Canadian Tire to rebrand service stations in new Petro-Canada partnership

Canadian Tire Corp. rebrands the vast majority of its retail locations under the Petro-Canada banner, and the two companies join forces to expand the reach of their loyalty programs through a new partnership.

The Toronto retailer and Calgary-based Suncor announced the partnership on Wednesday. While the loyalty programs remain separately owned, members of each will now be able to earn points at both companies’ gas stations starting this fall.

Canadian Tire’s Triangle Rewards program currently has more than 11 million active members and its Petro Points program has more than 3 million active members.

The retailer, which also owns store banners like Sport Chek, Mark’s and Party City, is in the midst of a four-year $3.4 billion investment in its operations. A key pillar of this plan is the expansion of the loyalty program, members of which tend to spend more in stores than other shoppers. The partnership with Petro-Canada, which will expand Triangle member access to rewards from Canadian Tire’s 282 service stations to more than 1,800 Petro locations, is an attempt to make the program more attractive to shoppers.

Canadian Tire did not provide further information on whether Petro Points members would also allow points to be earned or redeemed on its retail banners.

The company’s goal is to increase purchases by Triangle members to 63 percent of sales, up from 58 percent at the time the program was announced in March 2022. This year Canadian Tire also launched its subscription-based Triangle Select program, which calculates $89 per year plus tax for upgraded loyalty memberships that offer more points on purchases and other bonuses.

Also on Wednesday, the companies announced that more than 200 of Canadian Tire’s Gas+ fuel locations will be rebranded as Petro-Canada filling stations over the next few years, although they will remain Canadian Tire-owned. Suncor will also now be the retailer’s primary fuel supplier at its forecourts, marking a 17 percent increase in Petro-Canada’s retail fuel sales volume compared to 2022, according to a press release.