No joke. Register washeur in the search bar of the RONA website. You will no longer come across a washing machine, but instead metal washers or rings that are placed between the screw and the nut. Do the same exercise with cesarcontraction of swazallto see an inventory of reciprocating saws spread out before you.
The campaign of the hardware store which is celebrating its 85th anniversary this year and which since last February has been owned by the American investment fund Sycamore Partners, specializing in retail (Bureau en gros, Aéropostale, Jones New York), has been rolling out since 4 November in social networks.
RONA is renovating its “French” search engine. The company has learned 150 terms from the very specific lexicon of Quebec renovation to its online search engine. (RONA, Screenshot)
Make yourself understood online and in store
Advertising In Quebec we talk about reno shows budding renovators who have no trouble making themselves understood in-store, but who have hit a wall until now when using the same terms when shopping online.
The video, which lasts more than a minute, demystifies the new tool and invites Quebec consumers to enrich the lexicon themselves. In doing so, their suggestions could be added to the 150 terms already indexed when the company “renovated” its search engine.
“As part of our 85th anniversary, the management team based in Quebec, in collaboration with our creative agency Sid Lee, decided to pay homage to our roots by launching on social networks: La Langue de chez nous” , indicated to Soleil by email to the RONA media relations team.
The hardware store continues by emphasizing the uniqueness of Quebec jargon, and that this is even more true in renovation. “The objective is to facilitate the search process for Quebecers who visit our website, thus improving their shopping experience,” asserts the banner.
Guy “The Ayatollah of Language” Bertrand, the retired linguist who until last June was a linguistic advisor at -, initially received the concept with suspicion. “At the time, I said to myself: we are leveling down,” he said in an interview with Soleil. I see it a bit like spelling checkers. You write something by sound, but it will write it to you as it should.”
150 words from the Quebec renovation lexicon were identified to power the new version of the RONA website search engine. (RONA, Screenshot)
Bringing jargon and sustained language closer together
For the linguist, the approach is in a way a way of democratizing the world of renovation. It’s a way of giving people a tool — literally! — who don’t know any better. “It’s fair game,” he adds, indicating that it’s a completely correct and logical thing. He also compares the world of renovation and its lexicon to that of garage owners and is delighted with the fact that today, the correct French terms are clearly displayed in garages, even if the employees communicate in their own jargon.
“This way, we don’t bully anyone,” insists Guy Bertrand. Yes, you may not know the right French word. But we must not forget that there was a time when these products were sold to us only in the English language and that it is this knowledge that was passed down from one generation to the next.” That’s how the word washer became quebequised in washeur.
You just have to look in the terms that you know and which are passed down from generation to generation – and which often prevailed in stores at a certain time before the imposition of the Charter of the French language – to find the coveted object. A fabulous way to learn how to name it with the right words in French! (RONA, Screenshot)
Getting closer to Quebecers despite American control
Digging into his memories, the latter recalls the mornings spent at the late Pascal in Trois-Rivières with his father.
“The hardware store that smelled of rubber and metal,” he recalls. But still, if you wanted to have washeurs and you asked the clerk for washers, he would never have understood.”
It’s hard not to see here an attempt by RONA to get closer to its Fleurdelsée customers. After the Quebec flagship first passed into the hands of American interests in 2016, attachment to the brand eroded somewhat. To the irritation caused by the closure of stores in 2019 and then at the beginning of 2024 was added last year an investigation by the Office québécois de la langue française.
Quebecois rather than Spanish or English
In January, the Montreal Journal had revealed that the owner of the brand required the use of a digital platform, CommerceHub, accessible only in English or Spanish. A platform that all suppliers, manufacturers or manufacturers wishing to offer their products in its stores were then forced to use.
An obligation that the Quebec government then firmly denounced. Jean-François Roberge, the minister responsible for the French language, described the whole thing as deplorable while evoking the lack of consideration on the part of RONA management towards French-speaking Quebecers.
“Our search engine now offers synonyms using word matching. We are, by the same token, giving artificial intelligence a boost since it does not yet understand our language, explains the media relations team. We allow it to be even more intelligent in terms of Quebec jargon. Quebecers can suggest new words to add. All they have to do is comment on our posts on Facebook and Instagram and give us their suggestions.”
It remains to be seen whether this Quebec-style francization approach will make us forget the disappointments of the past and strengthen consumers’ attachment to a brand which, despite everything, continues to support Quebecers in their renovation projects.
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