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WHSmith

For other uses, see William H. Smith.

WH Smith PLC
Formerly
  • Pollquote Limited (2004–2006)[1]
  • New WH Smith plc (June–August 2006)[1]
Company typePublic
IndustryRetail
Founded1792; 232 years ago (1792) in London, England
HeadquartersSwindon, England
Number of locations
525 (High Street)
580 (UK Travel)
600 (International Travel)[a][2]
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Henry Staunton (Chairman)
Carl Cowling (CEO)
Brands
  • InMotion
  • District Market
  • Flight Stop
  • Lick
  • Marshall Rousso
  • Root & Branch
  • Tech Express
  • curi.o.city
[3]
RevenueIncrease £1,793 million (2023)[2]
Increase £182 million (2023)[2]
Increase £88 million (2023)[2]
Number of employees
14,177 (2023)[2]
WebsiteConsumer
Corporate
Footnotes / references
[4][5]

WH Smith PLC, trading as WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son), is a British retailer, with headquarters in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and motorway service station shops selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, entertainment products and confectionery.

The company was formed by Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna in 1792 as a news vendor in London. It remained under the ownership of the Smith family for many years and saw large-scale expansion during the 1970s as the company began to diversify into other markets. Following a rejected private equity takeover in 2004, the company began to focus on its core retail business. It was responsible for the creation of the ISBN book identifier.[6]

WHSmith is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

History

Formation

The WHSmith logo until the early 1990s, featuring the then-familiar cube of letters. This was briefly revived on special bags and merchandise to mark the firm's 225th anniversary in 2017.

In 1792, Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna established the business as a news vendor in Little Grosvenor Street, London.[7] After their deaths, the business — valued in 1812 at £1,280 (equivalent to £107,686 in 2023) — was taken over by their youngest son William Henry Smith, and in 1846 the firm became W. H. Smith & Son when his only son, also named William Henry, became a partner.[8] The firm took advantage of the railway boom by opening news-stands on railway stations, beginning with Euston in 1848.[8] In 1850, the firm opened depots in Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool.[9][8] It also ran a circulating library service, from 1860 to 1961, and a publishing business based at the Steam Press, Cirencester.[10][11] The younger W. H. Smith used the success of the firm as a springboard into politics, becoming a Member of Parliament (MP) in 1868[8] and serving as a minister in several Conservative governments.[8]

After the death of W. H. Smith the younger in 1891,[12] his widow was created Viscountess Hambleden in her own right;[8] their son inherited the business from his father and the viscountcy from his mother. After the death of the second Viscount in 1928, the business was reconstituted as a limited company, in which his son, the third Viscount, owned all the ordinary shares.[7] On the death of the third Viscount in 1948, the death duties were so large that a public holding company had to be formed and shares sold to WH Smith staff and the public.[7] A younger brother of the third Viscount remained chairman until 1972, but the Smith family's control slipped away, and the last family member left the board in 1996.[7]

Stall on Horsted Keynes station platform, Sussex, preserved by the Bluebell Railway
WHSmith bearing the former logo in Huntingdon, England, in 1986

In 1966, WHSmith originated a nine-digit code for uniquely referencing books, called Standard Book Numbering or SBN. It was adopted as international standard ISO 2108 in 1970, and was used until 1974, when it became the ISBN scheme.[6]

Expansion

From the 1970s, WHSmith began to expand into other retail sectors. WH Smith Travel operated from 1973[7] to 1991. The Do It All chain of DIY shops originated with an acquisition in 1979,[7] becoming a joint venture with Boots in 1990;[7] Boots acquired WHSmith's share in June 1996.[7] The bookshop chain Waterstone's, founded by former WHSmith executive Tim Waterstone in 1982, was bought in 1989[7] and sold in 1998.[7]

The expanding WHSmith group adopted a new "house style" or corporate identity in 1973, with a new logo and a change of name from W. H. Smith & Son to WHSmith. The new hexagon-shaped logo featured the initials of the group on the sides of a box employing a new orange and brown colour scheme, replacing a logo that had been in use since before 1830. This updated visual identity extended throughout the company's operations, specified by a design manual, covering everything from the appropriate use of the logo in retail environments, through the design of decorative elements on wrapping paper and promotional material, the layout of stationery, labels and forms, and even crockery, also informing the design of staff uniforms and packaging.[13]

