SPECIAL FEATURE: DUBAI DUTY FREE


Dubai Duty Free identifies new priorities in commemorative year


As Dubai Duty Free recognises the phenomenal 50-year career of its Executive Vice Chairman and CEO, Colm McLoughlin, it identifies areas of improvement and ways in which it must adapt, which will ensure that it is still successful in another 50 years.


T


he world’s largest single- airport duty free retailer registered sales of


US$2.015bn in 2018, representing a 4.31% increase over the previous year in pretty volatile conditions, the leadership told TRBusiness in numerous interviews this year. Of course, DDF’s total year


revenue was once again given a huge boost by the impressive US$29.26m in sales generated on its 35th Anniversary Day on 20 December 2018, when customers were offered a 25% discount on a range of products. According to the company, a total of 103,626 transactions were recorded within the 24-hour period. For the 12-month period (Jan-Dec


2018), sales at departures shops rose by 6.12% to US$1.78bn vs 2017 and accounted for 88.35% of total 2018 sales. DDF recorded a total of 25,507,998 sales transactions for the year with 68,755,388 pieces of merchandise sold. Reflecting on the company’s 2018


achievements, Dubai Duty Free Executive Vice Chairman and CEO, Colm McLoughlin, said: “We were pleased to announce such a positive year in 2018, which marked our 35th anniversary and the crossing of the


OCTOBER 2019


US$2bn mark. “The entire team at Dubai


Duty Free 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.” Liquor topped the sales generated


by DDF last year, followed by perfume, cigarettes, cosmetics and electronics. Sales of perfumes reached US$301.6m, representing 14.97% of total sales while sales of cosmetics reached US$208.88m, representing a remarkable 21.77% increase yoy. Electronics sales reached US$163.1m; an uplift of 8.82% year-on-year.


Company milestones In sixth position (by category) watches sales rose by 2.66% to US$145.63m and accounted for 7.23% of annual sales. Gold followed with sales of US$134.21m, accounting for 6.66% of total sales while confectionery recorded sales of US$130.37m and accounted for 6.47% of DDF’s total annual sales. Company milestones reached in


2018 included the refurbishment of Concourse C, enhancements to the fashion offer in Concourse B and the opening of a retail shop in Queen Elizabeth 2, the first floating hotel located in Port Rashid. The positive performance, despite


a challenging trading environment, along with the aforementioned milestone achievements encouraged DDF to be cautiously optimistic in 2019. But the company’s CCO, Ramesh Cidambi, told TRBusiness in a two-part video interview – the first episode in the Travel Retail Question Time series – that he is taking DDF’s competition very seriously and says the company must always be looking to challenge itself. “In some respects when things are going well and you are hitting your


“We were pleased to announce such a positive year in 2018, which marked our 35th anniversary and the crossing of the US$2bn mark.”


Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman and CEO, Dubai Duty Free


TOP 10 OPERATORS 79


Above: Dubai Duty Free leadership - among family and friends - celebrated the 50-year career of Colm McLoughlin earlier this year.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96