One giant leap

More than six months in, the majority of Giant Tiger’s import clearances are now managed in-house through the system. Not all, though. The company still uses one broker—Montreal, Quebec-based Omnitrans—to manage its imports of textiles. It’s a highly complicated area, and Matchett says he’s content to leave it to the experts.

Peace of mind
The company’s efforts to take control of its imports are helping it establish a reputation as a good importer. The more streamlined and accurate processes have helped it meet the mandates of the US Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) and the Canadian Partners In Protection (PIP) border security programs. It signed on to the programs to ensure border delays were minimal, both for imports into Canada and for shipments to its single store in the US.

At a time when many companies are seeking to outsource as much of their supply chain processes as possible, Giant Tiger’s decision to take things in-house may appear unusual.

But Matchett doesn’t see it that way. He sees the company’s choice to take on its import processes as a sort of insurance. His team no longer has to worry about vendor or broker mistakes. It doesn’t have to chase down suppliers months after the fact. If something goes wrong, it has the tools—and the confidence—to correct the situation immediately on its own.

“I wanted to make sure we were accurate. If there’s a problem with one of our imports, Canada Customs doesn’t go to our Customs broker, our freight forwarder or any other third party. They come to Giant Tiger, as we are the ones responsible. We wanted to take ownership of the process,” he says.

“We’re ready for any Customs audit. We’ve validated everything, documented the processes and have done our due diligence. We have a very smooth operation now.”