In 1986, WHSmith bought a 75% controlling share of the Our Price music retail chain;[7] in the 1990s it also bought other music retailers including the Virgin Group's smaller (non-Megastore) shops. The 75% share of Virgin Our Price was sold to Virgin Retail Group Ltd in July 1998 for £145m.[7] WHSmith also owned the American record chain The Wall,[14] which was sold to Camelot Music in 1998.[15]

In March 1998, the company acquired John Menzies's retail outlets for £68m, which for many years had been the main rival to the company's railway-station outlets. This purchase also cleared the way for WHSmith's retail expansion into Scotland. Prior to the takeover, Menzies's larger Scottish shops (carrying a very similar range of products to High Street WHSmith shops elsewhere) dominated the market, and the latter's presence was minimal.[16]

Restructuring

For several years, the company's retail arm had difficulties competing with specialist book and music chains on one side and large supermarkets on the other. This led to poor financial performance, and a takeover bid in 2004 by Permira, which fell through.[17] The company reacted to this by disposing of its overseas subsidiaries[18] and its publishing business Hodder Headline, in order to concentrate on reforming its core businesses.[19]

In August 2006, the company demerged the retail and news distribution arms of the business into two separate companies: WH Smith plc (retail) and Smiths News plc (newspaper and magazine distribution).[20] In September 2010 WHSmith bought The Gadget Shop from The Entertainer.[21] That year, it also bought online greeting card retailer Funky Pigeon.[22]

Since 2011

A WHSmith-owned Funky Pigeon shop at Leeds railway station

In April 2011, WHSmith agreed a deal with the legal services provider QualitySolicitors under which QualitySolicitors would place representatives in up to 500 of its UK branches.[23][24][25] Past Times went into administration in January 2012, and the brand name was bought by WHSmith in March 2013.[26]

In October 2013, WHSmith announced that it had bought the ModelZone brand and would sell products under this brand through existing WHSmith shops.[27][28][29] In October 2014, WHSmith announced as part of its preliminary statement that it was planning on extending its greetings card offering by launching the low-price brand Cardmarket on a trial basis. According to the statement, these trial shops would be in low rent areas and let to WHSmith under short-term leases.[30] The company announced in late 2018 that the trial of Cardmarket would be wound up, with the closure of the Cardmarket stores. This was in addition to the announcement of the closure for at least six WHSmith stores which were deemed economically unviable following a strategic business review.[31]

Late in 2017, the company purchased Cult Pens, a UK-based online retailer of specialist pens, for an undisclosed amount.[32]

In 2018, WHSmith acquired the brand InMotion, the largest airport-based electronics retailer in the US. InMotion expanded to operate stores within UK airports including Heathrow, Manchester and Birmingham, as well as overseas in Spain and Australia.[33]

In July 2020, WHSmith announced more than 150 redundancies at its head office, representing approximately 18% of the head office workforce.[34] In November 2020, the company announced that, after a loss of £280 million, it had decided to close 25 stores in the country, noting that eight stores had been closed in 2019.[35]

In August 2020, WHSmith launched a new flagship store in Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport, in collaboration with Well, which features an in-house pharmacy.[36]

WHSmith announced in June 2023 that it would not be opening any more stores on High Streets in the UK and would instead add stores in airports, railway stations and in the United States and Europe.[37] Also in June, toy retailer Toys "R" Us announced plans to open nine concessions in WHSmith stores, marking the return of the brand's physical presence in the UK after its own stores closed in 2018.[38][39]

In December 2023, the logo was changed as part of a rebranding exercise. The changed stores, which included those in York, Canterbury and Preston, dropped the word "Smith" in favour of "WHS".[40]

Television

WHSmith founded one of the UK's earliest cable television channels, Lifestyle, which was carried on almost every cable system in the UK and Ireland prior to the start of Sky Television in 1989.[7] By late 1984, the company had bought a 15% stake in Screensport and from January 1986, took over the operations and management when ABC and R Kennedy pulled out.[41] Both channels were closed in 1993.[42][43]

