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Canadian Tire expands Microsoft partnership to scale AI-driven retail intelligence platform

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Canadian Tire Corporation is expanding its collaboration with Microsoft to build and roll out a custom retail intelligence platform aimed at sharpening how the retailer anticipates and responds to customer demand.

The company said Wednesday the platform, known as MOSaiC, will be scaled across its retail banners and digital channels following a pilot in 2025. The system is designed to combine internal sales and loyalty data with external inputs such as weather and local events to guide merchandising, promotions and inventory decisions.

The initiative forms part of the company’s broader modernization efforts under its True North strategy and signals a deeper push into artificial intelligence to support operational and strategic planning.

Enterprise rollout planned

MOSaiC is being developed on Microsoft Azure and uses Microsoft AI capabilities to analyze sales data, Triangle Rewards loyalty insights and contextual factors including seasonality, holidays and weather patterns.

The company said the platform is intended to identify patterns tied to specific customer “occasions,” such as spring-thaw flooding, back-to-school move-ins or new fitness routines. By detecting those moments earlier, teams can adjust assortments, digital content, promotions and services across the retail network.

The rollout will extend to the company’s major banners, including Canadian Tire, Mark’s and SportChek, spanning stores and digital platforms.

During pilot testing, the company said MOSaiC identified more than 1,000 distinct life occasions where it believes it can better position products and services through its stores, digital properties, loyalty program and marketing capabilities. Retail and digital teams began applying those insights in 2026 to inform merchandise assortments, local store and online experiences, and personalized promotions.

Many retailers already analyze sales data, but the company said MOSaiC is intended to connect insights across banners and local contexts to enable more coordinated action across its retail system.

“Our ongoing True North strategy is a modernization agenda, strengthening our connection to Canadians,” said Greg Hicks, President and CEO, Canadian Tire Corporation. “While we have 100 years of customer relationships and local knowledge, MOSaiC will help our teams make better decisions about what to offer, when, and where, by connecting Triangle Rewards insights, and local context at scale. That allows us to move beyond selling products to serving the occasions of customers’ lives.”

Greg Hicks
Greg Hicks

In a LinkedIn post, Hicks said: “Our True North transformation strategy is a modernization agenda. That includes accelerating with AI.

“We’re excited to announce that we are scaling up an AI-based intelligence platform, MOSaiC, that assesses customer demand patterns, so we can better identify the moments of Canadian life when customers will turn to CTC.

“MOSaiC connects internal sales data, Triangle Rewards loyalty insights, and a range of external context (think weather, holidays, local events) to identify the occasions of our customers’ lives. This allows us to coordinate product assortments and inventory, promotions and loyalty offers, across our stores.

“MOSaiC has already identified more than 1,000 moments – from basement floods, to weekend workouts, to anything you can imagine in your day-to-day – allowing us to make smarter, more precise decisions about what we offer, when, and where.

“We have 100 years of customer relationships and local knowledge. By combining it with additional AI insights we can create a retail system that does more than sell customers products; we can serve the moments of their lives.”

Broader AI push

The MOSaiC expansion builds on existing artificial intelligence tools already in use at the retailer. The company has deployed DaiVID, an AI-powered pricing and promotions platform, which it said has contributed to improved customer value perception. It also uses AI-driven digital features to support product discovery, purchasing and personalization.

Microsoft is providing cloud infrastructure, AI model capabilities and engineering support to scale MOSaiC from pilot to a phased enterprise rollout.

Matt Milton
Matt Milton

“CTC is helping shape what the future of retail can look like in Canada,” said Matt Milton, President of Microsoft Canada. “By combining their deep understanding of Canadian life with Microsoft’s advanced AI capabilities, we’re enabling experiences that feel more personal, more useful and more timely – for customers and for employees.

“From empowering CTC employees with Microsoft 365 Copilot, to scaling AI innovations that deliver real-world impact, we’re proud to be CTC’s trusted Cloud and AI partner supporting the next chapter of their transformation journey.”

As part of its internal AI expansion, Canadian Tire said it has begun a national rollout of Microsoft 365 Copilot to corporate employees, providing tools intended to support analysis and collaboration. The company said it is also delivering structured AI training programs in collaboration with Microsoft and business schools to support adoption.

Strategy and outlook

Launched in 2025, the retailer’s True North transformation strategy centres on modernizing its data and technology capabilities to enable more coordinated operations and deeper customer engagement across its network.

The company said modern data and AI capabilities are expected to play an important role in supporting decision-making and strengthening connections with customers.

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Mario Toneguzzi
Mario Toneguzzi
Mario Toneguzzi, based in Calgary, has more than 40 years experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He worked for 35 years at the Calgary Herald covering sports, crime, politics, health, faith, city and breaking news, and business. He is the Co-Editor-in-Chief with Retail Insider in addition to working as a freelance writer and consultant in communications and media relations/training. Mario was named as a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert in 2024.

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