Canadian Tire courts gift shoppers with price cuts as costs squeeze consumers

Résumé détaillé

Canadian Tire has dropped the prices on more than 5,000 goods, including gift wrap and ornaments, and expanded its toy department and Hudson’s Bay products.

Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. executives are working to morph the business into more of a gifting destination, even as shoppers continue to face economic challenges.

The retailer, which is also behind SportChek, Mark’s and Party City, has dropped the prices on more than 5,000 goods, including gift wrap and ornaments, and expanded its toy department and offerings using the Hudson’s Bay stripes.

The goal is to capture a holiday market that chief executive Greg Hicks estimates is worth more than $5 billion and then build on it throughout the year.

“That means not just leaning into having the right products to gift but also (looking at) how we get consumers to have us more front of mind when they’re looking for gifts for other occasions, like birthdays or Mother’s Day,” Hicks said Thursday on a call with analysts to discuss the company’s latest results.

Canadian Tire’s push to provide more gifting inspiration comes as consumers are heading into the holiday season facing an economic avalanche.

Tariff tensions and the war in Iran have driven up household expenses like gas, causing a big drop in consumer confidence and creating “a negative shock that’s shrinking the economy’s potential,” Hicks said.

While shoppers are proving to be more resilient than some expected, he’s noticed many Canadians are taking a more cautious approach to spending but will still spend when the value proposition feels right to them.

“The bar is higher,” Hicks explained. “They want value, they want relevance, they want convenience, they want price and they want to shop at a place that they trust.”

Canadian Tire is forecasting that those demands will last for anywhere from another year to 18 months.

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