WHSmith is loved by millions as one of the UK's most trusted and recognised names. What you might not realise is that we're one of the nation's biggest employers too and we are always looking for more talented individuals to join our team.
Our Legacy
WHSmith started in 1792 with a small news vendor in Little Grosvenor Street, London, followed by the opening of our first bookstall in Euston Station in 1848.
We quickly established ourselves as the favoured newsagent, stationers and bookseller opening stores right across the UK, as well as our first international branch in Paris in 1903. From this point on, there has been no looking back.
We have over 17,000 employees working for us across both businesses; based in either our Head Offices (Swindon or London), our Distribution Centres (Swindon, Birmingham or Dunstable) or our stores.
Our Future
Even in these tough economic conditions we are consistently delivering good results through building on the strength of our brand, improving on our customer experience, offering the products our customers want at the right price and expanding our business into new areas here and internationally.
High Street Highlights
- We have over 600 stores located in almost all of the UK’s major high streets and shopping centres
- 1 million people visit to our High Street stores every day
- High Street’s business strategy concentrates on continuing to build upon our position of strength in our core markets, maximising sales, controlling costs and ensuring we deliver retail basics – good customer service.
- High Street trading is seasonal, peaking at Christmas, Easter and ‘Back to School’ in August and September. We work hard to ensure we deliver value for money for all our customers as we are sensitive to this tough economic climate
- Our website; www.whsmith.co.uk serves customers online 24 hours a day
Travel Highlights
- The business operates from over 500 units in airports, railway stations, motorway service areas, hospitals, bus stations and workplaces
- Every day 3.5 million visitors come to our Travel stores
- Travel’s business strategy is to focus on delivering value through organic growth, securing new contracts, trialling new formats, increasing average customer spend and making improvements to trading efficiency
- Travel stores cater for people on the move or in need of a convenience offer. Travel customers have less time to browse and are more interested in books or magazines, food and drinks for their journey, so our product range reflects this
However, don’t just take our word for it. The following media comments provide further information on how well our business is doing;
Daily Express: ‘WH Smith on cue for profit after sales fall’
Retail Week: ‘Record travel performance helps WH Smith to higher profits’
BBC News: ‘WH Smith has reported a rise in annual profits, as cost-cutting work and efforts to improve its margins offset a fall in sales’
Telegraph: ‘The secret to its beloved status in the City has been a steady increase in profits, and an even steadier increase in earnings per share’
Guardian: ‘WH Smith boasted that it had increased its profit margins despite tough trading conditions on the high street’