Overview

pCanadian Tire Corporation (CTC) is one of Canada’s most admired and trusted companies. CTC is a family of businesses that includes a retail segment, a financial services division, and a real estate investment trust. /p pThe 1740+ retail and gasoline outlets are supported and strengthened by CTC's financial services division, as well as the tens of thousands of people employed across Canada and around the world by CTC and its local dealers, franchisees, and petroleum retailers. /p pWith world-class owned brands and exciting market-leading merchandising strategies, Canadian Tire continually innovates with the purpose to excite and serve Canadian customers from coast-to-coast./p

Supernova Award Category

Data to Decisions

The Problem

pWith increased complexity of internal data, as well as business demands (growing product base, agility in decision making, deeper granularity of analysis including external and internal attributes), Canadian Tire’s need to move away from legacy BI systems and Excel-based reporting was apparent and urgent. /p pDecision makers needed a cloud-based BI platform that allowed them fast, easy access to information and flexible reporting. Personalization and customization were key requirements in order to engage every individual user to their fullest decision-making potential./p

The Solution

pMerchandising stakeholders understood that in order to unlock the true value of their data and increase speed-to-insights at scale, they needed to empower decision makers at all levels of the organization, not just company leadership. /p p To accomplish this, Candian Tire chose to partner with ThoughtSpot, the leader in search and AI-driven analytics. With ThoughtSpot, all CTC business users - from the C-suite to the frontlines - can type a simple, natural language search to instantly and securely analyze trillions of rows of data. ThoughtSpot also leverages artificial intelligence to provide trusted, relevant answers within seconds to thousands of questions they might not have thought to ask./p

The results

pToday, over 4,100 CTC employees are using ThoughtSpot to search and maximize the value of their data./p pThe Merchandising Department can assess changing product demand in real time, which streamlines coordination with supply chain, e-commerce, marketing, and vendors in order to bring in inventory, develop the right type of marketing, and negotiate appropriate costs./p pThey have already been able to eliminate follow-up meetings, increase accuracy of forecasts, reduce excess inventory, and increase profitability for the organization. /p pThose who never had access to robust reporting now have customized insights available at their fingertips in seconds with easy-access pinboards, cutting down on back-and-forth communication./p

Metrics

pWithin nine months, 4,100 Canadian Tire users had adopted the solution - a testament to the product itself. Now 1,200 users access the tool on a weekly basis./p pThoughtSpot also allowed the organization to continue to perform throughout the COVID-19 crisis, which coincided with mass rollout of the tool. Teams relied on it for sound decision making and reporting needs, and Canadian Tire Retail not only sustained sales volume from the previous year but achieved an unprecedented 20% growth driven by the backyard fun, exercise, and cycling categories. /p pWhile the organization had expected some growth in these categories in particular, they witnessed unprecedented triple-digit percentage increases:/p ul liCycling Line of business achieved +78% QTD/li liExercise Line of business achieved +189% QTD/li liBackyard Line of business achieved +110% QTD/li /ul

The Technology

pThe world’s most innovative enterprises use ThoughtSpot to empower every person in their organization, from C-suite executives to front-line employees, with the ability to quickly uncover data-driven insights. With ThoughtSpot, business people can type a simple search to instantly analyze billions of rows of data, and leverage artificial intelligence to get trusted, relevant insights pushed to them as answers to thousands of questions they might not have thought to ask. /p

Disruptive Factor

pAt CTC, ThoughtSpot has become an enterprise-wide tool that gained popularity because of its ability to easily provide reporting through dashboards, as well as ad-hoc queries via search. For the first time in the history of the organization, reporting is consistent, fast, and accessible./p pOnboarding users has been both a challenging and rewarding experience. The challenge comes from the volume of training sessions and scepticism based on past tool rollouts. The rewarding aspect is driven by adoption and learnings around data and business needs of the entire organization./p pTeams are now turning directly to ThoughtSpot for new reporting development. The Merchandising Analytics team receives weekly requests like:/p ul liInternational team wants to bring in Amazon and Shopify reporting to life in ThoughtSpot/li liCustomer Insights team wants to get customer rating reporting into ThoughtSpot/li /ul

Shining Moment

pEmpowering analysts and executives alike with data and insights was critical to CTC’s ability to navigate COVID-19. ThoughtSpot enabled executive discussions with government officials as the company planned store openings/closures, and provided analysts with insights to drive conversations with vendors and internal stakeholders in real time. Teams quickly identified trending products, secured inventory, and prioritized shipments to satisfy customer demand./p