Dubai Duty Free 30th Anniversary Sales Reach Dhs111.88 Million (US$30.65 Million)

Dubai Duty Free’s anniversary day in December 20th resulted in a new daily record as sales soared to Dhs111.88 million (US$30.65 million), as the airport retailer extended up to 30 percent discount on a wide range of products. The new daily record represents a 40% percent increase over last year’s anniversary sales.

A special discount offer of up to 30 percent to mark Dubai Duty Free’s 30th Anniversary resulted in a spending spree at Dubai International Airport that began at midnight on 19th December and continued throughout the anniversary day sale. Dubai Duty Free also sourced and offered seven different products sold at 1983 prices on the day.

Commenting on the anniversary day, Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman, Dubai Duty Free said, "We had a fantastic day on our anniversary with a huge surge of sales. Extending a 30 percent discount to our customers was our way of saying thank you for three decades of support. I join our Chairman, H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum in congratulating all of our staff, suppliers and partners on the occasion of this milestone anniversary.

“We began introducing a discount offer across a wide range of merchandise on our 20th Anniversary in 2003 and it has become a popular day with travelers, some of whom book their flights in order to shop on that day,” added Mr. McLoughlin.

The statistics for the day highlight the huge volume of sales that passed through the cash points within the 24- hour period.

At 10.00am, the preliminary sales figure was recorded at over Dhs45.7million (US$12.5 million) accounting for 86,550 sales transactions. As at 6pm, DDF sales reached over Dhs83.4 million (US$23.2 million) and an amazing 158,931 transactions and broke its anniversary sales of US$21 million in 2012. By 10pm, the cash registers continued to ring and recorded 193,163 transactions and sales reached over Dhs99.7 million (US$27.3 million), while the final figure when the anniversary day sale ended reached an incredible Dhs111.88 million or US$30.65 million.

From a category point of view, Perfumes was the highest selling category with sales of Dhs31.2 million (US$8.5 million) and representing 27.9% of the total daily sales. Watches and Clocks was the second most popular category on the anniversary day with sales of Dhs25.5 million (US$7 million). Cosmetics came in at third place, category wise, with sales of Dhs14.2 million (US$3.9 million).

Liquor came in fourth position followed by Cigarettes. Other notable increases were seen in Confectionery, which rose by 33% to Dhs4.5 million (US$1.2 million) and Delicatessen, which recorded Dhs2.3 million (US$619,000). Departure sales has recorded US$28.3 million representing 92.3% of total anniversary sales.

The 30th Anniversary celebrations saw DDF officials headed by Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman, George Horan, President along with other senior officials conduct a Millennium Millionaire draw in Series no. 156 – ticket no. 3468.

The winner was Mr. Ajith Krishnan, a Dubai-based Indian national who purchased the winning ticket along with his nine colleagues from the Perfect Tools Moulds Factory in Dubai.

Following the draw, a presentation was made to a previous Millennium Millionaire winner, Ms. Rabia Rabia Manzil Asharaf, a twenty-two-year old Indian national who won her one million dollar prize in Series 155 with ticket no. 4993.

Winner of a previous Finest Surprise draw visited Dubai Duty Free as well to receive his prize. Mr. Ramnath Balakrishnan, an Indian national living in Dubai stood proudly next to his sporty McLaren MP4 12C Coupe which he won in Series 1546 with ticket no. 1351.

Following all of the excitement of the draw and presentations in Terminal 1, Dubai Duty Free senior managers then proceeded to Terminal 3-Concourse B where a Finest Surprise draw for two luxury cars and a motorbike was held and two final draws for the Shop and Win promotion to win a 30g DDF gold coin.

Dubai Duty Free’s employees also enjoyed a special Staff Finest Surprise draw which resulted in a total of Dhs190,000 being won by employees. Dubai Duty Free currently employs 6,000 staff and of the original 100 staff who joined in December 1983, 44 remain in active service.

Dubai Duty Free had the ceremonial cutting of the 30th Anniversary cake across the three Concourses and at Al Maktoum International Airport on 20th December as well at the Head Office on 19th December.

Present at yesterday’s (20th December) celebration were other Dubai Duty Free senior officials namely: Salah Tahlak, Senior Vice President-Corporate Communications, Ramesh Cidambi, Senior Vice President- IT & Logistics, Sinead El Sibai, Vice President – Marketing, Saba Tahir, Vice President-Purchasing, Bernard Creed, Vice President-Finance, Nic Bruwer, Vice President-Human Resources and Sean Staunton, Vice President-Operations.

Emirate:  Dubai

Date: Dec 21, 2013

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