rightontarget?& · million(q1(loss”(in(the(waterloo!region!record,...

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© 2013 MediaMiser Ltd. 1

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

January -‐ June, 2013

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Execu&ve 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

Table of contents

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Executive summary

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

•  Overall, Target was men&oned in 57 per cent of all ar&cles analyzed and had 37 per cent of the total share of voice.

•  Target also had the largest propor&on of posi&ve 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 compe&ng 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 men&oned as the compe&&on. •  As an example of the above, Walmart’s top month was February, with 221 ar&cles followed by March with 199. These stories oUen posi&oned Walmart as either a major compe&tor 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 men&oning Walmart also men&oned Target. In the majority of these, the laXer was the focus. •  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 ar&cles. The majority focused on store opening announcements , and 94 per cent of Target’s March coverage was posi&ve.

•  Sears had the greatest propor&on of nega&ve coverage, at 45 per cent. Much of this was due to coverage of the company’s weak first quarter and impending layoffs.

Target was mentioned in

57% of all articles analyzed during the study period.

•  Costco had the second-‐highest percentage of nega&ve coverage among the six retailers. While a listeria-‐caused product recall added to this, the retailer was also men&oned in conjunc&on with a frozen berry recall and measles outbreak in Vancouver.

•  Outside of men&ons related to Target’s Canadian launch, Canadian Tire had two significant coverage drivers including the announcement of Sco&abank Place being renamed the Canadian Tire Centre.

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Methodology

Objec&ve •  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

• Ar&cles 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 ar&cles was selected from each company’s coverage for toning.

•  Ar&cles were toned on a three-‐point scale: posi&ve, neutral, or nega&ve: •  Posi&ve is defined as: pleasing, encouraging or approving of the company. •  Neutral is defined as: Either a balance of posi&ve and nega&ve points, or factual informa&on presented in neither a posi&ve nor nega&ve manner. •  Nega&ve is defined as: discouraging, disapproving, or cri&cal of the company.

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0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

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

# Ar&cles

Walmart Sears Shoppers Target Costco Canadian Tire

General Coverage

Coverage over &me

Compara&ve tone Highlights • Target had the most coverage of all retailers, with 1,370 ar&cles over six months. This was followed by Walmart with 933 ar&cles.

• Target, the newcomer onto the Canadian retail scene, had the largest propor&on of posi&ve coverage, at 65 per cent. Much of this was due to its ini&al push into the Canadian market.

• Sears, by contrast, had the greatest propor&on of nega&ve coverage at 45 per cent. Much of this was due to coverage of the company’s weak first quarter (“Sears Canada posts $31-‐million Q1 loss” in the Waterloo Region Record, May 23, 2013) and layoffs.

Target opens its first stores in Canada. Target’s an&cipated expansion compared to Walmart’s entry into Canada.

Sears lays off 700 workers.

19%

15%

43%

65%

9%

44%

75%

40%

48%

32%

67%

53%

6%

45%

9%

3%

24%

3%

Walmart

Sears

Shoppers

Target

Costco

Canadian Tire

Posi&ve Neutral Nega&ve

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General coverage

Compara&ve regions

Publica&on types

•  Most coverage for all retailers was na&onal. For most retailers Ontario was next, followed by Bri&sh Columbia and either Alberta or Saskatchewan. •  The majority of all coverage was from news websites, followed by daily print publica&ons. Sears had the largest propor&on of print coverage at 31 per cent.

•  Target had the largest share of voice among all retailers , with 37 per cent of all retailer men&ons. They were followed by fellow U.S. en&ty Walmart, which had one-‐quarter of men&ons.

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Walmart Sears Shoppers Target Costco Canadian Tire

# Ar&cles

Na&onal

Ontario

Bri&sh Columbia

Saskatchewan

Alberta

Quebec

Manitoba

Nova Sco&a

New Brunswick

79%

68%

77%

88%

78%

85%

20%

31%

23%

9%

21%

14%

1%

1%

1%

2%

1%

Walmart

Sears

Shoppers

Target

Costco

Canadian

% Ar&cles

News Website Daily Newspaper

Newswire E-‐zine/Website

Blog Community Newspaper

Share of Voice

37%

25%

12%

11%

8% 7%

Target Walmart Canadian Tire Sears Shoppers Costco

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General coverage

Top publica&ons

154

98

86

79

79

55

53

51

41

37

The Globe and Mail (Online)

