, & Carrilero, 2016). In involving the strategies at the start of the transaction and post-
purchase services.
Initiative 1: Online Shopping
The company has a website through which customers can make orders, pay for items
purchased, and receive deliveries. According to Bilgihan, online purchase has become a modern
trend in making transactions and reach out to the broader market (Bilgihan, 2016). The initiative
has not only made operations faster but also convenient and safe to consumers. For instance,
using Canadiantire.ca website, customers can make purchases while adding them to a cart, then
pay for deliveries.
Initiative 2: Chat Rooms And Social Media Interactions

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The company management has created chat rooms on the company website and social
media platforms on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, which are used to share photos, videos,
stories, and advertisements. The platforms are used to create close contact with customers, offer
customer services, and make advertisements (Kasemsap, 2016). The use of the internet in
making businesses communications and customer pitching and services has gained popularity
with the emergence of social media. For instance, @canadiantire is the Canadian Tire Instagram
page, Canadian Tire is used as the Facebook page, and @CanadianTire is the Twitter handle
(Canadian Tire, n.d). The company uses these social platforms to connect with its customers.
Initiative 3: Special Offers And Discounts
The initiative is widely used by businesses to create traffic in sales. Discount is the
amount deducted from the total price so that the customer ends up paying less than the marked
price. Special offers, on the other hand, are used to attract sales on particular products by
reducing the selling price. The company has special online buys where products like Worx 12A
Dethatcher is selling at $149.99, and Yardwork Dry Seal Oscillating Sprinkler is selling at
$31.99 instead of $39.99 (Canadian Tire, n.d). The strategy attracts more customer to buy
company products.
Initiative 4: Variety of Products
Canadian Tire offers a variety of products under one roof. Each of these products is
grouped in categories such as hardware, home, sports, and automotive, and some of its stores are
selling foods. The primary aim is to serve the largest market possible. The variety of products
also tend to build brand trust and loyalty with customers since the company satisfies all their
needs. For instance, an automotive customer needs spare parts for the car which are also

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available, while a household and essentials buyer may need to buy kitchen and electronics which
are available. Hence, buyers feel they can get all they need in Canadian Tire at all time.
Employee Training
According to Cohen employee training and development is a critical element in ensuring
excellent service delivery that provides company success (Cohen, 2017). All new employees are
trained to orient them with the company goals, processes, and systems. Each of the company
employees is expected to master the art of customer service. The training for other employees is
done annually to update on changes in the company. The primary aim of training on how to build
active employee customer strong relationships. One of the critical job positions in Canadian Tire
are the cashiers. The roles of cashiers are to facilitate the purchase process at the point of sales.
The cashiers ensure prompt services and good relations with customers. Their duties include:
i. Great customers as they access the stores
ii. Handle cash transactions
iii. Receive payments
iv. Handle customer queries
The roles of a cashier align with the company goals of establishing customer-centric
services. Proper handling of customers at the point of sales by the cushier contributes to good
customer experience with the company and hence creates customer loyalty. Notably, a customer-
centric strategy is fulfilled by employees in contact with customers.

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References
Bilgihan, A., (2016). Gen Y customer loyalty in online shopping: An integrated model of trust,
user experience, and branding. Computers in Human Behavior, 61, 103-113.
Cohen, E., (2017). Employee training and development. In CSR for HR (pp. 153-162).
Routledge.
Canadian Tire. (n.d). Hot online deals. Available in https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/hot-
deals.html
Homburg, C., Jozić, D., & Kuehnl, C. (2017). Customer experience management: toward
implementing an evolving marketing concept. Journal of the Academy of Marketing
Science, 45(3), 377-401.
Kasemsap, K., (2016). Utilizing social media in modern business. In Encyclopedia of e-
commerce development, implementation, and management (pp. 2171-2182). IGI Global.
Meesala, A., & Paul, J. (2018). Service quality, consumer satisfaction, and loyalty in hospitals:
Thinking for the future. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 40, 261-269.
Palacios-Marques, D., Guijarro, M., & Carrilero, A. (2016). The use of customer-centric
philosophy in hotels to improve customer loyalty. Journal of Business & Industrial
Marketing, 31(3), 339-348.