Canadian Tire Launches Self-Service, 16-Foot Self-Service Towers at Select Stores

Canadian Tire is evolving its e-commerce strategy and setting up giant self-serve picketing towers in Canada – a Canadian first, according to Click & Collect's Assistant Vice President.

"All of our customers' comments around our in-store collection were that the wait time was too long to get their orders back," said Alma Obeid.

"The self-service collection tower makes the customer experience very fast, bringing it back to 20 to 30 seconds."

The towers have recently been launched in selected locations in Canada: Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto and Saskatoon.

They look like a large vending machine. Customers enter a PIN or QR code, the machine reads it, a window opens and the package comes out.

At 16.5 feet in height, the tower can hold up to 250 orders.

"We give them convenience where they want it," said Obeid, "giving them the ability to shop as they want and when they want it."

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Canadian Tire, along with many other retailers, says e-commerce is an important part of its business, perhaps even the growing segment.

So after a lot of research and money – the amount was not revealed – the company created the towers.

Experts from the School of Retailing at the University of Alberta have said that technology is radically transforming the sector because retailers realize that time is money.

"Anything that can do something more effective, faster or better than previous systems will be adopted," said John Pracejus.

Pracejus is also not concerned about the job losses that automation could bring to the sector.

"I think a lot of things that are automated are really mundane," he said.

"I think the jobs that will stay will be better and they will definitely need skills."

Canadian Tire stated that these towers would not result in job losses, adding that they would still require personnel to do all the work.

"The store staff is always picking up the items on the floor, they always pack them. The store's staff is actually the one who puts it here, "said Obeid.

"In fact, this allows our store staff to offer better customer service to customers on hold."

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The retailer may be the first to leave the tower, but others, like Walmart, are nearby.

The company has announced plans for similar tours in Canada and has tested some in Ontario.