| Move over Wal-Mart, Canada has its very own retail success story – a cool cat from the East that’s been moving west to scratch out its competition and battle big box outlets. Giant Tiger Stores Ltd., the Ottawa-based retailer has been clawing its way across the country since it was founded in 1961. It now has over 170 outlets nationwide including five Alberta stores. Owned and operated by The North West Company, Giant Tiger is eyeing Western Canada with hungry eyes. It plans to expand its operations by 50 more stores in the west over the next 10 years.
A relatively new player on the retail scene in the West, Giant Tiger has a lion-sized reputation in Eastern Canada according to Toronto-based retail analyst, John Winter. "They are very popular in Quebec," he says. "Every small town has one." Winter says there is no secret about Giant Tiger’s strategies for success. It offers merchandise at the lower end of the retail segment to a growing base of customers who appreciate the retailer’s low prices and convenient locations. "They undercut prices on really cheap merchandise and are more convenient in strip malls or downtowns near people or employment," he says. "They have low cost, central locations, low wages, good buying (and have) affordable merchandise that people want."
In Calgary, Giant Tiger has staked out its inaugural store at 4710- 17 Aveue S.E. where it opened in Forest Lawn in June, 2006. The merchandise runs from knock-off Crocs to wild salmon fillets. "We draw customers in for the food and hopefully they’ll pick up some clothing on the way out," says Cheryl Kirk, fashion manager for the Calgary store. She says that with the company operating a fashion buying office in Montreal, Giant Tiger is positioned to maintain close contact with clothing vendors from across the world. "We follow the latest trends," she says. Whether it’s a trend or not is debatable, but on the rack at Giant Tiger is everything from camouflage-style vests for children to tube-top-type "bar tops."
Giant Tiger relies on neighbourhood word of mouth to promote its mix of fashion, food and household products. "Forest Lawn has a large Asian population," says Kirk. "So we have lots of fish in our food department."
Veering away from the mantra bigger is better, Giant Tiger is instead a distinctly Canadian version of retailing aimed at the budget-conscious shopper. Where American retailers such as Wal-Mart operate "neighbourhood stores" that are in excess of 3600 sq. metres and "super centres" as big as 16,830 sq. metres, the Giant Tiger in Calgary is a modest 1,620 sq. metres.
"The name, the logo and the positioning does place this retailer in the general department store market against Zellers and Wal-Mart," says Debi Andrus, a business professor at the University of Calgary. "However, the fact that they do emphasize Canadian-made clothing and that they are smaller, will appeal to some people looking to support Canadian companies. In this market, however, price plays a major role in people’s decisions."
Adds Andrus, "It has been successful in the remote regions and smaller urban centres because it is positioned as a community-based company. It’s an interesting strategy given the recent takeovers of iconic Canadian companies such as HBC/Zellers. To what extent the market in Calgary will respond to this positioning will be interesting to see as there has been an influx of high-end retailers such as Williams-Sonoma – very different stores. The market is likely large enough now to support a number of retailers selling merchandise at different price points."
With Alberta now leading the nation’s retail sector with a whopping 16.2 per cent increase in sales in 2006 compared to an average of 4.9 per cent in the rest of Canada, Jeffrey York, Giant Tiger’s president and CEO must be smiling like a Cheshire cat as his retail operation stalks its competitors in the West.
"We micro-market to each community," says York. "We are the customer’s store of choice. Wal-Mart is one of many good competitors out there. We concentrate on fashion, food and entertaining treasures in a neighbourhood-convenient setting. We buy Canadian products whenever we can and where the Canadian product is priced competitively."
He adds, "We are not a big box. We are the anti-big-box." |
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