The Globe and Mail

CBC News (Online)

MSN Canada (Online)

Huffington Post Canada

Yahoo! News Canada (Online)

Global News (Online)

Toronto Star (Online)

Metro News (Online)

CTV News (Online)

# Ar&cles

Top authors

60

47

35

16

12

10

9

8

7

5

Marina Strauss -‐ The Globe and Mail

Hollie Shaw -‐ Financial Post

David Friend -‐ Canadian Press

Francine Kopun -‐ Toronto Star

Anne D'innocenzio -‐ Associated Press

Kris&n Laird -‐ Marke&ng Magazine Canad

Brendan Wedley -‐ Peterborough Examiner

Susan Krashinsky -‐ The Globe and Mail

Ross Marowits -‐ The Canadian Press

Amanda Stephenson -‐ Calgary Herald

# Ar&cles

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0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700


# Ar&cles

Target Canada

• Target’s coverage peaked in March, with 638 ar&cles. A breakdown of this peak can be seen at leU.

• Before the above peak, coverage levels progressively rose as outlets covered the lead-‐up to the company’s arrival in Canada.

• AUer a large drop in ar&cles in April, coverage climbed again in May. Much of it was nega&ve, however, as Target released poor Q1 results. (“Target stores Q1 profit drops 26% on weak sales” in The O2awa Ci5zen (Online), May 23, 2013).

Coverage over &me

•  Target had 638 ar&cles in March. Of these, 311 appeared on March 4 alone.

•  The majority of news stories focused on the fact that Target would open its first Canadian stores the next day, on March 5 (“Target set to open first Canadian stores Tuesday” in The Vancouver Province (Online), March 4, 2013).

•  Ninety four per cent of ar&cles published during this peak were from news websites, including the online versions of print and broadcast sources.

94%

4% 2%

Posi&ve

Neutral

Nega&ve

•  As shown to the right, coverage of Target in March was almost all posi&ve, at 94 per cent, as buzz built about the company’s pending arrival.

65%

32%

3%

Posi&ve Neutral Nega&ve

First quarter results show a drop in profits, despite higher-‐than-‐expected sales in Canada.

Overall tone

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0

50

100

150

200

250


# Ar&cles

Walmart Canada

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

Coverage over &me Walmart is referenced oUen as a compe&tor to Target in light of the laXer’s entry into the Canadian market.

20%

74%

6%

Posi&ve

Neutral

Nega&ve

•  Overall, ar&cles typically posi&oned Walmart as either a major compe&tor to Target in Canada, or another example of an American mega-‐brand moving into the Canadian retail market.

•  In another example of just how much Target’s launch drove retail coverage, 62 per cent of all stories men&oning Walmart also men&oned Target. In the majority of these, the laXer was the main focus.

•  The majority of Walmart men&ons were neutral towards the retailer. Posi&ve stories about the retailer include praise in comparison to newly-‐opened Target stores (Plenty of ac&on at Target’s Toronto opening” in the Toronto Sun (online), March 22, 2013).

Overall tone

62% of stories mentioning “Walmart” also mentioned “Target”

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0

20

40

60

80

100

120


# Ar&cles

Sears Canada

• Sears coverage peaked in February, with 142 ar&cles. A breakdown of this peak can be seen at leU.

• Sears had the most nega&ve coverage of all retailers, at 45 per cent of its total coverage.

• Sears saw smaller spikes in coverage in both April and June. The April peak followed an announcement from CEO Calvin McDonald that the retailer needed to reconsider its offerings (“Sears Canada needs 'reset,' chief says” in The Toronto Star, April 26, 2013).

• The June spike followed Sears vaca&ng retail space in Toronto (“Sears pulls out of up to 3 Toronto malls” in CBC News (online), June 14, 2013).

Coverage over &me

•  Sears had 142 ar&cles in February, 37 per cent of its ar&cles during the en&re six-‐month period. Forty-‐two of these ar&cles were published on Feb. 1.

•  The majority of the above focused on an announcement that Sears would lay off 700 workers primarily from retail and distribu&on loca&ons (“Sears Canada restructuring costs 700 jobs” in Winnipeg Free Press, Feb. 1, 2013).

