Dubai Duty Free Sales Up 12% In Q1

Airport retailer Dubai Duty Free (DDF) announced that first quarter sales this year reached Dhs1.6 billion ($438 million), a 12 per cent increase over the same period in 2012.

Sales in Dubai International Airport’s Terminal 3 – dedicated to Emirates operations, rose by 19 per cent and accounted for 61 per cent of total turnover. However, the average-spend of passengers in Terminal 1, which accounts for 31 per cent of sales, was higher.

Sales in Terminal 2 also increased by 22 per cent for the first quarter, DDF said in a statement.

Liquor, perfumes and gold were the top three items that saw the most sales in the first quarter, with confectionery, cosmetics, watches and electronics sales also rising year-on-year.

The opening of the new Concourse A in Terminal 3 in January this year helped DDF’s retail footprint grow from 18,000 square metres to the current 26,000 square metres.

Colm McLoughlin, executive vice chairman, DDF said: “We have had a very good start to the year and no doubt the opening of Concourse A has contributed towards this.

“The new facility has been extremely well received by passengers and it has enabled us to introduce a number of firsts, including a retail offer in the Emirates First Class lounge in Concourse A, which is doing very well.”

The retailer also announced that it employed 648 new sales assistants in the first three months of the year, bringing its total staff count to 5,717.

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.

Also read: Dubai Duty Free To Employ 1,070 New Staff In 2013