Jun. 17, 2025 "This is what a retail analyst thinks about Walmart Canada lowering prices for hundreds of items": Today I found this article by Christl Dabu on BNN Bloomberg:
Walmart Canada says it has lowered prices for hundreds of items, but a retail analyst is warning consumers to do their homework.
Bruce Winder said consumers should do their research and compare the deals with other items,
because the retailer may be creating the perception of having the lowest price everywhere.
“When you lower a basket of items,
it … is used to try to convince the consumer that everything else in the store is cheap or competitive,
and it’s not always the case,”
Winder said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca in Toronto on Monday.
He recommends people check out
weekly flyers,
retailers’ apps
and other stores
to see which ones have the best sale or price for certain items.
“My recommendation for any shopper is just try to compare more than just the key items that they’ve lowered,” Winder added.
“Look at other items, too, to make sure that you’re shopping in a competitive environment.”
Winder says the trade dispute and buy Canadian movement may be factors behind Walmart Canada’s move.
“There’s a lot of companies in Canada who are trying to sharpen their pencil from a price perspective, because they realize Canadians are hurting,” Winder said.
“Walmart might be hurting a little more than normal because of the pro-Canadian movement. I think a lot of Canadians have invested their shopping dollars in Canadian companies.”
Canadians ‘more financially stretched’
The company announced Monday that since February, it has dropped the price on hundreds of major staple items to help consumers save money.
The products include “some
fresh fruits and vegetables,
bathroom tissue,
water,
cheese,
ground beef
and shampoo.”
Walmart Canada said it will also keep a “consistent stock” of these items.
“At a time when Canadians are feeling more financially stretched than ever, we’ve lowered the price of hundreds of key items across our stores and website,” Venessa Yates, president and CEO of Walmart Canada, said in a press release.
“We want Canadians to know we’re working hard to help them save, especially at a time when many are struggling to make ends meet.”
The company said more than 8,000 new rollbacks, which lower prices further, have been offered since early June in
apparel,
electronics,
health and wellness,
and other items.
Customers will see thousands of “rollback” offers in-store and on Walmart.ca each week, added Sam Wankowski, the retail giant’s chief merchandising officer.
CTVNews.ca reached out to Walmart Canada for comment on how much prices will drop for some products. This story will be updated with the company’s response.
Will other grocers be affected?
Sylvain Charlebois, a food distribution professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, expects Walmart’s move will influence other grocers.
“I think overall it’s good news and I wouldn’t be surprised if other grocers start to follow Walmart’s path and strategy because they need to remain competitive,” Charlebois, director of Dalhousie’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab, said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca on Monday.
On the flip side, he noted that Loblaw has done the opposite by announcing in May that it had raised prices on some “tariff-affected products.”
However, Loblaw said on its website it was “working hard to keep prices as low as possible.”
It noted it was
working closely with the federal government to try to exempt key items,
working with suppliers
and trying to source alternative products outside the U.S. that are comparable in quality and price.
Loblaw said products directly affected by tariffs,
or directly imported from the U.S.,
will have the “T” symbol on the shelf and online,
indicating the price has risen by up to 25 per cent.
Jul. 29, 2025 "Canadian Tire reducing corporate roles, but declines to detail cuts": Today I found this article by Geoff Nixon on CBC:
Retail giant Canadian Tire confirmed on Tuesday it will reduce its corporate staff roles, as part of a transformation and modernization push the company says is necessary to remain competitive.
"Earlier this year, we announced that we would be transforming our company to better compete in a new era of retail, defined by global competitive threats and the increasing need for speed and efficiency," the company said in a statement.
"Changes are underway and we are altering various processes and teams to transform and modernize."
As part of these changes,
"some corporate roles are expanding
and others are being eliminated,"
the company said, without stating the number of people affected.
"While these changes are difficult,
they are necessary to ensure that we remain a
strong retailer,
job creator
and contributor
to the Canadian economy well into the future."
A spokesperson confirmed these changes will result in an overall decrease in the number of corporate roles at the company.
These reductions do not involve roles in Canadian Tire stores.
The company did not say where the people were based whose jobs would be affected by the cuts. Canadian Tire's corporate home office is located in Toronto.
In March, Canadian Tire announced a new strategy to invest $2 billion over four years to restructure the company for growth.
In November 2023, Canadian Tire announced that it was then shedding three per cent of its full-time workforce, in a bid to lower costs.
Canadian Tire is a public company. It is due to report its latest quarterly results next month.
The retailer sells a wide variety of products, including automotive parts, sporting goods, hardware and building supplies, small kitchen appliances and more.
It has stores in every Canadian province, as well as in Yukon and the Northwest Territories.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canadian-tire-corporate-roles-1.7596905
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