WH Smith still committed to music

WH Smith became a victim of the Entertainment UK (EUK) collapse late last year, revealing that it has now sourced CDs and DVDs from elsewhere following the distributor entering administration.

Rejecting reports that the retail chain had abandoned music sales, a spokesperson for  WH Smith said, “We continue to implement our strategy to reduce our presence in entertainment, to focus instead on our core categories, however, we remain committed to providing our customers with a tailored convenience offer.”

WH Smith reported that like for like sales in its high street branches for the 9 weeks and the 20 weeks to January 17 were down 7% and 7% respectively. However, excluding entertainment like-for-like sales for the 9 and 20 weeks were down 3%.

Group Chief Executive Kate Swann added, “As anticipated, trading conditions on the high street were challenging over the Christmas period. However, we continue to successfully deliver our strategy and maintain operational flexibility, increasing gross margins and accelerating our cost reduction plans.Looking ahead, we expect consumer spending in our markets to remain subdued and we have planned accordingly,” .

EUK entered administration in November, alongside Woolworths Retail. Its collapse led to entertainment retailer Zavvi, which used EUK to supply its CDs and DVDs, entering administration itself.