I would describe the culture at WHSmith as can-do. It's very fast paced, but it's very supportive too. We're one team and we do it together - get through the hard times and celebrate successes as a team!
OUR
PARTNERED
BRANDS
Partnerships
We seek to actively manage our space in stores and have developed a number of key partnerships with retail brands to maximise our product and service offer to customers.
Working with these partnered brands allows us to respond to growth opportunities and the changing needs of our customers, delivering evolution to our formats and ranges.
Our Hospital channel is a good example of how we continue to innovate with a strong proposition tailored to each location. We are able to offer hospital trusts a broad suite of formats and brands including WHSmith, M&S Simply Food, Costa Coffee and the Post Office.
- Marks & Spencer
- Costa Coffee
- Well Pharmacy
- Post Office
Our Partnerships
Marks & Spencer
WHSmith has been a franchise partner of M&S since 2012. We currently operate M&S Simply Food stores across the UK and we have M&S implants within our WHSmith stores, which are predominantly in hospitals. We continue to work with M&S as a long-standing franchise partner offering a range of high-quality products, from food options for now and later to bakery items and fresh flowers.
Costa Coffee
WHSmith partner with Costa Coffee, the nation’s favourite coffee shop brand, within the healthcare sector in the UK. We operate franchise units in Blackburn Hospital, Colchester Hospital and Churchill Hospital, Oxford. Costa Coffee deliver great coffee with pride, elevating the coffee experience to make it fun and accessible for everyone. Our units offer a welcome space to relax and enjoy a drink, as well as hot and cold food options, and complement WHSmith’s suite of brands and formats so that we can best meet the needs of our NHS partners and customers in a variety of different sized hospitals across the country.
Post office
WHSmith’s offer is complemented in c.200 of our High Street stores by our partnership with Post Office Limited. We have been successfully operating Post Offices in our High Street stores since 2006. WHSmith Post Office branches offer the same range of services as directly managed Post Offices and our staff receive regular product and compliance training. Additional benefits for our customers include seven day opening and longer trading hours, as well as a modern open plan environment, making it easier for all customers to access Post Office services within their local communities.
Well Pharmacy
WHSmith partner with Well Pharmacy, the third largest pharmacy chain in the UK, delivering a ‘pharmacy within a shop’ concept at a number of our UK WHSmith Travel stores. With on-site pharmacists, in selected stores, this enables time-pressed passengers to get health and wellbeing advice on the go, and allows them to buy from a range of pharmacy-only medicines.