Dubai Duty Free annual sales touch $1.93bn

The Dubai Duty Free (DDF) has announced record-breaking sales for 2017 of $1.93 billion, representing a 5.6% increase over the previous year.

The sign that a remarkable year was coming to a close was evident in December when a new monthly sales record of over $219 million was achieved. DDF’s 34^th anniversary offer of a 25% discount on a wide range of merchandise over three days in December achieved sales of $54 million.

“We are pleased to announce such a positive year with 2017 marking our 34^th year of business. The entire team at Dubai Duty Free has worked hard to provide passengers with a first class shopping experience at both Dubai International and Al Maktoum International and I join our chairman, H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, in thanking them for their efforts,” says Colm McLoughlin, executive vice chairman and CEO, DDF.

In 2017, the operation recorded a staggering 27.2 million sales transactions which average at 75,000 sales transactions per day, while a total of 73 million units of merchandise were sold.

From a category point of view, perfumes retained its position as the best-selling category with annual sales of $300 million, contributing 16% towards total sales at DDF.

Liquor and tobacco categories followed with the former recording $298 million in sales and the latter $189 million, representing an increase of 2% and 19%, respectively. Cosmetics jumped to fourth place with sales increasing by 17% to $172 million for the year.

Other steep increases were seen in electronics which rose by 16% to $150 million, mainly driven by new product launches from the likes of Apple. Watches rose by 13% to $142 million, while handbags and small leather sales rose by 16% to $51 million. Sales in departures reached over $1.6 billion, representing 87% of total annual sales, while arrivals sales showed a 3.6% increase over last year and accounted for 10.8% of the total annual sales.

In addition to a remarkable turnover, 2017 provided DDF with another milestone in terms of growth and expansion including the opening of new perfumes, cosmetics, liquor and tobacco areas in Concourse C. This complements the retail area around the Control Tower that opened towards the end of 2016, with the opening of a Bulgari shop in Concourse B, new retail areas for liquor and gifts from Dubai in the departures terminal of Al Maktoum International Airport and the opening of a new shop in the Riverland area of Dubai Parks and Resorts.

From a logistics point of view, DDF has continued to expand its automated warehouse facility and became the first customer worldwide to go live with an upgrade of its Oracle Retail Systems to Oracle Retail Release 16 version in July last year.