WHSmith has extended its reach in China through its proprietary children’s and toy brand Zoodle via a franchise partnership with La Source Commercial Co. Ltd.

Zoodle debuted with a store at Changsha Huanghua International Airport in March, with more stores due to open at Tianjin Binhai International and Ürümqi Diwopu International Airports this summer. A further two will open at the new Beijing Daxing International Airport.

Popular local and international brands will merchandise at the stores, including Lego, Mattel, V-Tech, Richelieu, Gincho and more. An exclusive stationery range for children will flank the assortment.

STRENGTHENED FOOTPRINT

Louis de Bourgoing, International Chairman, WHSmith said: “We are very pleased to partner with La Source and their professional and enthusiastic team. We are confident that they are the best partner to develop Zoodle within China travel retail.

“We now have both WHSmith and Zoodle brands franchised in China which cements our vision to become a leading travel retailer within our categories.”

Fan Xianming Founder and General Manager, La Source Commercial Co. Ltd added: “We have been steadily growing our distribution business in China within the quickly growing travel retail sectors. Over the past few years, we were keen to develop a focused business line within the toys and kids’ market.

“With this intent, we saw good synergies with WHSmith’s proprietary kids’ brand, Zoodle. We believe that WHSmith has strong international expertise and know-how to operate and with their Zoodle brand, we could leverage our local insights to develop and grow rapidly in China.

“We are proud to have opened our first Zoodle store at Changsha International Airport and have many more stores in the pipeline that we would be rolling out very soon.”

Changsha-based La Source is the exclusive travel retail distributor of Travel Blue, Richelieu and Gincho and an important Lego distributor.

Its network comprises duty paid and duty free operations, inflight retailers, high-speed rail providers and major high street and online retailers.