Dubai Duty Free records over $52m in three-day anniversary sale

Dubai Duty Free recorded Dhs191m ($52.33m) worth of sales during a three-day discount promotion to mark its 35th anniversary.

The airport retailer offered a 25 per cent discount on merchandise over three days from December 18 – 20 at both Dubai International and at Al Maktoum International airports.

Sales figures stood at Dhs42.89m on December 18, Dhs41.25m on December 19 and Dhs106.8m on Dubai Duty Free’s anniversary date of December 20.

Over the three-day period, the cash registers recorded a total of 364,320 sales transactions with nearly 103,626 sales transactions on the final day, a statement said.

Overall, cosmetics was the highest selling category with sales of Dhs46m, followed by watches (Dhs35.48m) and perfumes (Dhs34.23m).

During the three-day sale, Dubai Duty Free’s distribution centre issued 2,501 pallets of merchandise and conducted 228 trips from the warehouse to the airport, the statement said.

The total number of picks in the warehouse during the period was 23,383 for 873,480 units of merchandise, with the highest picks on December 18 for 436,526 units of merchandise.

The 35th anniversary also saw a series of celebrations in various locations over three days including two Millennium Millionaire and four Finest Surprise draws as well as other promotional activities.

On December 20, Italian luxury goods company Ferragamo also officially opened its store in a new location in Concourse B of Dubai International Airport.

Colm McLoughlin, executive vice chairman and CEO of Dubai Duty Free said: “The anniversary celebrations spread over three days were fantastic and received positive results across all the concourses.”

The Dubai Duty Free anniversary promotion is now an annual event, which sees 25 per cent discounts offered to travellers. The first anniversary sale was introduced in 2003.

Dubai Duty Free, which began operations in December 1983 with 100 staff, currently employs almost 6,200 staff – including 26 from its original team.

The retailer announced a return to sales growth last year after two years of declining purchases.

The company saw sales of Dhs7.05bn, an increase of 5.6 per cent year-on-year, partly thanks to a new monthly sales record in December of Dhs801m.

Read more: Dubai Duty Free returns to sales growth in 2017