Right on Target? Target’S Eﬀect on the Canadian Retail Landscape: a Media Analysis

Right on Target? Target’s eﬀect on the Canadian retail landscape: A media analysis

January - June, 2013

Execuve summary 3

Methodology 4

General Coverage 5

Target Canada 7

Walmart Canada 8

Sears Canada 9

Shoppers Drug Mart 10

Costco Canada 11

Canadian Tire 12

About 13

• Target Canada had the most coverage of all retailers analyzed in the ﬁrst half of 2013, with 1,370 arcles over six months. This was followed by Walmart Canada with 933 arcles.

• Overall, Target was menoned in 57 per cent of all arcles analyzed and had 37 per cent of the total share of voice.

• Target also had the largest proporon of posive coverage, at 65 per cent.

• The impact of Target’s arrival in Canada was so signiﬁcant that it even drove coverage volumes of some of Target’s compeng retailers – most retailers experienced a coverage spike in February or March, coinciding with Target’s entry into the Canadian marketplace. The majority of these stories focused on Target, with other retailers menoned as the compeon.

• As an example of the above, Walmart’s top month was February, with 221 arcles followed by March with 199. These stories oen posioned Walmart as either a major competor to Target in Canada, or an example of another American mega-brand moving into the Canadian retail market.

• Further, 62 per cent of all stories menoning Walmart also menoned Target. In the majority of these, the laer Target was was the focus. mentioned in

• Shoppers Drug Mart was alone among the six retailers analyzed in that its coverage was not driven by Target’s arrival in Canada. • Target’s biggest month was March, with 638 arcles. The 57% majority focused on store opening announcements , and 94 per cent of Target’s March coverage was posive. of all articles analyzed during the • Sears had the greatest proporon of negave coverage, study period. at 45 per cent. Much of this was due to coverage of the company’s weak ﬁrst quarter and impending layoﬀs.

• Costco had the second-highest percentage of negave coverage among the six retailers. While a listeria-caused product recall added to this, the retailer was also menoned in conjuncon with a frozen berry recall and measles outbreak in Vancouver.

• Outside of menons related to Target’s Canadian launch, Canadian Tire had two signiﬁcant coverage drivers including the announcement of Scoabank Place being renamed the Canadian Tire Centre.

Objecve • This report seeks to give a snapshot of Canada’s retail climate, in light of Target’s appearance on the Canadian retail stage.

Analysis • Analysis was done on the media coverage of the following six companies: • Target Canada; • Walmart Canada; • Sears Canada; • Shoppers Drug Mart; • Costco Canada; and • Canadian Tire

•Arcles were collected from Jan. 1 – June 30, 2013 from both online and print sources in Canada.

Toning • A randomly selected sample of up to 500 arcles was selected from each company’s coverage for toning.

• Arcles were toned on a three-point scale: posive, neutral, or negave: • Posive is defined as: pleasing, encouraging or approving of the company. • Neutral is defined as: Either a balance of posive and negave points, or factual informaon presented in neither a posive nor negave manner. • Negave is defined as: discouraging, disapproving, or crical of the company.

Coverage over me

Walmart Sears Shoppers Target Costco Canadian Tire

700

Target’s ancipated Target opens its ﬁrst stores in Canada. 600 expansion compared to Walmart’s entry into 500 Canada.

400 # Arcles Sears lays oﬀ 700 300 workers.

200

100

0 Jan 2013 Feb 2013 Mar 2013 Apr 2013 May 2013 Jun 2013

Comparave tone Highlights

•Target had the most coverage of all retailers, Canadian Tire 44% 53% 3% with 1,370 arcles over six months. This was followed by Walmart with 933 arcles. Costco 9% 67% 24% •Target, the newcomer onto the Canadian retail Target 65% 32% 3% scene, had the largest proporon of posive coverage, at 65 per cent. Much of this was due to its inial push into the Canadian market. Shoppers 43% 48% 9% •Sears, by contrast, had the greatest proporon Sears 15% 40% 45% of negave coverage at 45 per cent. Much of this was due to coverage of the company’s Walmart 19% 75% 6% weak ﬁrst quarter (“Sears Canada posts $31-

million Q1 loss” in the Waterloo Region Record, $ May 23, 2013) and layoﬀs. Posive Neutral Negave

Comparave regions 700 Naonal 600 Ontario

500 Brish Columbia

400 Saskatchewan

# Arcles Alberta 300 Quebec 200 Manitoba

100 Nova Scoa

0 New Brunswick Walmart Sears Shoppers Target Costco Canadian Tire

• Most coverage for all retailers was naonal. For most retailers Ontario was next, followed by Brish Columbia and either Alberta or Saskatchewan.

• The majority of all coverage was from news websites, followed by daily print publicaons. Sears had the largest proporon of print coverage at 31 per cent.

