RBC and BMO Sell Moneris to U.S. Private Equity for $2 Billion

Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal announced on August 12 that they are jointly selling Moneris Solutions Corporation, the payment processor they co-own, to California-based Francisco Partners for approximately $2 billion. Moneris services more than 325,000 points of commerce across Canada and represents about one in three payment transactions nationwide. The deal requires regulatory approval, including a possible review under the Investment Canada Act, and is expected to close by the banks' fiscal first quarter of 2027.

A huge share of Canadian merchant payment data will soon sit with a U.S. owner. For e-commerce operators using Moneris or evaluating payment providers, this is a reminder to ask hard questions about where transaction data lives, who can access it, and what happens under cross-border legal requests.

Cozey Expands Its Sleeper Sofa Line

Montreal-based direct-to-consumer furniture company Cozey expanded its sleeper sofa category on August 11 with two new products, the Orian Sofa Bed and the Atmosphere Sofa Bed, broadening its lineup of multifunctional, modular furniture. The Orian pairs a compact modular design with a pull-out mechanism that converts it into a queen-size bed, while the Atmosphere adds an integrated sleeper option to one of Cozey's most popular modular collections. The launches build on the Neptune Sofa Bed, introduced in 2023 as Cozey's first sleeper sofa. The company continues its North American growth, following recent store openings in Calgary and Vancouver and a shift from pop-up to permanent stores in New York City and Montreal, with an Australia launch planned for later this year.

Cozey's continued product expansion and store rollout show how a direct-to-consumer brand built entirely online can grow into physical retail without abandoning its e-commerce engine. It is a useful reference point for any Canadian DTC operator weighing when and how to add brick-and-mortar touchpoints.

Canadian Tire's Q2 Results Show AI Pricing at Scale

Canadian Tire Corporation reported second quarter 2026 results on August 13, with normalized diluted earnings per share up 10.4 percent to $3.94. The company credited its in-house AI pricing tool, called DaiVID, with enabling strategic price cuts on more than 5,000 products while protecting overall margins, and e-commerce comparable sales climbed 12 percent for the quarter. The Triangle Rewards loyalty program keeps expanding too, with a Tim Hortons Rewards partnership set to launch this fall alongside existing tie-ins with Petro-Canada, RBC, and WestJet.

Canadian Tire's results show AI moving from pilot projects into everyday retail operations like pricing and merchandising at real scale. For smaller e-commerce operators, this is a signal of where competitive pressure is headed: dynamic, AI-driven pricing paired with loyalty data is becoming standard practice among the biggest Canadian retailers.

A Starting Point for Canadian Brands Weighing Reddit

Marketing News Canada published a practical guide on August 14 for Canadian brands considering Reddit, built around insights from Reddit's Blake Smith at SocialWest 2026. The piece argues most Canadian marketing teams have moved past whether to be on Reddit and are stuck on how to start without getting torn apart in the comments before saying anything useful. It points teams toward large, active communities like r/canada and r/PersonalFinanceCanada as a gauge of how Canadians actually talk when nobody is selling to them, plus city-specific subreddits such as r/Calgary and r/vancouver, each with hundreds of thousands of members, for brands with a local footprint.

Reddit keeps gaining ground as a brand discovery and trust-building channel, but it punishes overtly promotional posting. For Canadian marketers weighing where to put attention beyond the usual paid social channels, this is a low-risk way to start listening before spending.