In a year that posed many challenges for the global airport retail sector, Dubai Duty Free has bucked the trend by announcing record annual sales of Dhs4.1 billion (US$1.140 billion) for 2009, representing a 3.76% increase over the previous year.

Commenting on the annual sales, H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President Dubai Department of Civil Aviation and Chairman of Dubai Duty Free Establishment said: “Dubai Duty Free, like most businesses, felt the impact of the global recession particularly in the early part of the year. However, I am delighted that the operation has successfully turned sales around in the second half and that a new annual record has been achieved. Congratulations to the management and staff on their success in 2009.”

December itself was a record month with sales reaching a new monthly high of Dhs441 million (US$122 million), which represents a 9% increase over December 2008. Meanwhile on December 20th, the day in which Dubai Duty Free celebrated its 26th Anniversary with a special discount offer, daily sales reached Dhs62.5 million (US$17.3 million).

Commenting on the end of a memorable year, Colm McLoughlin, Managing Director of Dubai Duty Free said: “Without doubt, 2009 will be remembered as a year of challenges. I am pleased that as a retail operation we reacted quickly to those challenges and worked closely with our suppliers and staff on a number of initiatives.

“I am particularly grateful for the support, as always, of H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President Dubai Department of Civil Aviation and Chairman of Dubai Duty Free Establishment and I join His Highness is thanking our entire team of staff at Dubai Duty Free who do a great job throughout the year,” added McLoughlin.

In 2009, Dubai Duty Free recorded over 20.3 million sales transactions with an average of 55,800 sales transactions per day.

Category wise, Perfumes continued to be the No. 1 category with sales topping Dhs567 million (US$157 million) up 2% on the previous year and representing 14% of total sales at Dubai Duty Free. Liquor and Gold remained as the No. 2 and No. 3 category respectively. The Tobacco category increased by 15% to become the No. 4 selling category and Confectionary sales rose by 11% to take the No. 5 position.

Other steep increases were seen in the Gifts from Dubai category which rose by 17% while Sunglasses rose by 19% and Precious Jewellery by 20%. Continuing with the Fashion theme, Ladies Fashion saw an increase of 36% in 2009, which is no doubt attributed to the extended Fashion offer available following the opening of Emirates Terminal 3 in late 2008.

2009 was also the year in which Dubai Duty Free was announced as the biggest single airport retail operation in the world based on sales analysis issued by Generation Research. The announcement, which was made in June 2009, places Dubai Duty Free just ahead of sales at London Heathrow and Seoul Incheon Airports for the first time.

Awards continued to be won by Dubai Duty Free in 2009 and the year began with a win in the USA when the readers of Global Traveler magazine voted Dubai Duty Free as the “Best for Duty Free Shops”. In May, the operation won two awards: the “Middle East Travel Retailer of the Year” award at the DFNI-Asia Pacific awards in Singapore and the “Best Duty Free Shopping” award at the Business Traveler M.E. Awards in Dubai.

In June, Dubai Duty Free was named ‘Best Duty Free Shopping’ in the world in the 2009 World Airport survey conducted by Skytrax. The world-famous survey involved interviews with 8.6 million passengers at 196 airports. In October, Dubai Duty Free won the Frontier Award for “Best Marketing Campaign by a Retailer” in Cannes. At the close of the year, Dubai Duty Free was once again honoured by a US-based magazine as Business Traveler US presented the “Best Duty Free Shopping” trophy to the operation at a ceremony in Los Angeles and while in October, Dubai Duty Free walked away with the Frontier Award for ‘Best Marketing Campaign by a Retailer’ for its unique 25th Anniversary campaign.

On a personal level, Dubai Duty Free’s Managing Director, Colm McLoughlin, received four top awards including the “Lifetime Achievement in the Middle East Event Industry” award which recognized his role in promoting the UAE through events. In October, Mr. McLoughlin received the prestigious “Businessman of the Year” award at the annual Middle East Business Achievement Awards held to coincide with the Leaders in Dubai Business Forum. Meanwhile in December, Mr. McLoughlin was named ‘Businessman of the Year” in the Aviation Business Awards. The final award of the year was presented by British Gold Olympic medalist, Sir Matthew Pinsent CBE, who presented the “Lifetime Services to the Arabian Sponsorship Industry” award to Mr. McLoughlin at the inaugural Arabian Sponsorship Awards held in Abu Dhabi.

While the successful running of the shop floor operation is a major focus for Dubai Duty Free, the operation is highly committed to promoting Dubai through a series of high level sporting events such as the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. Attracting 10 out of the top 10 women and 7 of the top 10 men’s players in the world will be in action from 14 – 27 February.

Much awareness is also created by the operation’s involvement in racing. In the UAE, the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free, the penultimate race on World Cup night is the joint-richest turf race ever held at $5 million.

Looking further afield, Dubai Duty Free also sponsors major race meetings in Ireland – at the Curragh for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby, in the UK – at Newbury for a Spring and Autumn meeting and in Ascot, where Dubai Duty Free are title sponsors of the Shergar Cup in August.

Dubai Duty Free is a renowned name in various sporting events worldwide, from golf to horseracing. Its marketing campaigns have not only promoted its duty free operations but Dubai as a superb tourist destination as well. Supporting and sponsoring sports events is an important component of Dubai Duty Free’s promotional strategy.