•  Despite having an overall majority of ar&cles in news websites, ar&cles in Feb. were published in a split of news websites and daily newspapers.

• As shown to the right, coverage of the Sears in Feb. was primarily nega&ve (83 per cent) due to coverage of the layoffs.

Sears vacates stores in three Toronto-‐area malls.

4% 13%

83%

Posi&ve

Neutral

Nega&ve

Overall tone

15%

40%

45%

Posi&ve

Neutral

Nega&ve

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0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80


# Ar&cles

Shoppers Drug Mart

Coverage over &me Shoppers Drug Mart hikes dividends aUer a stable fourth quarter and increased sales.

•  Shoppers Drug Mart was alone among the six retailers in that its most ac&ve month, February, wasn’t predicated on the opening of Target loca&ons in Canada.

•  Rather, the above was mostly due to posi&ve men&ons regarding an increase in dividends aUer 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 posi&ve and neutral. Posi&ve coverage included community events like the Shoppers Drug Mart “Ride Don’t Hide” fundraiser (“Ride promotes mental health” in the Pen5cton Western (online), June 18, 2013), which raises funds and awareness for the Canadian Mental Health Associa&on.

•  Another posi&ve Shoppers Drug Mart story was coverage of a customer service response leXer that purported to be from a post-‐apocalyp&c future (“Shoppers Drug Mart employee admits to hilarious customer service response” in The Toronto Star (online), June 5, 2013). The leXer created a great deal of posi&ve buzz online.

Overall tone

43%

48%

9%

Posi&ve

Neutral

Nega&ve

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0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100


# Ar&cles

Costco Canada

•  Costco’s coverage peaked in March, with 95 ar&cles. A breakdown of this peak can be seen in the inset to the leU.

•  Costco had the second-‐highest percentage of nega&ve coverage among the six retailers. While a recall over listeria fears added to this, the retailer was also men&oned in conjunc&on with a frozen berry recall (“Canadians warned about berry mix linked to hepa&&s outbreak” in The O2awa Ci5zen (online), June 12, 2013), and a measles outbreak in Vancouver.

Coverage over &me

•  Costco had a strong coverage spike in March, with 95 ar&cles. Of these, 36 were printed from March 13 – 14 when listeria fears sparked a recall of a deli product (“Cheese and meat rolls recalled” in The Toronto Sun (online), March 13, 2013).

•  Almost 50 per cent of Costco men&ons in March also men&oned the launch of Target in Canada (“Target feels the love in Canada” in The Victoria Times-‐Colonist, March 29, 2013). Costco was men&oned among other Canadian retailers as poten&al strong compe&&on.

• As shown on the right, Costco’s coverage in March was primarily neutral and nega&ve. Nega&ve coverage was due to the listeria-‐related recall.

Listeria fears prompt a deli products recall.

3%

55%

42% Posi&ve

Neutral

Nega&ve

9%

67%

24%

Posi&ve

Neutral

Nega&ve

Overall tone

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0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140


# Ar&cles

Canadian Tire

• Canadian Tire’s coverage peaked in March, with 116 ar&cles. A breakdown of this peak can be seen in the inset to the right.

•  Outside of the Target launch Canadian Tire had two large stories, in May and June.

Coverage over &me

• Much as in Walmart’s case, Canadian Tire’s largest peak in coverage was due to stories about Target’s Canadian launch. Of the 116 stories men&oning Canadian Tire in March, 102 also men&oned Target (“Goodbye big box? Canadian Tire thinks small to take on giant Target” in The Globe and Mail (online), March 7, 2013).

Sco&abank Place renamed the “Canadian Tire Centre”.

•  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 spor&ng ac&vi&es for underprivileged children across the country. Jumpstart coverage con&nued into June.

•  In June, Canadian Tire received a majority of coverage for a partnership with the OXawa Senators that saw the renaming of Sco&abank Place to the Canadian Tire Centre (“Canadian Tire Centre new name for Senators home arena” in CTV News (online), June 18, 2013).

•  Overall, Canadian Tire’s coverage was a split between posi&ve and neutral, with only three per cent of ar&cles referring to the company nega&vely.

88% of stories mentioning Canadian Tire in March also mentioned Target.

44%

53%

3%

Posi&ve

Neutral

Nega&ve

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rightontarget?& · million(q1(loss”(in(the(waterloo!region!record,...

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