Dubai Duty Free sales smash record
dubai — Dubai Duty Free announced on Wednesday recordbreaking sales of Dh7.05 billion for 2017, representing a 5.6 per cent increase over the previous year.
“We are pleased to announce such a positive year with 2017 marking our 34th year of business,” said Colm McLoughlin, executive vice-chairman and CEO.
The sign that a remarkable year was coming to a close was evident in December when a new monthly sales record of over Dh801 million was achieved. The operation’s 34th anniversary offer of a 25 per cent discount on a wide range of merchandise over three days in December achieved sales of Dh196 million, DDF said in a statement.
In 2017, DDF operation recorded 27.2 million sales transactions at an average of 75,000 sales transactions per day, while a total of 73 million units of merchandise were sold.
DDF, ranked as the biggest single duty free airport location in the world, expects to record significant growth in annual sales to nearly Dh12 billion ($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 sqm 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.
From a category point, perfumes retained its position as the best-selling category with annual sales of Dh1.1 billion, contributing 16 per cent towards total sales at Dubai Duty Free.
Liquor and tobacco categories followed with liquor recording Dh1.09 billion in sales and tobacco Dh690.11 million, representing an increase of two per cent and 19 per cent respectively. Cosmetics jumped to fourth place with sales increasing by 17 per cent to Dh626 million for the year.
Steep increases were seen in electronics which rose by 16 per cent to Dh547 million, mainly driven by new product launches from the likes of Apple. Watches rose by 13 per cent to Dh518 million, while handbags and small leather sales rose by 16 per cent to Dh187 million.
Sales in departures reached over Dh6.1 billion, representing 87 per cent of total annual sales while arrivals sales showed a 3.6 per cent increase over last year and accounted for 10.8 per cent of the total annual sales.
— issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com