Dubai Duty Free passed the $1 billion landmark in mid December. Its managing director COLM McLOUGHLIN, spoke to Jonna Simon.
How is Dubai Duty Free faring in the global recession?
Very well. We are currently looking at sales running 24 per cent ahead of last year. Our sales forecast is pretty much on target. This is a special year for Dubai Duty Free, as we marked our 25th anniversary on December 20th.
Have you noticed decline in demand in your shops?
We are not noticing any immediate decline or reduction in sales. As you know, we have just opened a new 8000 sq m retail operation in the new Emirates Terminal 3 making our total retail area over 15,000 sq m.
As Terminal 3 is dedicated to Emirates Airline, it has been interesting to be able to pinpoint sales more accurately and understand our passengers better. We knew, before the opening of T3, that around 60 per cent of our customers are Emirates passengers and now with the dedicated terminal, we are very clear about what those passengers are looking for and what they are buying. This means that we can be more targeted in our product range in all three terminals.
What are the most popular items?
Perfumes have consistently topped the sales with liquor and tobacco coming second and gold in third place.
Have you dropped prices to encourage customers?
No, we have not dropped prices, as we believe that we offer great value for money across all categories. We have to compete with the local market on goods such as electronics, so we have to watch the market very closely to ensure that we are still offering good prices in this category.
We did offer a 25 per cent discount on a wide range of products on our anniversary day, which is the only day that we make an exception. We began offering the discount on our 20th anniversary in 2003 and sales soared on that day as a result.
Last year, we offered a 25 per cent discount on December 20 and daily sales reached an incredible $12.8 million.
Can you give an indication of the anticipated revenue for 2009?
For 2009, we have a sales target of $1.4 billion. By 2012, we expect our sales to reach $2 billion.
Have you noticed any new trends in customer purchasing?
We have not noticed any discernable change in trends as yet. At Dubai Duty Free, we sell tons of pistachio nuts, bags of Nido and Tang on the one hand and then over a million bottles of perfume and luxury watches on the other.
In the new retail operation in Emirates Terminal 3, we have a much larger fashion offer including Armani, Escada, Dior etc and although it is early days (Terminal 3 opened in October) sales are doing well for what is essentially a luxury category. We have received a lot of positive feedback from customers on the new fashion area, so I think that people are still spending on top end products.