Kobo Case Study
KOBO AND WHSMITH COLLABORATE TO
BRING A BEST-IN-CLASS eREADING
EXPERIENCE TO THE UK
Next chapter in partnership expands “Kobo Centres” into an additional 150 WHSmith
High Street locations across the UK this year – totalling 250 locations
Overview
Country or Region: United Kingdom
Partner Profile
WHSmith offers the biggest catalogue
of eBooks in the UK and first touch
screen eReader in the market.
WHSmith are a market force on the UK
High Streets, the first “Book Store” to
have an eReader offering.
Business Situation
A venerable UK institution – in business
since the late 1700s – WHSmith saw an
opportunity to bring eReading, along
with eReaders, to its customer base.
Solution
WHSmith partnered with Kobo, making
it the first brick-and-mortar bookseller
to introduce eReading to UK readers.
Benefits
 Opportunity for Kobo to reach over
70% of the UK population with their
first to UK market eReaders
 The partnership with Kobo has
formally ushered WHSmith into the
eReading technology arena.
 The relationship has fostered an
integrated marketing and retail
strategy that branches from the instore experience to online.
“The strength of the WHSmith brand, combined with the innovative Kobo eReading
platform, has proven to be an excellent solution for the U.K. market. The way people
read is transforming and our combined solution ensures that consumers can access the
material they want to read in the format they want to read it in. The adoption of the
Kobo platform by WHSmith has been a great step towards the integration of physical
retail and the distribution of digital content.”
– Stephen Clarke, WHSmith
Situation
WHSmith is synonymous with reading in the UK. Founded in the late 1700s, it is estimated
that every year 73 per cent of the UK’s population visit the bookseller, and that 91 per cent
of the population of Great Britain live within a 20 minute drive of one of WHSmith’s 1,200
stores.
As a leading UK retailer, offering a wide range of products including stationery and books as
well as news and impulse items, the company has experienced several evolutions
throughout its long history, including expanding WHSmith Travel stores to meet the needs
of travellers and commuters.
In 2011, WHSmith recognized that another evolution was taking place: eReading was
gaining a foothold with the UK’s most avid readers. As such, the company saw an
opportunity to sell both physical books and eBooks, and remain competitive in both spaces.
While the company had launched its own proprietary eBookstore, there was an appetite to
provide consumers with dedicated eReading devices and free eReading apps.
About Kobo
Kobo Inc. is one of the world’s fastestgrowing eReading services offering
nearly 4-million eBooks, magazines and
newspapers to millions of customers in
190 countries. Believing that consumers
should have the freedom to read any
book on any device, Kobo provides
consumers with a choice when
reading. From its Family of eReaders,
which includes the Kobo Touch™, Kobo
Mini, Kobo Glo, Kobo Aura, Kobo Aura
HD, Kobo Arc, Kobo Arc 7, Kobo Arc
7HD, and Kobo Arc 10HD to its free, topranked
eReading
applications
for
Apple®, BlackBerry®, Android®, and
Windows® products, Kobo ensures the
next great read is just a page-turn away.
Headquartered in Toronto and owned by
Tokyo-based Rakuten, Kobo eReaders
can be found in major retail chains
around the world. For more information,
visit www.kobo.com.
For More Information
For more information about partnering
with Kobo products and services, please
visit:
http://www.kobo.com/retail_partners
For more information about WHSmith,
visit the website at:
http://www.whsmith.co.uk/
Solution
In October 2011, WHSmith decided to
partner with Kobo, a Canadian-based
company that has quickly expanded around
the world, bringing its eReading services
and technology to Canada, the United
States, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia,
New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Africa,
Austria, Germany, France, Japan, Brazil, and
other markets.
The partnership introduced a range of
Kobo eReaders to WHSmith’s stores in the
UK and Ireland, including the first touch
screen eReader widely available in the UK.
Additionally,
the
partnership
gave
WHSmith customers access to Kobo’s full
eReading platform, which offers the biggest
catalogue of eBooks in the UK.
“To appeal to dedicated readers, it’s
important to offer a complete experience,
from device quality to customer service,”
said Stephen Clarke, CEO, WHSmith. “The
partnership with Kobo has allowed us to do
just that.”
In 2012, the partnership expanded when
WHSmith opened 100 Kobo-branded
experiential shops within its High Street
retail locations. The “Kobo Centres” are
staffed by a dedicated team of Kobo
experts, who are able to guide customers
through their eReading experience – from
activating Kobo accounts, to choosing the
right device for their personal reading
styles, to browsing the Kobo eBookstore in
search of their next great read. This year, an
additional 150 “Kobo Centres” will roll out
across WHSmith High Street locations
across the country – for a total of 250
locations.
WHSmith stores now offer a full
complement of Kobo devices, including the
Kobo Arc, Kobo Glo, Kobo Mini and Kobo
Touch via its brick-and-mortar stores and
through its localized online presence.
Additionally, millions of titles are available
for purchase via the integrated WHSmith
and Kobo eBookstore.
Benefits
Since the partnership was forged, Kobo has
had access to over 70% of the UK
population. Perhaps as important, the
partnership with Kobo has formally ushered
WHSmith into the eReading technology
arena.
Content sales have risen, and thanks to the
new platform the customer base has
increased for both WHSmith and for Kobo,
its first brick-and-mortar relationship in the
UK. In fact, the partnership has been so
successful that Kobo has used the
WHSmith model as a best practice for
implementing eReading at other brick-andmortar retailers worldwide.
One of the key benefits of the relationship
is in the two companies’ approach to an
integrated marketing and retail strategy.
From launch onwards, Kobo has provided
WHSmith with business intelligence, CRM,
marketing and sales support, via training
for its Kobo Centres. Additionally, both
companies work closely together on
marketing, including print, radio and
television ads, as well as out of home
advertising including billboard and subway
placements.
“It’s a rare and exciting thing to have the
opportunity to partner with a brand as
beloved and as ubiquitous in a country as
WHSmith is in the UK,” says Jean-Marc
Dupuis, Managing Director, EMEA, Kobo.
“The openness of WHSmith to evolve its
business practices and embrace eReading
has provided its customers with a world
class experience, and has provided Kobo
with a model on which we now build all of
our brick-and-mortar relationships. The
best part: the story of our two companies
has only just begun.”