CHINA. WHSmith has expanded its presence in China with an exclusive ‘toys & kids’ brand called Zoodle.
The concept is launching in the country through a franchise partnership with La Source Commercial Co.
The first Zoodle store opened in Changsha Huanghua International Airport in March 2019. Further stores are scheduled to open this summer at Tianjin Binhai International and Ürümqi Diwopu International airports, with two more at the new Beijing Daxing International Airport.
The Zoodle concept features popular international and local brands such as Lego, Mattel, V-Tech, Richelieu, and Gincho, and also offers a kids’ stationery range.
La Source is a travel retail distributor based in Changsha. It is the exclusive travel retail distributor for Travel Blue, Richelieu, and Gincho, and is also a Lego distributor. La Source’s customer network encompasses duty paid, duty free and inflight retail operators, as well as high speed rail, high street and online retailers.
“We are very pleased to partner with La Source and their professional and enthusiastic team,” said WHSmith International Chairman Louis de Bourgoing. “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.”
La Source Commercial Co. Founder and General Manager Fan Xianming commented: “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 & kids market. With this intent, we saw good synergies with WHSmith’s proprietary kids’ brand, Zoodle. We believe that WH Smith has a 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.”
