So… I wasn’t expecting to see this today. For those of you unfamiliar with Canada, Canadian Tire is basically a hardware store turned department store, and their current tag line is “For days like today.” Apparently, “days like today” no longer include days where someone might want to buy something from them online. This image pretty much says it all:
Ok, I guess it doesn’t say it all… so what is this amazing new “instead”? Well, you can read about this here. Honestly, it reads a little bit like a joke… but apparently it isn’t.
The titles of the sections are things like “canadiantire.ca is finding new ways to serve you better“… which boils down to basically “more robust product information.” Then, since the company has been told that “canadiantire.ca is a great resource“, they have decided to discontinue selling products online for home delivery. But wait – there are more exciting changes to come! Including… refinements to site navigation and product search, even more product information on the stuff you can’t buy through the site, and the promise to test an in-store pick-up capability in certain markets in Spring 2009. In-store pick-up, of course, being the next best thing to… delivery.
I’m not exactly sure what to say. However, while I’m assuming they must have a good business case / economic reason behind this decision, I think the marketing pitch of “an exciting new direction” could use a bit of a tweak…
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Apparently they’re predominantly a franchise business – so online sales don’t do any favours for the franchise holders…