Bath branch leads the way as W H Smith revamps estate with diversity the focus

Changes are afoot at W H Smith’s Bath store, where the shop is the first in a trial of refurbishments for the chain, led by head of books Peter Selby and Al Aldous, outgoing books trading director.
The chain’s lucrative stationery and newsagent offering remains on the Bath store ground floor, but the first floor is now split between a post office (it helps boost footfall) and a 2,000 sq ft dedicated bookshop space.

Central islands have been replaced with front-facing bookshelves and chart bestsellers are clearly signposted; dedicated tables showcase Richard & Judy Book Club titles and the store boasts an offering of classics by Jane Austen, a resident of the city in the early 19th century. The firm’s ambitions to become the "home of children’s reading and the light reader" are crystal clear. "You can now stand at the front of our book department and see every single book. It’s light, it’s airy, it’s open, it’s easier to navigate and easier to browse. It’s also easier to get to a specific area," Aldous says. "If you’re a family, you can go straight to the kids’ department, it’s easier to spend time there."

The new-look bookshop has come at a cost, including a reduction of stock. Aldous says: "Within some of our ranges, what you find is that there is a lot of product that can sit on shelf and not sell, so we have to weigh up the decision around the cash investment into the stock, versus what that working capital can be put towards. We would not want to be taking range out if it lost us contributions to profit."

The refurbishment trial will now be monitored, with a view to exploring how many additional stores could get the same treatment. It’s the next step in a 10-year plan first started by Carl Cowling—now W H Smith group chief executive—and Aldous in 2017.

Aldous says of the plan: "We’ve transformed our ranges. From a consistency point of view, our recommendation, in my mind, across the UK is market-leading. Our focus still continues to be positioning ourselves as the home of the light book reader and we are famous for kids’ books and education. On top of that, we’ve been focusing on the big releases and we have had some really big successes on the back of that. I’ve been really proud. Continually we outsell Amazon for David Walliams. Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney has also been fantastic." Aldous, who has worked at WHS for 15 years, will start a new role at the chain’s online personalised greeting cards and gifts business FunkyPigeon.com as commercial director from 1st December 2019, with Ben Carrington moved into the books trading role.

New focuses
Selby, who joined the firm in April after a stint at Roald Dahl Story Company—prior to that he was head of books and music at Sainsburys—said he is excited by the opportunities at W H Smith. He hopes to focus on children’s; build on pre-orders, which have helped drive Walliams sales; and amplify the success of the Richard & Judy Book Club, which underpins the chain’s offer.

"It’s never been more important to engage children and families who might be quite reluctant with stories," he says. "I think we have, it sounds terribly pompous saying things like this, such a great responsibility—given we have over 550 stores on the high street—to be absolutely at the forefront of trying to make that change in people’s lives. We are a commercial organisation but I think in order for us to talk about how we are going to prosper, and Smith’s going forward, we have to understand where our place is on the high street, within the community."

A large part of engaging with children’s will include making diversity a key part of the books strategy, an issue Selby raised in a talk at The Bookseller’s Children’s Conference in September. "A lot of people got in touch with me after that conference and [the talk] seemed to touch a nerve in a really encouraging way," he says. "It’s brought a lot of that sentiment and thinking, that the high street can really drive that diversity, to the forefront. It comes back to having a range of books for customers that reflects them. It’s not just about BAME-related titles, although that is clearly part of it, because it has to be reflective of today’s modern Britain.

"If the publishing industry is honest, there aren’t enough titles like that at the moment. It’s getting much better, don’t get me wrong. We can all talk a really good fight, but let’s do something. Actually, it’s beholden for us to do that. That starts with children being able to see characters in books that look like them, have the same challenges or speak the same language. That will become part of the tapestry of what we do.

"Customers will start to see a more diverse range next year," promises Selby. "The simple fact is, a book like Izzy Gizmo [in Pip Jones and Sara Ogilvie’s series, with Simon & Schuster Children’s] is a brilliant picture book. That’s what it should all be about. But also it’s about a character that’s not white on the jacket, and it just talks to everybody more. We have a responsibility to serve our communities and I think this is a way we can do that." He adds: "Responses from publishers have been really positive. I think they might have previously had a desire to try and make a difference and to invest in that sort of publishing, but worried that there hasn’t necessarily been the platform to take those books to market in order to get that penetration."

Acknowledging W H Smith’s reputation, which sees it regularly voted the worst shop on the high street according to the Which? retail survey, Aldous commented: "We get hit hard by that survey, but you have to look at the financials." In the past year, group revenue has gone up 11%, though the High Street division’s revenue was down 2% to £580m, and trading profit was flat year on year, at £60m.

Aldous said: "From an investment point of view, we are doing a huge amount around re-developing our stores, but it’s got to be the right store and it’s got to be commercially and financially the right thing to do. You will have seen in an interview that [former c.e.o.] Steve Clarke said that there are certain stores you walk into and you’ll be like, ‘Why isn’t W H Smith doing these stores up?’ But it’s not financially viable, and actually it would put more strain on that store if we did that. We are probably one of the only companies out there that is sitting there with 577 stores and is actually in a position to say they are in good shape. We are not having a big programme of closing loads of shops."

New posts
Over the past year, W H Smith has significantly increased the number of post offices in store—39 new ones were opened—in a bid to drive footfall into shops, and is currently trialling Marks & Spencer food concessions in four High Street stores. But the biggest challenge remains the state of the high street: earlier this month The Works issued a profit warning, Clintons announced plans to close 66 stores, and shoppers saw the demise of Debenhams. "We’ve got to be very clever and make sure that where some of these stores are closing, we pick up the upside from it," said Aldous.

Acknowledging there has been a "soggy start" to Q4, with the upcoming general election also weighing on shoppers’ minds, Selby is optimistic for the festive trading period. "Even in the toughest, most austere times, people knuckle down and say, ‘We’re going to have a good Christmas’. It does always come through." Aldous says Adam Kay’s Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas is to be a big seller this Christmas. For Selby, the big hitters will be Jamie Oliver, Guinness World Records 2020, Kay’s title, Jeff Kinney’s latest Wimpy Kid, and Elton John’s Me. He adds: "I think, coming late, there will be a lot of volume still to come in those last few weeks. Tom Kerridge will also have a good post-Christmas period."

W H Smith continues to expand internationally with the recent acquisition of Marshall Retail Group, a speciality retailer in the casino-resort and airport marketplace, following on from the buyout of US travel retailer InMotion last year. "As a group we would always look at where there is an opportunity to open new stores. Obviously we just bought a US business, which gives us a massive footprint internationally, and we will continue to look for more locations where we believe that the brand will fit," said Aldous.

"With the 10-year plan [for the High Street business], it’s a gradual build. Obviously we have to make sure we’ve got the right people in place, which we have now. We’ve got all of our basics back to where we needed to be; it’s now actually [about] pausing, taking stock of data points that we’ve got from our trials, and determining what the next steps are."