Dubai Duty Free Eyes $1.6bn Sales By Year-End

Airport retailer Dubai Duty Free (DDF) announced that sales at the end of the first nine months of the year reached Dhs4.16 billion, a 10 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.

DDF is now “on track” for year-end sales of an estimated Dhs6 billion ($1.64 billion), the retailer said in a statement.

While Terminal 1 sales rose by nine per cent, sales in Terminal 2 increased by 15 per cent and in Terminal 3 by 10 per cent during the first nine months. Departure sales were up 10 per cent, and arrivals duty free sales grew 14 per cent.

Perfumes, liquor and gold were the top three selling categories, with perfume sales hitting Dhs633 million, an increase of 15 per cent over last year. Sales of cosmetics also rose by 16 per cent to Dhs265 million.

The retailer also announced that it plans to open a second Perfumes and Cosmetics (P&C) retail area in Concourse B at Terminal 3. Spread across around 240 square metres, the new shop will be located in the West side of the Concourse, and is scheduled to open by the end of the year.

Colm McLoughlin, executive vice chairman, Dubai Duty Free said: “In the case of perfumes and cosmetics, which are core categories, we have had several developments this year including the opening of a Jo Malone retail area in Concourse B, the opening of a second Kiehl’s area in Concourse C in Terminal 1 and the installation of a new Tom Ford unit also in Concourse C.

“The opening of a second P&C area in Concourse B later this year will enable us to extend our existing product range and to introduce some new brands that we have not formerly been able to do due to space constraints in the existing shops.”

DDF also announced that it has recruited 1,053 new staff so far this year in preparation for the opening of Concourse A in the first quarter of 2013.