Operations

United Kingdom

Brentwood High Street branch
Interior of a branch in Pontefract, West Yorkshire seen in 2019

Since 2007, the company has taken on a number of Post Office branches, mainly within its high street shops.[44] By April 2016, this had reached 107, including former Crown Post Offices, with plans for an additional 61.[45]

WHSmith also operate a number of shops within hospitals, following its acquisition of Yorkshire-based newsagent chain United News in March 2008.[46]

In addition to its existing joint ventures and franchise shops, the company trialled the smaller format, convenience-based WHSmith Local concept during 2013.[47] Targeted at independent newsagents and post office business owners,[48] a total of 40 such stores were trading and a further 40 planned by the time the 2015 annual report had been published.[49]

Since 2011, the company has also opened shops using its Funky Pigeon brand and subsidiary Funky Pigeon.com Ltd which offers stationery and personalised greetings cards both online and via stores.[50] In 2024, WHSmith announced that they had reached an exclusive agreement with Toys R Us owner WHP Global to open Toys R Us concessions inside its stores.[51][52]

Store at Heathrow Airport

International

Canadian operations initially began in 1950. By 1970, there were 14 stores in Canada.[53] They continued until 1989, when they were sold to domestic owners and renamed SmithBooks. SmithBooks later merged with Coles, forming Chapters, which retained the Coles and SmithBooks names and locations while also opening new namesake superstores. Many SmithBooks locations were eventually closed or converted to Coles; a few locations still retain the name as of 2013.[54]

In 2018, WHSmith re-entered the Canadian and American markets through its acquisition of Airport Electronics Retailer InMotion[55] and Marshall Retail Group in 2019. As of 2024, WHSmith owns 320 stores in North America.[56]

By 1970, WHSmith had one retail store in both Brussels and Paris.[53] The company retains one shop on Rue de Rivoli in the centre of Paris, France. However the store in Paris is now branded as Smith & Son.[57][58][59]

The company acquired Whitcoulls and Bennetts in New Zealand and Angus & Robertson in Australia in 2001 with plans to convert Whitcoulls to WHSmith.[60] However they were later sold off along with those in Hong Kong International Airport (now as Page One) and in Singapore at Changi Airport, in 2004 (now Times Travel under the Times Bookstores banner).[61][18]

WHSmith restarted its Australian operations in March 2011 following the collapse of Angus & Robertson/Borders who held the naming rights in Australia. The first new shop was opened at Melbourne Airport, in the international departures terminal. There are now three outlets at Melbourne Airport, three at Southern Cross railway station and one within Melbourne Central.[62]

WHSmith has opened shops in major Indian airports. WHSmith is currently in the process of planning 30 kiosk shops in China.[63] Currently, WHSmith sponsor the IPL cricket team (Sunrisers Hyderabad) (SRH) in India.[64]

In October 2008, WHSmith, together with SSP, opened five branches within Copenhagen Airport,[65] and in April 2009, opened a branch in Stockholm-Arlanda Airport.[66] In 2009, WHSmith opened two shops in Shannon Airport, County Clare, Ireland. A further three shops are operated in Dublin Airport's Terminal Two, which opened in November 2010 and 5 shops in Dublin Airport's Terminal One, which opened in 2013. The chain promised when winning this latter contract to hire a full-time Irish book buyer; however, the appointment of an Australian, based in London and not in Dublin, drew adverse criticism.[67]

In 2013, it opened an additional four shops at Dublin Airport's Terminal 1. Eason's, currently at T1 in Dublin, asked the airport operator to tender for a new contract one year earlier as the retailer blamed a fall in sales on the success of Terminal 2 at Dublin, which carried the majority of long haul traffic and long haul passengers tend to spend more on books.[68]

WHSmith opened four branches in Helsinki Airport, Finland in late 2016 and early 2017.[69][70]

The company has a shop in Malta International Airport[71] which was opened in 2016 under a franchise agreement with Miller Distributors.[72]

