Roy G Biv
Senior Member
Maybe the "concept" will be that if something is shown online as "in stock", the store will actually have it in stock.
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Canadian Tire
- Thread starter Tuscani01
- Start date
Tuscani01
Senior Member
By: Hollie Shaw, Financial Post
Retailers are under pressure to improve face-to-face customer service as consumers increasingly eschew bricks and mortar stores for shopping online, despite increased competition. And improving service has been a key goal for Canadian Tire Corp.’s CEO Stephen Wetmore, who spearheaded an effort in 2010 to improve service and simplify convoluted company systems and processes.
In 2012, as Target was renovating a glut of Zellers stores across the country in preparation for its 2013 opening, Canadian Tire’s research revealed a significant service gap: 70% of the time its customers believed that an item was out of stock, the inventory was actually in the store. Since then, management has emphasized a program to train employees and enhance in-store service technology to make it easier to shop. “Fast find,” a digital tracking program that lets floor associates locate in-stock items immediately, is now in two-thirds of the retailer’s stores. The efforts may be paying off. A recent survey from Ottawa-based firm The Belding Group showed an overall customer service experience lift of 11% among key Canadian retailers between 2011 and 2013. Canadian Tire led the pack on improvement, with its customer service rating rising to 73% from 47%. Financial Post retail reporter Hollie Shaw spoke recently with Canadian Tire’s chief operating officer Allan MacDonald about the retailer’s service-improving technology, employee training, and brand-building efforts.
Q: In the past, your customer service complaints included category floor staff who did not know where products were beyond their area in the store, and out-of-stock products. How much was bad service hurting Canadian Tire’s business?
A: It was making it difficult for us to transform the Canadian Tire brand — the brand was not helped when we had a less-than-optimal customer interaction at the store. We had a misalignment between our capabilities and our expectations. Part of the reinvention of Canadian Tire has been a bit of working backward [looking at] who we are in in Canada. And at the store level, we have made a lot of really important investments because that is where our brand lives every day.
Q: What have you done in terms of improving employees’ service?
A: At the store level it’s all about people — you want to give people an environment where they feel like they can be successful, an organization they are really proud to be a part of and the tools to do their job. We are embracing the staff at store and not only helping them do their jobs better, but reminding them that they are as much of a part of the company as anybody else. So starting with the organization, we have done amazing work in terms of sponsorship. We are really proud of our Olympic partnership, our advertising is much better, we are communicating better. In terms of the tools to do our job, it has involved training, constant reinforcement and our adaptation of technology. And the national We Care program celebrates moments where our employees go the extra mile for customers. Before that we didn’t have a corporate level of [employee] recognition — we would do one-offs, but it was not very structured.
Q: What hurdles were there to getting to the level of in-store service you wanted?
A: The complexity of our organization is a big one. To take 50,000 store staff, and get them to become not only focused on customer service and friendly, but to be knowledgeable in such a broad range of categories was really difficult. We started with “Let’s make sure the customers know we care about their questions.” We didn’t focus on having all the answers. It was giving them the tools to say, first let me identify that I am not the expert, but clarify for you that I can either get the expert or get the answer. Too often with a lack of training, a staff member would be in some cases quick to say ‘I don’t know.’ We have created go-to tools for staff and customers — in-store kiosks, better cataloguing online, better access to technology — we’ve rolled out WiFi to every one of our stores. Now we are in more of an omnichannel environment. With our in-store and online technology, we are building a mechanism to answer any questions the customer may have. One of our biggest complaints was that customers couldn’t find items in the store, and [Fast Find] makes that much easier to overcome. Engaging the customer and solving their issues at the store has obviously paid big dividends for us. But it’s a journey, and it takes a long time.
Q: What customer service improvements would you like to see in in the future?
A: I want to have much better identified experts in the store. When you stop somebody in the kitchen aisle, you don’t know that their pastime is baking bread and they can tell you everything you need to know about baking bread or the person you stop in the sporting goods aisle wanted to be a professional golfer. There are so many untapped skill sets in our stores, and we need to be able to make it easier for our employees to celebrate that and for our customers to be able to take advantage of it.
JasonParis
Moderator
Just curious, are any CT stores corporate owned?
Tuscani01
Senior Member
None. We are not allowed to compete against our dealers. It would put them at a disadvantage. Corporate operates by selling all merchandise to dealers. We make a profit ourselves, using dealers as our customers.
JasonParis
Moderator
Thanks for that. Interesting, and quite a bit different than the prominent retail model these days.
Tuscani01
Senior Member
There are a few stores that are very buddy buddy with corporate, and get some kickbacks in exchange for taking on some of corporate's ideas. The store in Bowmanville is one example. It is unlike any other Canadian Tire out there. Massive, energy efficient, different exterior appearance, and completely different interior shopping experience. Leslie/Lakeshore is another friendly store that prides itself on its appearance, and is often the store corporate sends the media to when they feature Canadian Tire as a backdrop. Leslie and Lakeshore also jumped on the opportunity to operate the new Express store at Pape and Danforth. Laird and Eglinton is now taking a shot by being our test bed for our new showroom concept which debuts this week.
The relationship CTC has with its dealers is generally pretty good, and its something that the corporation takes pride in. No one knows their customer base better than the dealers so the relationship is just as important to corporate as it is to dealers. If corp has big ideas, corp finds the dealers willing to try them out, and gives them a hand doing so in the process. At the same time, if there is something the dealers do not like, corp hears about it, and will move to satisfy the dealers.
It's essentially a franchise that you do not own. You are allowed to operate in the building, under the company name, and you own everything in the building. You do not need to worry about marketing, planning, or pricing. You simply sell the merchandise, pay the utilities and staff, and the rest of the money is yours.
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Admiral Beez
Superstar
The founder's daughter's kids own several stores. That's about it.
donoreo
Active Member
They can do very well at it. A cottage a few lots down from ours was just built a few years ago with very high end fixtures. He also owns a float plane that he ties up next to the boathouse. The owner is apparently the owner of the CT in Parry Sound.
Admiral Beez
Superstar
The cost to become a dealer is also much lower than a Tim Horton's or McD's franchise, definitely less than one $1 mil. However, you go where you're sent, so if CT in Whitehorse needs a dealee, off you go.
Tuscani01
Senior Member
Not true, it is over $1 million to become a dealer. $1.4 if I remember correctly, but definitely above $1 million. And yes, your first store is what is known as a 'starter store'. As you prove that you can run a business, you can move up to larger and riskier locations.
donoreo
Active Member
Hopefully the person that used to run Eglinton and Laird is not running any other store. That person was horrible.
Tuscani01
Senior Member
donoreo
Active Member
Perhaps his inability to run a store should have had something to do with it!
Skeezix
Senior Member
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It was a terrible store. I'm puzzled as to why the previous franchisee cited the Sept 2012 fire in the garden centre as one of the reasons contributing to his retirement. That garden centre was such a dank sh*thole that I doubt anyone could tell any difference pre and post fire. The firehoses might actually have sprayed off some of the dust that covered all the merchandise.
Tuscani01
Senior Member
For those close to Eglinton and Laird - Free $10 gift card to the first 500 customers at the new Showroom tomorrow:
http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/Showroom.html?cid=FB_Timeline_Post_Showroom_LandingPage__D322
http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/Showroom.html?cid=FB_Timeline_Post_Showroom_LandingPage__D322