• Target had the largest share of voice among all retailers , with 37 per cent of all retailer menons. They were followed by fellow U.S. enty Walmart, which had one-quarter of menons.

Publicaon types Share of Voice

News Website Daily Newspaper 7% 8% Newswire E-zine/Website 37% Blog Community Newspaper 11% Canadian 85% 14% 1%

Costco 78% 21% 1% 12% Target 88% 9% 1% 2% 25% Shoppers 77% 23%

Sears 68% 31% 1% Target Walmart Walmart 79% 20% Canadian Tire Sears $ % Arcles Shoppers Costco

Top publicaons

The Globe and Mail (Online) 154

The Globe and Mail 98

CBC News (Online) 86

MSN Canada (Online) 79

Huﬃngton Post Canada 79

Yahoo! News Canada (Online) 55

Global News (Online) 53

Toronto Star (Online) 51

Metro News (Online) 41

CTV News (Online) 37 # Arcles

Top authors

Marina Strauss - The Globe and Mail 60

Hollie Shaw - Financial Post 47

David Friend - Canadian Press 35

Francine Kopun - Toronto Star 16

Anne D'innocenzio - Associated Press 12

Krisn Laird - Markeng Magazine Canad 10

Brendan Wedley - Peterborough Examiner 9

Susan Krashinsky - The Globe and Mail 8

Ross Marowits - The Canadian Press 7

Amanda Stephenson - Calgary Herald 5 # Arcles

Coverage over me Overall tone

First quarter results show a 3% 700 drop in proﬁts, despite higher- than-expected sales in Canada. 600

500 32%

400 65%

# Arcles 300

200

Posive 100 Neutral 0 Negave Jan 2013 Feb 2013 Mar 2013 Apr 2013 May 2013 Jun 2013

•Target’s coverage peaked in • Target had 638 arcles in March. Of these, 311 March, with 638 arcles. A appeared on March 4 alone. breakdown of this peak can be seen at le. • The majority of news stories focused on the fact that Target would open its ﬁrst Canadian stores the next •Before the above peak, coverage day, on March 5 (“Target set to open ﬁrst Canadian levels progressively rose as outlets stores Tuesday” in The Vancouver Province (Online), covered the lead-up to the March 4, 2013). company’s arrival in Canada.

• Ninety four per cent of arcles published during this •Aer a large drop in arcles in peak were from news websites, including the online April, coverage climbed again in versions of print and broadcast sources. May. Much of it was negave, however, as Target released poor • As shown to the right, 2% 4% Q1 results. (“Target stores Q1 coverage of Target in proﬁt drops 26% on weak sales” in March was almost all Posive The Oawa Cizen (Online), May posive, at 94 per cent, Neutral 23, 2013). as buzz built about the company’s pending arrival. 94% Negave $

Walmart is referenced oen as Coverage over me a competor to Target in light of the laer’s entry into the 250 Canadian market.

200

150

# Arcles 62% 100 of stories mentioning 50 “Walmart” also mentioned

0 “Target” Jan 2013 Feb 2013 Mar 2013 Apr 2013 May 2013 Jun 2013

• Walmart’s top month was February, with 221 arcles, followed by March with 199 arcles. February coverage was primarily due to menons in arcles focused on Target’s Canadian launch. Fiy-nine of these stories were from Feb. 22, when Target commercials were described as a direct aack on Walmart (“Target's ﬁrst Canadian ads put bull's eye on rival Walmart” in The Vancouver Province (online), Feb. 22, 2013).

• Overall, arcles typically posioned Walmart as either a major competor to Target in Canada, or Overall tone another example of an American mega-brand moving into the Canadian retail market. 6% 20% • In another example of just how much Target’s launch drove retail coverage, 62 per cent of all stories menoning Walmart also menoned Target. In the majority of these, the laer was the main focus. Posive Neutral • The majority of Walmart menons were neutral Negave towards the retailer. Posive stories about the retailer 74% include praise in comparison to newly-opened Target

stores (Plenty of acon at Target’s Toronto opening” in $ the Toronto Sun (online), March 22, 2013).

Coverage over me Overall tone

120 Sears vacates stores in three Toronto-area malls. 15% 100 45%

80 40%

60 # Arcles

Posive 20 Neutral Negave 0 Jan 2013 Feb 2013 Mar 2013 Apr 2013 May 2013 Jun 2013

•Sears coverage peaked in February, with 142 arcles. A breakdown of this peak can be • Sears had 142 arcles in February, 37 per cent of its seen at le. arcles during the enre six-month period. Forty-two of these arcles were published on Feb. 1. •Sears had the most negave coverage of all retailers, at 45 per • The majority of the above focused on an cent of its total coverage. announcement that Sears would lay off 700 workers primarily from retail and distribuon locaons (“Sears •Sears saw smaller spikes in Canada restructuring costs 700 jobs” in Winnipeg Free coverage in both April and June. Press, Feb. 1, 2013). The April peak followed an announcement from CEO Calvin • Despite having an overall majority of arcles in news McDonald that the retailer needed websites, arcles in Feb. were published in a split of to reconsider its offerings (“Sears news websites and daily newspapers. Canada needs 'reset,' chief says” in 4% 13% The Toronto Star, April 26, 2013). •As shown to the right, coverage of the Sears in Posive •The June spike followed Sears Feb. was primarily Neutral vacang retail space in Toronto negave (83 per cent) (“Sears pulls out of up to 3 due to coverage of the 83% Negave Toronto malls” in CBC News $ layoffs. (online), June 14, 2013).

