WHSmith North America’s Katie Blackburn on Travel Retail, Retail Media and Airport Shopping | Groceryshop 2026

2026-09-24 · 9 min · 10 entities

episode page audio

Asserted relationships

→ appeared on Omni Talk Retail podcast

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evidence rules-v5
WHSmith North America’s Katie Blackburn on Travel Retail, Retail Media and Airport Shopping | Groceryshop 2026
→ discusses Business company

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Feed category: Business
→ discusses Entrepreneurship website

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Feed category: Entrepreneurship
→ discusses Management website

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Feed category: Management
→ references Privacy podcast

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evidence rules-v5
Link in episode "WHSmith North America’s Katie Blackburn on Travel Retail, Retail Media and Airport Shopping | Groceryshop 2026": https://podcorn.com/privacy

Entities found in this episode

websites 4

mentioned Entrepreneurship website

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Entrepreneurship
mentioned Management website

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Management
discusses Entrepreneurship website

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Entrepreneurship
discusses Management website

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Management

podcasts 3

appeared on Omni Talk Retail podcast

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evidence rules-v5
WHSmith North America’s Katie Blackburn on Travel Retail, Retail Media and Airport Shopping | Groceryshop 2026
mentioned Privacy podcast

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evidence rules-v5
Link in episode "WHSmith North America’s Katie Blackburn on Travel Retail, Retail Media and Airport Shopping | Groceryshop 2026": https://podcorn.com/privacy
references Privacy podcast

0.38

evidence rules-v5
Link in episode "WHSmith North America’s Katie Blackburn on Travel Retail, Retail Media and Airport Shopping | Groceryshop 2026": https://podcorn.com/privacy

companys 2

mentioned Business company

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Business
discusses Business company

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Business

persons 1

mentioned WHSmith North America’s Katie Blackburn person

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evidence rules-v5
WHSmith North America’s Katie Blackburn on Travel Retail, Retail Media and Airport Shopping | Groceryshop 2026

Episode description as stored

Live from the Vusion podcast studio at booth 913 at Groceryshop 2026 in Las Vegas, Ben Miller connects with Katie Blackburn, Vice President - Commercial Strategy & Operations at WHSmith North America, for a GrocerTalk conversation on the evolving world of travel retail and the changing needs of airport shoppers. Katie breaks down how WHSmith North America operates roughly 300 stores across around 50 U.S. airports, using localized concepts and curated assortments to serve travelers with very different shopping missions. From quick, convenient purchases like chargers and hydration to discovery-driven shopping experiences, the conversation explores how WHSmith balances speed and efficiency with exploration and engagement. The discussion also dives into WHSmith North America’s growing retail media network, including its investment in digital in-store screens and new programmatic capabilities developed in partnership with SMG. Katie also shares what’s ahead for WHSmith North America in 2027, including a planned accelerator program designed to help emerging brands reach the millions of passengers traveling through U.S. airports. In this episode: • WHSmith North America’s travel retail business • The different shopper missions shaping airport retail • Balancing speed, convenience and discovery • Self-checkout and the changing checkout experience • Curated merchandising in high-traffic environments • WHSmith North America’s retail media network • Programmatic advertising across physical store environments • Digital screens and in-store brand engagement • What’s ahead for WHSmith North America in 2027 • A new accelerator program for emerging brands 🎧 Subscribe to Omni Talk for more conversations with the leaders shaping grocery and retail. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy