WHSmith bolsters franchise business

WHSmith has launched a new cloud-based, B2B online system on NetSuite SuiteCommerce to support its franchise business. The retailer’s franchise partners and wholesale partners across the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia will be able to use this to make purchases, manage payments, review order history and account details, and request refunds and returns. WHSmith has also eliminated manual processes from its previous systems such as faxing and emailing orders.

“WHSmith sells its own brand and selected branded merchandise to over 200 franchise stores and various wholesale customers throughout the world. To meet the needs of our customers we needed to develop a world-class business-to-business commerce capability. NetSuite SuiteCommerce offers an ideal combination of rapid time to market and rich functionality that will help us support the growth of our franchise and wholesale business,” says David McGrath, head of shared IT services at WHSmith. “It’s a win-win for both WHSmith and our franchise partners that will streamline operations, help us future-proof our business and open the door to strategic opportunities for continued growth.”

    Share Story:

Recent Stories


The Very Group
The Very Group transformed range and assortment planning using Board.

Watch the full video

Smarter merchandise planning across the retail value chain
In this webinar, Matt Hopkins, Head of Retail Solutions, Board, Catherine Tooke, SVP Product & Planning, Sweaty Betty, and Subir Gupta, Managing Principal, Thought Provoking Consulting join Retail Systems Editor Jonathan Easton to discuss the findings of the recent Retail Systems report The Merchandise Planning Challenge: How are retailers harnessing technology to optimise planning and retain customers? and examine the innovations that are improving retail planning.