WHSmith chief executive Carl Cowling has said its high street stores are “set up” for an increase in footfall over Christmas.
“In the UK high street, Christmas always comes in the product categories we’re in”, he told Retail Week.
“We’re not a luxury retailer so for us, Christmas is about wrapping paper, cards, gifts for the kids and books. We’re really set up for when the Christmas traffic is ready.”
Despite the retailer focusing largely on its travel division, it opened nine Toys R Us shop-in-shops in June. Cowling said it would be “interesting to see how Toys R Us does in the high street over Christmas”.
The shop-in-shops have been introduced on a trial basis but more concessions could be rolled out based on the level of success.
In terms of its high street stores, Cowling said there will be no new openings but he also does not plan to close any shops.
He said: “Our UK high street business is doing well and without besmirching the competition, I think the competition around us is quite weak in a number of the categories that we operate in. We’re reasonably positive about the outlook for our high street business.”
American ambitions
Cowling said Christmas makes up a smaller part of WHSmith’s travel performance but its stores are “already selling a lot of mince pies”.
“We’re trading well and for the first nine weeks of the new financial year, travel revenues are up 16%,” he said.
In its trading update for the full year to August 31, 2023, 2023, WHSmith posted a 28% increase in group revenue with a 96% surge in headline profit before tax to £143m.
The group plans to invest £140m in 2024, with Cowling confirming the majority of the investment will be in North America.
“North America is still our most exciting opportunity,” he said. “It’s the world’s largest travel retail market and we currently only have a market share of around 13%.
“Over the next five years we’re targeting to grow our market share to around 20% and the next 12 months will see us open 50 stores in America.”
Its international ambitions will also see its Curi.o.city concept stores expand to Dubai, which Cowling said is happening “earlier than he thought”.
In the UK, WHSmith is not working on any new partnerships or concessions but Cowling is excited about a new collaboration with Costa Coffee at Stansted and Aberdeen airports.
“We’ve just opened a hybrid store at Stansted so it has combined WHSmith and a Costa Coffee store and that’s gone down really well with customers,” he said.
“You go and buy all the stuff that you would expect to buy from us but also have barista coffee and that’s something that I think might take off.”
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