Whitcoulls denies that it's about to lose its identity

By Duncan Bridgeman

Friday 8th November 2002

Whitcoulls managing director Ian Draper is adamant the company has no plans to rebrand the famous Kiwi bookstore chain despite Auckland Airport's three shops undergoing a makeover.

All three Whitcoulls bookshops at Auckland Airport have been transformed into WH Smith stores the London-based company bought Whitcoulls from Blue Star Group last year. The Wellington Airport branch is to be rebranded early next year.

Whitcoulls managing director Ian Draper said changing the brand in airport stores was part of an international strategy in travel locations, not the first wave of a national rebranding.

"There's absolutely no intention to rebrand Whitcoulls it has a 94% recognition rate."

Mr Draper said the travel division was run as a separate entity with a managing director in Sydney. However, Whitcoulls would still provide the new WH Smith stores with product and merchandise.

The Whitcoulls website still lists its airport sites as its own stores.

Mr Draper said WH Smith was not overly concerned at changing the Whitcoulls name. "They have had discussions with our board but at this stage there is no view on rolling out any changes to the rest of the network."

While Whitcoulls would keep its name for now, the chain had started importing some of the WH Smith product in time for Christmas. Personal stationery and boxed Christmas cards were already being shipped in from London in small quantities.

Mr Draper said the new products would give Whitcoulls a point of difference in an increasingly competitive market.

The market for booksellers had become much more competitive with the arrival of international brands. Borders had arrived from the US and now WH Smith was making its move in Australasia.

WH Smith announced earlier this year it planned to expand in Australia. It started with a toehold with shops in Sydney Airport but maintained the rollout would not undermine its commitment to Australia's Angus & Robertson stores.

The revamp at Auckland Airport indicates WH Smith is a serious player in this country and not just looking at a straight takeover.

Despite their small size the airport Whitcoulls stores had been completely reset with a new look and layout in line with WH Smith internationally.

"There's a standard cookie-cut format that we've taken from the UK travel business," Mr Draper said.

He said product categories and pricing would stay the same. "Fundamentally we're pretty much selling the same things."

Whitcoulls was slowly adding to its music and video/DVD division, in line with most other retailers, he said. The company sold music in two Auckland stores Queen Street Corner and the Botany Town Centre and was looking at selling products at other large stores in Wellington and Christchurch.

"Music works okay where we've got additional space but there are no immediate plans to roll that out," Mr Draper said.

"We need to learn the business and see how it performs over the next short while because it is something quite new to us."

If WH Smith does push ahead and rebrand Whitcoulls, it will spell the end of one of New Zealand's oldest national chain of booksellers.

Founded in Christchurch in 1882 Whitcoulls, originally known as Whitcombe & Tombs, was sold to Graeme Hart's Rank Group in 1991 for $71 million. Eric Watson's Blue Star Group paid $320 million for the chain, which includes Australia's 160 Angus & Robertson stores, in 1996.

WH Smith bought Whitcoulls, along with Bennetts bookshops and the Australian Angus & Robertson chain from struggling Blue Star parent US Office Products for $131 million.

WH Smith is the UK's leading book and stationery retailer, with more than 1200 stores worldwide, employing about 30,000 people in Europe, North America, Asia and the Pacific.

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