Controversies

On 19 June 2009, WHSmith apologised after promoting a book on cellar rapist Josef Fritzl as one of the "Top 50 Books for Dad" as a Father's Day gift.[73][74]

In October 2012, WHSmith faced criticism from shooters after the sale of shooting magazines to children under 14 was banned, although it is legal for children under 14 to go shooting. The decision appeared to follow a campaign by animal rights activists. The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) campaigned against the ban, including a 12,000+ signature petition. In mid-November it emerged that the restrictions had been removed from all UK shooting magazines.[75][76][77]

On 14 October 2013, WHSmith took their website offline because "unacceptable titles were appearing on their website". These were e-books with themes of abuse.[78]

The chain was criticised in 2014 for the condition of its shops, with both analysts and customers accusing the chain of under-investing in its estate.[79][80]

In 2015, an investigation by The Independent revealed that WHSmith and other airport retailers were charging VAT to shoppers travelling outside the European Union, then claiming the VAT back from the government and not passing the refund on to customers.[81] This was made possible by the practice of scanning customer's boarding passes at the till point – solely for the benefit of the company – which made the passengers unwitting accomplices in their own deception. After a public outcry, a customer revolt in which many refused to hand over their boarding passes, and an intervention by Parliament, the company confirmed in March 2017 that it would pass on the VAT reduction to customers spending over £6, who were travelling outside the EU.[82]

In 2015, the company was also criticised for the prices charged in its branches in hospitals, after media investigations found some items to be on sale at significantly higher prices than in high street branches.[83] In May 2018, WHSmith apologised after it was revealed that it had made more than £700 by selling single tubes of toothpaste for £7.99 through its branch in Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield.[84] The price was described as an 'error' and WHSmith promised that the proceeds from the sales would be donated to a local charity. The price was restored to £2.49, still more than three times the price of 80p charged in a nearby Tesco.[85]

In 2023, the company was found to have broken the minimum wage law, having failed to pay around £1 million to 17,607 of its workers. The company said that this was because of an error related to its uniform policy, with a spokesperson saying "Following a review with HMRC in 2019, and in common with a number of retailers, it was brought to our attention that we had misinterpreted how the statutory wage regulations were applied to our uniform policy for staff working in our stores. This was a genuine error and it was rectified immediately with all colleagues reimbursed in 2019".[86]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ As of 2022.

