Canadian Tie is one of Canada’s most-shopped general retailers, offering everyday products and services to Canadians through more than 1,700 retail and gasoline outlets from coast-to-coast. Canadian Tire Corporation has many strengths as an organization.
First and foremost, they enjoy a strong and loyal customer base. Their long history as a Canadian company has helped them in this regard, as many of the existing Canadian competitors have been purchased by foreign corporations over the years. They also have one of the most recognizable trademarks in the country. Another strength of the company is its diversity.
They currently provide a wide range of goods and services to their customers – including automobile parts and service, financial services, clothing, hardware, and housewares. They also have one of the longest-running customer rebate programs of any retailer – that is, the Canadian Tire money that customers receive after making their purchases. The major weakness of Canadian Tire is that in the past, they have periodically lost their focus on customer service. They have taken their customers for granted, assuming that the customer would always return to the store regardless of how they were treated.
Because of this, they have occasionally lost market share. The company has also failed to recognize the changing demographic of Canada (immigration, different cultures). The stores tend to focus on their historical customer – the adult white male. They have failed to widen their focus to women and different nationalities such as Chinese and Indian customers. Another weakness of the company is its failure to expand successfully beyond Canada. This has put limits on the company’s growth.
SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths: • Has a very strong and loyal clientele. Offer a range of goods and services that meet life’s everyday needs, including general merchandise such as clothing, petroleum and financial services. • Offers a chain of automobile parts and professional automotive installers. • Offers shopping on line. • Canadian Tire bank provides greater marketing flexibility for using its credit card.
Weakness: • Prices have gone up. • They have lost their focus on customer service. • failed to recognize the changing demographic of Canada (immigration, different cultures) • failure to expand successfully beyond Canada.