Coverage over me Shoppers Drug Mart hikes dividends aer a stable fourth 80 quarter and increased sales. 70

40 # Arcles 30

0 Jan 2013 Feb 2013 Mar 2013 Apr 2013 May 2013 Jun 2013

• Shoppers Drug Mart was alone among the six retailers in that its most acve month, February, wasn’t predicated on the opening of Target locaons in Canada.

• Rather, the above was mostly due to posive menons regarding an increase in dividends aer a strong fourth quarter (“Shoppers Drug Mart hikes dividend with higher sales” in The Summerside Journal-Pioneer, Feb. 8, 2013).

• Coverage of Shoppers Drug Mart was split primarily between posive and neutral. Posive Overall tone coverage included community events like the Shoppers Drug Mart “Ride Don’t Hide” fundraiser (“Ride promotes mental health” in the Pencton Western (online), June 18, 2013), which raises 9% funds and awareness for the Canadian Mental Health Associaon.

• Another posive Shoppers Drug Mart story was 43% Posive coverage of a customer service response leer Neutral that purported to be from a post-apocalypc Negave future (“Shoppers Drug Mart employee admits to 48%

hilarious customer service response” in The $ Toronto Star (online), June 5, 2013). The leer created a great deal of posive buzz online.

Coverage over me Listeria fears prompt a deli Overall tone products recall. 9% 100 24% 90 80 70 60 50 # Arcles 40 67% 30 Posive 20 Neutral 10 Negave 0 Jan 2013 Feb 2013 Mar 2013 Apr 2013 May 2013 Jun 2013

• Costco’s coverage peaked in • Costco had a strong coverage spike in March, with 95 March, with 95 arcles. A arcles. Of these, 36 were printed from March 13 – 14 breakdown of this peak can be when listeria fears sparked a recall of a deli product seen in the inset to the le. (“Cheese and meat rolls recalled” in The Toronto Sun (online), March 13, 2013). • Costco had the second-highest percentage of negave coverage • Almost 50 per cent of Costco menons in March also among the six retailers. While a menoned the launch of Target in Canada (“Target recall over listeria fears added to feels the love in Canada” in The Victoria Times- this, the retailer was also Colonist, March 29, 2013). Costco was menoned menoned in conjuncon with a among other Canadian retailers as potenal strong frozen berry recall (“Canadians compeon. warned about berry mix linked to •As shown on the right, hepas outbreak” in The Oawa Costco’s coverage in 3% Cizen (online), June 12, 2013), March was primarily and a measles outbreak in Posive neutral and negave. 42% Vancouver. Negave coverage was Neutral due to the listeria- 55% Negave related recall. $

Coverage over me Scoabank Place renamed the “Canadian Tire Centre”. 140

120 100 88% 80 of stories mentioning # Arcles 60 Canadian Tire in March also 40 mentioned Target. 20

0 Jan 2013 Feb 2013 Mar 2013 Apr 2013 May 2013 Jun 2013

•Canadian Tire’s coverage peaked • in March, with 116 arcles. A Much as in Walmart’s case, Canadian Tire’s largest breakdown of this peak can be peak in coverage was due to stories about Target’s Canadian launch. Of the 116 stories menoning seen in the inset to the right. Canadian Tire in March, 102 also menoned Target (“Goodbye big box? Canadian Tire thinks small to take • Outside of the Target launch Canadian Tire had two large on giant Target” in The Globe and Mail (online), March stories, in May and June. 7, 2013).

• May’s peak was largely driven by the launch of Canadian Tire Jumpstart (“Kids in Calgary raise funds for Jumpstart” in Metro News (online), May 13, 2013), a program that helps to fund sporng acvies for underprivileged children across the country. Jumpstart coverage connued into June.

• In June, Canadian Tire received a majority of coverage for a 3% partnership with the Oawa Senators that saw the renaming of Scoabank Place to the Canadian Tire Centre (“Canadian Posive Tire Centre new name for Senators home arena” in CTV 44% News (online), June 18, 2013). Neutral 53% Negave $ • Overall, Canadian Tire’s coverage was a split between posive and neutral, with only three per cent of arcles referring to the company negavely.

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