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Customers head in and out of a Canadian Tire store location in Scarborough, Ont.

Canadian Tire Corp. is relaunching its e-commerce site in 2011, with an initial focus on selling tires.

The move comes a couple of years after the retailer abandoned online selling, saying it would use its website solely to market its products and provide information for customers.

Domestic retailers, slow to embrace e-commerce, are increasingly turning to the selling option. Merchants ranging from Reitmans, Le Chateau and Forzani, which runs Sport Chek, have launched their own e-commerce sites.

Canadian Tire will start selling tires on its website this year, focusing on a category which has become a priority for the chain, said Glenn Butt, an executive vice-president at Canadian Tire, at a CIBC World Markets investor conference on Wednesday. On the same day, discount online tire firm Tire & Co. announced it would start selling tires online in Canada.

In 2011, e-commerce spending in Canada is expected to reach $18.5-billion, a 12 per cent increase from 2010, according to digital researcher eMarketer. By 2015, online spending will nearly double in Canada, reaching $30.9-billion, it forecast this week.

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