DDF expects record surge in sales
dubai — Dubai Duty Free, which recently marked its 34th anniversary, said on Wednesday that it expects to record $1.9 billion in annual sales in 2017, compared to $1.85 billion reported in 2016.
DDF, ranked as the biggest single duty free airport location in the world, expects to record significant growth in sales to $3 billion by 2022, driven primarily by the expansion of Dubai’s second airport, Al Maktoum International (DWC).
DWC’s capacity at present is five million passengers; in less than one year, it’ll be 26 million and by 2022, there will be a new terminal building in place, two new concourses, a six-track underground passenger rail system, three runways and capacity for 135 million passengers.
By 2022, Dubai Duty Free will have 80,000 square metres of retail space across DXB and DWC — more than double the 36,000 square metres it operates at present. Given that the company currently does 74,000 transactions each day — adding up to 27 million in a year and 74 million items of merchandise — it is not difficult to envisage the huge growth potential.
DDF received a boost this year when two new Apple retail stores opened at Dubai International. One of the two concessions at Terminal 3 is the largest travel retail store of its kind. Both outlets offer the full Apple product range.
DDF marked its 34th anniversary last week by welcoming passengers travelling through Dubai with a special 25 per cent discount on a range of merchandise over three days which began at midnight on December 18, and continued until the operation’s anniversary day on December 20. Total sales for the three days reached Dh196 million.
The anniversary discount for 72 hours resulted in a spending spree at Dubai International and at Al Maktoum International with sales figures on December 18 reaching Dh36.929 million and Dh37.216 million on December 19. On the anniversary day, December 20, DDF daily sales reached Dh121.511 million in the 24-hour period.
From a category point of view, perfumes were the highest selling worth of annual sales likely to be achieved by DDF in 2017 category with sales of Dh45.259 million, followed by cosmetics with sales of Dh39.329 million and watches with sales of Dh35.064 million.
“The anniversary celebrations spread over three days were fantastic. We are glad to see such positive sales results across all the concourses. Extending a 25 per cent discount to our customers is our way of saying thank you for their support throughout the year,” said Colm McLoughlin, executive vice-chairman and CEO of Dubai Duty Free.
During the three-day sales, Dubai Duty Free’s distribution centre issued over 2,283 pallets of merchandise and conducted 212 trips from the warehouse to the airport. The highest number of pallets was issued on December 14 with 897 pallets being delivered in 85 trips. The total number of picks in the warehouse during this period was 22,077 for 882,559 units of merchandise, with the highest picks on December 19 for over 411,685 units of merchandise.
— issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com