UK Travel Retail
About us
WH Smith PLC is a leading global retailer for news, books and convenience, and is made up of two core business – Travel and High Street. We're proud to be the familiar face people trust on their journeys, both in life and through life.
We aim to deliver our goals through our strategic priorities and initiatives by: constantly innovating, expanding globally, improving our profitability and delivering sustainable returns.
Travel
WHSmith is one of the world's leading travel retailers and we are proud to be the trusted home for travel essentials across the globe, supporting millions of customer journeys each year.
WHSmith Travel units offer customers a wide range of products for their journeys, including books and magazines, health and beauty products, souvenirs, digital accessories and food and drink options.
Customers can find us in UK airports, hospitals, railway stations and motorway services, and in International airports in 30 countries outside of the UK, including in North America with our US businesses Marshall Retail Group and InMotion.
Due to their location and convenience nature, Travel stores are, on average, significantly smaller than those in the High Street portfolio, but are typically located in higher footfall locations, with each of our stores tailored to meet the needs of any journey.
Travel Operates In:
Over 580
stores in Travel UK
Over 320
stores in North America
Over 320
stores in our Rest of the World division
International Travel Retail
High Street
On the high street, WHSmith have supported generations of our customers through their own journeys through life, whether it's their first book, their first day of school, or their first birthday. We're proud to help people discover new passions - or rediscover old ones - and today, we're proud to be the hub of the high street.
With an extensive reach across the UK and a presence on nearly every significant UK high street, our High Street stores sell a wide range of products, focused on the following categories: Stationery (including greetings cards), Books, and News and Impulse (including newspapers, magazines and confectionery), as well as a small range of Entertainment products in some stores. Trading in our High Street stores is seasonal, peaking at Christmas, with other peaks at Easter and in August / September for ‘Back to School’.
We're also growing as a multichannel retailer. WHSmith High Street includes our online businesses: Whsmith.co.uk, which sells a range of Books, Stationery, Magazines and Gifts, our online personalised greetings card site, Funkypigeon.com, leading online specialist pen retailer, Cultpens.com, and Treeofhearts.co.uk and Dottyaboutpaper.co.uk, which complement our existing Stationery ranges and enhance our customer offer.
Over 520
High Street stores in UK locations
Over 200
Our estate includes over 200 Post Offices within our stores
14000
WH Smith PLC employs circa 14,000 staff
Our Values
We strive to be outward-facing and customer-focused: an organisation that keeps its promises.
Living our Four Key Values is an important part of achieving this aim:
- Keep the customer at the heart of all that we do
- Our people are respected and valued in an honest, open environment
- Tenacity for ambitious and competitive results – delivered with pace
- Take personal responsibility and deliver what we say we will
A commitment to the principles of corporate responsibility is at the heart of WHSmith. We continue to be ranked highly in the Business in the Community’s Corporate Responsibility Index in recognition of our performance.
WH Smith PLC is listed on the London Stock Exchange (SMWH) and is part of the FTSE mid 250 Index.
WH Smith PLC (company registration number 5202036), WHSmith Travel Limited (company registration number 6560378) and WHSmith High Street Limited (company registration number 6560339) are registered in England and Wales at Greenbridge Road, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN3 3RX, VAT registration number GB238 5548 36.
