Airport Experience® News - Retail & Services Issue 2025

ONE-ON-ONE

WARD: Can you talk about key challenges or key opportunities that you’re seeing as you immerse yourself in this market? CRWYS-WILLIAMS: There are things that concessionaires have been talking about for quite a while, like the rising costs of building out in airports, the cost of labor, price caps within airports. There are all these inflationary costs that are sitting on the business at the moment, [and we need to ensure that] we square that circle with profitability. The challenges we’ve got to face into [include] how we more efficiently run our business and also market wide partnership challenges. Ultimately, if costs are going up, prices are going to go up as well. We need to face into that as a collective industry and make sure we square the circle. Because for me, the most important thing in any business and partnership is that everybody’s making money. WARD: WH Smith has won a few very prominent contracts in recent months. Can you talk about what you’re most excited about as those contracts come to fruition?

CRWYS-WILLIAMS: We’ve got a huge number of stores that we’ve won and have not yet opened. I don’t want to pull out any favorites – that wouldn’t be fair of me – but we’ve got exciting stuff in the works. We have a really broad range of [offerings] coming to market over the next 12 to 18 months. What I’m most excited about is just keeping that win rate going. Retail – in general, not just travel retail – is always driven by innovation. It’s why I love the industry and why I’ve stayed in it so long. The market will always evolve and change and it’s incumbent on us as retailers who operate within the travel space in conjunction with their airport partners, to find new, innovative ways to engage passengers who are coming through airports. Customers vote with their wallets. WARD: You’ve talked about the 20-percent goal and being aggressive with your expansion. Has it been a struggle ramping up the team and the commitment to respond to all the RFPs that have come out and continue to come out? CRWYS-WILLIAMS: Obviously there is a huge amount of development and new space that’s come to market. Since the

pandemic I think everybody has a huge amount of work on their plates. We don’t bid on every opportunity, but we do bid on every opportunity we think is commercially viable for us. We have a very supportive group of shareholders who are investing extremely heavily in the North American market. We luckily haven’t been constrained through resources on things that we would want to bid on. WARD: Are you considering acquisitions to help you reach that 20-percent goal? CRWYS-WILLIAMS: I never say never – you never know what’s around the corner. I think we’re very confident we can get to the goal organically. I wouldn’t rule out anything in the future but there are no immediate plans for any acquisitions. Above: WH Smith is on an aggressive expansion track in North America, and has multiple new store openings slated for the near-term future. Among them are Tansy at Hollywood Burbank Airport, Topaz Farm at Portland International Airport, Bonton Farms at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Liberty Station at San Diego International Airport.

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AX NEWS SEPTEMBER 2025