References

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  2. ^ a b c d e "Annual Report 2023" (PDF). W. H. Smith. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  3. ^ "Brands And Partnered Brand". W. H. Smith. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
  4. ^ "WH Smith PLC overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". Companies House. 10 August 2004. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  5. ^ "Terms of Use". WH Smith PLC. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
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  9. ^ Walbank, Alan. 1960. "Railway Reading."The Book Collector. 9 no.3 (Autumn): 285-291.
  10. ^ Lange, Ernst Philipp K. (1861). "W. H. Smith & Son's Subscription Library (advert)". The madman of St. James', tr. from the Germ. of Philip Galen, by T.H. London: C. H. Clarke. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  11. ^ "Circulating and Lending Libraries", Handbook to London as It Is, London: John Murray, 1879
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  13. ^ "A new face for WH SMITH". Design. No. 297. September 1973. p. 24. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
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  29. ^ Tweet by @ModelZone on 13/11/13, Twitter. "9 more to open by 23/11/13 in the following locations- CARDIFF, CROYDON, GATESHEAD METRO, GLASGOW SAUCHIEHALL..."
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  38. ^ "WHSmith Set to Bring Toys"R"Us Back to the High Street for UK Shoppers This Summer". PR Newswire. WHP Global. 1 June 2023. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  39. ^ Morgan, Aoife (1 June 2023). "Toys R Us returns to the high street with WHSmith concessions". Retail Gazette. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  40. ^ Williamson, Lucy (24 December 2023). "Kent WHSmith store changes logo - but people 'mistaking it for NHS'". Kent Live. Archived from the original on 7 February 2024.
  41. ^ Shadow cast over cable TV. Jonathan Miller, Media Correspondent. The Times, Monday, 1 December 1986; pg. 3.
  42. ^ thesearethedays (1 March 1993). "Remembering Screensport - The Final Days". YouTube. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  43. ^ thesearethedays (14 January 1993). "Remembering Lifestyle - including Final Closedown". YouTube. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
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  45. ^ Butler, Sarah (13 April 2016). "Post Office to move up to 61 branches to WH Smith". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
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  47. ^ "WH Smith Local franchise gathers interest from indie retailers". The Grocer. 1 March 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
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  54. ^ SmithBooks – ON. Yellowpages.ca. Retrieved on 19 September 2013.
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  56. ^ "Our Locations". WH Smith PLC. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
  57. ^ "WHSmith Paris". Whsmith.fr. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  58. ^ Kemp, Margaret (12 October 2016). "WH Smith Reopens Traditional English Tearoom on Rue de Rivoli". Bonjourparis.com. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  59. ^ "Smith&Son Paris. A tale of a street. The English Bookshop".
  60. ^ "For Whitcoulls, read WHSmith - Business News". NZ Herald. 21 July 2023. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  61. ^ "Struggling WH Smith exits Australasia with £47m sale". The Independent. 23 April 2004. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  62. ^ W. H. Smith touches down in Australia Archived 25 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine Inside Retailing
  63. ^ W. H. Smith 'Travel Shops' Help High Street Falls Sky News Business
  64. ^ "WHSmith to be principal sponsor for SunRisers Hyderabad". The Hindu Businessline. 16 April 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  65. ^ Williams Fannin, Clare (1 December 2008). "SSP and WHSmith open first of five news shops at Copenhagen" (PDF). SSP. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
  66. ^ Englund, Raine (1 April 2009). "The first WHSmith in Sweden opens at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport" (PDF). SSP. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
  67. ^ "W. H. Smith's 'Irish' book buyer for Terminal 2 stores is Australian". Independent.ie. 5 August 2010. Retrieved 20 August 2010.
  68. ^ Eason loses out to W. H. Smith in deal to run bookshops at Dublin Airport. Independent.ie (21 July 2013). Retrieved on 19 September 2013.
  69. ^ "Finavia brings traveller retail expert WHSmith to Finland". Finavia. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  70. ^ "WHSmith to open four shops at Helsinki Airport". Finavia. 2 May 2017. Archived from the original on 10 July 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  71. ^ "Shopping at Malta International Airport - WHSmith". Malta International Airport. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  72. ^ Tran, David (17 May 2016). "WHSmith launches flagship at Malta airport". DFNI Online. Archived from the original on 25 November 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  73. ^ Singh, Amar (19 June 2009). "WHSmith sorry for Josef Fritzl Father's Day promotion". London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 8 June 2010.
  74. ^ Stina Backer, "Fritzl: a perfect gift for Father's Day, say Tesco and W. H. Smith", The Independent (London), 20 June 2009.
  75. ^ Eden, Richard (14 October 2012). "W. H. Smith bans children from buying shooting magazines". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  76. ^ Silverman, Rosa (24 October 2012). "Team GB shooting coach hits out at W. H. Smith magazine ban". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  77. ^ "Key Issues". Basc.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  78. ^ "W. H. Smith takes website offline after porn e-book scandal". BBC News. 14 October 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  79. ^ "The Dismal Decline of WHSmith". Management Today. 21 October 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  80. ^ "WH Smith share price remains flat despite fall in underlying sales – and its carpets are still a mess". City AM. 12 November 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  81. ^ Neville, Simon (15 October 2015). "WH Smith continues to demand boarding passes from passengers to avoid paying VAT". The Independent. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  82. ^ Calder, Simon (14 March 2017). "Boots and WH Smith are giving tax back to airport customers – how does it work?". The Independent. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  83. ^ "WH Smith to cut prices in hospitals after claims of exploiting NHS patients". The Guardian. 22 September 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  84. ^ "WHSmith 'sorry' for Pinderfields Hospital £7.99 toothpaste". BBC News. 12 May 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  85. ^ "WH Smith criticised for selling toothpaste at £8 a tube in hospital". The Independent. 12 May 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  86. ^ "Swindon-based retail giant fined after failing to pay staff £1 million". Swindon Advertiser. 21 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
Quelle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHSmith