SPECIAL FEATURE: DUBAI DUTY FREE
targets and winning awards, during that same time, making [critical changes to your organisation] are harder than people would imagine. “So I think the lesson that I learned
in 2018 was that you have to push and you have to persevere and you have to do the things that you need to do, even when the external environment is generally positive and as an organisation you are doing well. It is absolutely critical to keep the momentum going.” Cidambi did point out that duty
free operators are still relying too heavily on the growth in passenger demand, which continues to rise year on year [both ACI and IATA expect single-digit growth up until 2035]. “You have a situation where
investment is clearly needed to develop airport infrastructure to accommodate the growth in passengers,” said Cidambi. “This then puts pressure on the airports to develop both aeronautical and non-aeronautical revenue, and the airports have successfully transferred that pressure on to the retailers to generate more and more money. “The retailers have then worked
with the brands and got themselves in a position where both are financially stretched in terms of margins and in terms of returns.” Pressure from ecommerce giants
and brands’ own online platforms only amplifies the pressure on all
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Burberry and Tiffany boutiques operated by Dubai Duty Free in Concourse D.
three stakeholders: airports, retailers and suppliers. “So in general the travel retail
industry is stretched,” he reiterated. “So even if you got the airports
the retailers and the brands on the same page, you wouldn’t be able to solve the future challenges which are there, because the threats to the industry are external.”
Levelling the playing field Cidambi believes it is only going to become more challenging to make the necessary transition to the next level of retailing, when the online players – both pure ecommerce players and the brands who have a strong digital presence – have a ‘fantastic’ amount of data Official Partner
DDF believes it is only going to become more challenging to make the necessary transition to the next level of retailing, when the online players – both pure ecommerce players and the brands who have a strong digital presence – have a ‘fantastic’ amount of data and information and insight on the customers.
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and information and insight on the customers. “In addition to this, they have a
Established 1998
fantastic assortment and they are able to provide a very convenient service to customers,” he added. “The degree of investment required in terms of technology;
Dubai Duty Free’s Colm McLoughlin celebrates 50 years in travel retail
This year, industry veteran, Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman & CEO of Dubai Duty Free celebrates 50 years in the duty free industry. Described by the company as the ‘driving force behind Dubai Duty Free’s
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successful US$2bn business’, McLoughlin was on holiday in his native Ireland in the spring of 1969 when he first read about a job at Shannon Duty Free; the birthplace of the duty free industry. “I had been working for Woolworths
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in London so I had a number of years of retail management experience,” says McLoughlin. “When I saw the job advertised in Shannon Duty Free I thought ‘I wonder what that is about’, so I applied for the position mainly to see what the job entailed.” As fate would have it, McLoughlin
was offered the job on the spot and so began his five-decade long career in an industry that was started by Dr Brendan O’Regan in Shannon in 1947 and is now a global business worth an
OCTOBER 2019
estimated US$76bn. “Dr Brendan O’Regan was a great man
and was the founding father of the duty free industry that we know today,” adds McLoughlin. “He was not in Shannon in my time, but he was talked about with great respect at all times. When I started in Shannon, I reported to Bill Maloney in the early days. Bill was a great manager and I learnt a lot from him.” In 1983 Shannon was the first port of
call for Dubai International Airport’s then Director General, Mohidin Binhendi, who was tasked with the job of setting up a duty free operation in Dubai. Binhendi met with the Aer Rianta senior management, including then General Manager of Shannon Duty Free, McLoughlin.
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