Dubai Duty Free Rakes In Dhs4.65bn Sales

Airport retailer Dubai Duty Free (DDF) announced that sales touched Dhs4.65 billion in the first nine months, up by 12 per cent over the same period in 2012.

The operator said that the current growth rate is in line to reach DDF’s targeted year-end sales of Dhs6.6 billion.

Strong growth was recorded across all three terminals with Terminal 3 contributing the largest to overall sales growth.

Terminal 3 sales grew by 17 per cent year-to-date to reach Dhs2.94 billion and constituted 63 per cent of total DDF turnover while Terminal 1 accounted for 28 per cent of total turnover and recorded sales of Dhs1.3 billion in the first three quarters.

Terminal 2, which accounted for just 7.6 per cent of total turnover, saw sales rise by 22 per cent to Dhs352 million year-to-date.

The arrivals at Dubai airport account for 10 per cent of all DDF sales. According to the airport retailer, arrival sales across all terminals rose by 14 per cent to reach Dhs457 million in the last three quarters.

Perfumes, liquor and gold retained their demand in DFF by the end of nine months. Perfumes showed strong growth with an increase of 17 per cent in sales to reach Dhs738 million by the end of third quarter this year while gold sales rose by nine per cent to reach Dhs454 million.

“We are having a terrific year in terms of sales,” said Colm McLoughlin, executive vice chairman of DDF.

“Concourse A. which opened in January 2013, has been a great and much needed addition to Terminal 3 and we are opening a 2,500 square metre retail space at Al Maktoum International Airport later this month.”

DDF currently has around 6,000 employees and has been increasing its staff numbers throughout this year.

Earlier this year, McLoughlin told Gulf Business that DDF is planning to add 1,070 new staff to its payroll in 2013, after increasing its headcount by 1,600 in 2012.