UAE. Dubai Duty Free today reported sales of US$44.33 million over a three-day campaign to mark its 33rd anniversary. The campaign, which ran from 18-20 December and ended at midnight last night, featured a -25% discount on a wide range of goods.
The decision to extend the annual celebration beyond the traditional one day was due to the high passenger traffic expected over the pre-Christmas holiday.
The 72-hour anniversary discount resulted in what the retailer described as “a spending spree” at Dubai International and at Al Maktoum International. Sales on 18 December reached US$9.67 million and hit US$9.01 million on 19 December. On the anniversary day itself, 20 December, Dubai Duty Free daily sales rocketed to US$25.6 million in the 24-hour period.
From a category point of view, fragrances was the highest selling category with sales of US$6.93 million on 20 December, followed by watches and cosmetics.
Dubai Duty Free Executive Vice Chairman and CEO Colm McLoughlin said: “The anniversary celebrations spread over three days were fantastic and received positive results across all the concourses. Extending a -25% discount to our customers is our way of saying thank you for their support through the year.”
During the three-day event, Dubai Duty Free’s Distribution Centre issued over 6,198 pallets of merchandise and conducted 592 trips from the warehouse to the airport. The highest number of pallets was issued on 15 December with 973 pallets being delivered in 92 trips.
The total number of picks in the warehouse during this period was 91,503 for 2,851,391 units of merchandise, with the highest picks on 10 December of 12,486 for over 422,708 units of merchandise.
Over the three-day period, the company recorded a total of 293,903 sales transactions, with nearly 102,493 alone on 20 December.
The Dubai Duty Free anniversary promotion is now a highly-anticipated event with many travellers choosing to travel on the days when the 25% discount is offered, noted the retailer.
Dubai Duty Free began trading on 20 December 1983. It introduced a discount offer across a wide range of merchandise to mark its 20th anniversary in 2003.
The 33rd anniversary also saw a series of celebrations led by Colm McLoughlin, Chief Operating Officer Ramesh Cidambi and other members of the senior management team, who conducted the Millennium Millionaire and Finest Surprise draws.
A Pakistani national from Sharjah, Saad Khan, won US$1 million in the Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire promotion.
Following this draw, Prajwal Raj Paudel from Nepal won a Ducati motorcycle in the Finest Surprise Promotion.
Dubai Duty Free’s employees also enjoyed a special Staff Surprise draw which resulted in a total of over US$23,000 being won by employees. Dubai Duty Free currently employs 5,900 staff and of the original 100 staff who joined in December 1983, 30 remain in active service.
