Business Bureau, Gulf Today

The New Year began on a high note for Dubai Duty Free (DDF) with the operation announcing record annual sales of Dhs7.406 billion ($2.029 billion) for 2019.

It was clear that a remarkable year was coming to a close in December when the retailer crossed the $2 billion milestone on December 26, 2019. The operation’s 36th Anniversary Day on December 20th, when customers were offered a 25 per cent discount on a range of products, resulted in a huge surge in sales with 190,208 transactions recorded on the day amounting to sales of Dhs111.65 million ($30.59 million) in the 24-hour period.

Reflecting on the year at Dubai Duty Free, Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman & CEO said: “Overall, it has been a fantastic year for the operation and I would like to thank Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman of Dubai Duty Free for his ongoing support. I also join His Highness in thanking our great team of staff, our suppliers and of course our customers, for their contribution to our growth and success.”

In 2019, the operation recorded over 24.284 million sales transactions which is an average of 66,500 sales transactions per day, while a total of over 64.578 million units of merchandise were sold.

The top selling categories for the year included perfumes, liquor, cosmetics, tobacco and electronics. Sales of perfumes, which rose by 2 per cent over 2018, reached Dhs1.124 billion ($307.85 million) and accounted for 15 per cent of the total annual sales.

Liquor in second place recorded sales of Dhs1.110 billion ($304.24 million) and accounted for 15 per cent of total annual sales.

Cosmetics, the third best selling category with Dhs848.74 million ($232.53 million) in sales and contributing 11 per cent towards the total revenue, showed an impressive increase of 11 per cent over 2018.

Tobacco came in fourth place with sales amounting to Dhs817.16 million ($223.88 million) and accounted for 11 per cent of total revenue followed by electronics in fifth place with sales of Dhs558.05 million ($152.89 million).

Meanwhile, sales in Departures across the operation reached Dhs6.6 billion ($1.808 billion) and represented 89 per cent of total annual sales, while Arrivals with Dhs664.23 million ($181.98 million), represented 9 per cent of total annual sales.

In addition to its record annual sales, Dubai Duty Free’s Executive Vice Chairman & CEO Colm McLoughlin also commented on the retailer’s many projects that were completed in 2019 and said: “We have continued to develop our retail offer in all the terminals and that included the opening of a Chanel boutique, a Maison Christian Dior shop and a Gucci boutique. We are also looking forward to the opening of the new 1,100sqm retail space in Terminal 3 Arrivals this month. The new arrivals shop is much more visible to passengers in the baggage area and has a fantastic Liquor retail offer. In addition, we will continue the second phase of the refurbishment of the two FoodPlus shops in Concourse B and Dubai Duty Free will continue to enhance its retail offer within the Fashion category in the second half of the year.

“We continue to develop our DDF Leisure business - the Jumeirah Creekside Hotel continues to do well and The Irish Village in Garhoud celebrated its 23rd birthday in October. We opened the third Irish Village in Dubai Studio One Hotel and we will be opening a fourth Irish Village at the EXPO grounds this October,” he added.

Looking ahead, Dubai Duty Free will continue to maintain its busy events and promotional calendar which includes the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships to be held from 17th – 29th February at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium.

The milestone sales figure reached in Concourse D when Mr. and Mrs Neeraj Sati, Indian nationals based in India, purchased items from Liquor & Tobacco worth Dhs348, helped break the sales over the $2 billion mark.

Mr. and Mrs Sati were travelling back to Mumbai with their family after they had celebrated Christmas in Dubai with their relatives. They stayed in the city for a total of 8 days left to celebrate the New Year in their hometown in Odiza, India.

To celebrate this milestone, Sati and his daughter were presented with DDF gift cards worth $2,000 by Dubai Duty Free officials including Operations Manager Shafique Ansari together with Duty Managers Sanjay Lama, Melanie Tacuban, Hazel Punongbayan, Norie Ann Jose and Duty Officer Edwin Papa.