- Heathrow has awarded major agreements to WHSmith and Lagardère Travel Retail to enhance passenger experience
- The announcement follows a strategic review of the airport’s travel essentials offering, resulting in the implementation of a blended essentials strategy across all terminals
- The blended essentials approach will see Lagardère Travel Retail’s RELAY stores make their UK debut and WHSmith launch three global flagship travel retail stores across Heathrow
Today, Heathrow has announced the outcome of its strategic review of travel essentials, awarding landmark new agreements to Lagardère Travel Retail and WHSmith to deliver an improved and modernised shopping experience for passengers across its terminals.
Following feedback from thousands of passengers on how retail can support time-pressed travellers, Heathrow will implement a blended essentials strategy to offer key product categories including news, books, health and beauty under one roof in every terminal.
As part of this strategy, Heathrow has awarded a travel essentials contract to Lagardère Travel Retail to operate the Blended Travel Essentials concession in Terminal 2 from early summer 2026. This marks the debut of Lagardère’s flagship RELAY brand in the UK, a recognisable travel essentials provider with an existing presence in more than 300 airports worldwide.
WHSmith will operate travel essentials stores across Terminals 3 and 4 and will extend its presence in Terminal 5. In addition, WHSmith will become the main airside health and beauty provider in Terminals 3 and 4 and will provide a pharmacy offer across Terminals 3, 4 and 5. Once complete, WHSmith will operate more than 20 stores across Heathrow’s terminals.
Andrew Harrison, CEO of WHSmith UK Travel, said: “This agreement is the latest step in the successful long-term partnership between two major British businesses at the forefront of travel retail, Heathrow and WHSmith. Our innovative one-stop-shop format is a proven model, and we are delighted to be taking a significant step forward in our Health & Beauty and pharmacy proposition across Heathrow. We look forward to welcoming many more passengers on their journeys through Heathrow in the years to come.”
Peter Newbould, CEO of Lagardère Travel Retail UK & Ireland, commented: “Heathrow is among the very best airports in the world for its commercial mix and customer service, and we are absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to bring RELAY to The Queen’s Terminal. Our aim is to meet and even exceed the high standards Heathrow has set, with a dynamic concept attuned to passengers’ needs. I am grateful to my team for their hard work on this project and to Heathrow for their trust.”
The new long-term agreement with WHSmith will see the iconic British brand launch three global flagship travel retail stores in its market-leading one-stop-shop format across Terminals 3, 4 and 5. Each store will offer a wide range of high-quality products, including WHSmith’s award-winning Smith’s Family Kitchen food range, an extensive coffee and bakery offer, and a complete range of health and beauty products from major brands, tailored specifically for passenger needs.
The Lagardère Travel Retail agreement covers four RELAY stores in Terminal 2 with a total retail space of 1,360m². The upper-level departures store will feature a pharmacy alongside RELAY’s diverse mix of travel essentials. The lower-level store will offer books, souvenirs, toys, and food and drink to go. A further satellite store will include Lagardère Travel Retail’s Discover souvenir concept, while a new RELAY store will also open in the landside check-in hall.
Fraser Brown, Retail Director at Heathrow Airport, said: “Our passengers are at the heart of everything we do, and we are excited to launch our new blended essentials approach for travel essentials as part of our transformational retail strategy. For nearly 80 years Heathrow and WHSmith have held a successful partnership, bringing new and innovative retail experiences for passengers. We also look forward to welcoming RELAY to both Terminal 2 and the UK to broaden our category offer as we work towards becoming an extraordinary airport, fit for the future.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
- Research commissioned by WHSmith (Horizon, 2023) to understand passenger views on WHSmith’s offering at Heathrow identified a demand for a blended essentials offering where passengers can find a broad range of products for their journey in one place.
- Research commissioned by Heathrow (Trinity McQueen, 2023) to understand passenger views on Heathrow’s blended essentials offering found that passengers' strongest motivator to pick up travel essentials from the airport is that they knew they could get everything they needed (23% of 1,075 participants).
- Heathrow’s four-pillar ‘DESO’ (Digital, Experience, Space, Offer) retail strategy aims to deliver unique physical and digital experiences to passengers, with a continually evolving offering.
- On 11 July, Heathrow unveiled its £10bn investment plan to improve service levels, boost reliability and unlock growth for Britain. The five-year plan will create new terminal space for lounges, shops and restaurants within existing terminals, create skilled jobs and drive growth across Heathrow’s UK-based supply chain.
About Heathrow
Heathrow is the UK’s international gateway and the largest airport in Europe – connecting to 230 destinations across 85 countries. The airport welcomes over 200,000 passengers on roughly 1,300 flights each day, and serves as Britain’s hub for trade, tourism and investment. Over 80,000 colleagues work at Heathrow – the airport directly employs about 10% of them, with the rest working for Team Heathrow partners including airlines, ground handlers and retailers.
About WHSmith
WHSmith is a leading global travel retailer for the world’s travelling customer. With more than 1,200 stores across over 30 countries worldwide, WHSmith offer passengers a wide range of food & beverage, health & beauty, books and tech to support their journeys.
The Company has a fast-growing international business with over 600 stores primarily across the world's leading airports. This includes more than 300 stores in North America, the world’s largest travel retail market.
About Lagardère Travel Retail
One of the two priority divisions of Lagardère group, Lagardère Travel Retail is a leading global Travel Retailer, with the longest standing expertise of serving the needs of travelers and partners across Travel Essentials, Duty Free & Fashion and Dining. Lagardère Travel Retail operates over 4,970 stores in airports, railway stations and other concessions in 51 countries, and has generated €7.6 bn in sales (100%) in 2024.
We harness our pioneering culture to make travel more enjoyable with bespoke offers and experiences. We invest our world-class global expertise and local knowledge to design value-creating partnerships and experiences for our stakeholders: landlords, brands, travelers, employees and communities.
We actively champion the more sustainable future of Travel Retail through our comprehensive CSR strategy, covering all aspects of where we, as a business, have an impact and can make a difference.
