Dubai Duty Free (DDF) reported sales worth US$2.16 billion for 2023, representing a 24.39 per cent increase over the previous year and 6.4 per cent over pre-pandemic numbers of 2019.
DDF, which recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, recorded more than 20 million sales transactions throughout 2023, an average of 55,000 transactions daily.
It added that 55.2 million units of merchandise were sold over the course of last year.
The top five selling categories for 2023 were perfumes followed by liquor, gold, cigarettes and tobacco, and electronics.
With sales of US$374 million, perfumes contributed 17 per cent of total sales and retained its position as the top selling category.
Sales of liquor reached US$310 million and accounted for 14 per cent of the total annual sales.
Meanwhile, gold recorded sales of US$212 million and contributed 10 per cent towards total revenue.
Cigarettes and tobacco came in fourth place with sales amounting to US$204 million and accounted for 9.5 per cent of the total revenue while electronics came in fifth place with sales of US$172 million and accounted for 8 per cent of DDF’s total annual sales.
Sales in Departures across the operation reached US$1.93 billion representing 90 per cent of its total annual sales, while Arrivals sales amounted to US$168 million, representing 8 per cent of total annual sales. Online sales accounted for 2 per cent of its overall sales tally for 2023 and reached US$45 million.
In terms of top source markets for DDF’s sales, India ranked first with US$266 million sales, followed by Russia at US$208 million, China with US$154 million, Saudi Arabia at US$140 million, and the UK in fifth place with sales of US$102 million.
Colm McLoughlin, executive vice chairman and CEO, said, “We are thrilled to have achieved our target sales for the year, a record month in December and a record year in 2023, which culminated with our celebrations of our milestone 40th anniversary.”
DDF’s total employee count now stands at 5,500. Ongoing and upcoming enhancements to its operations include major refurbishment plans in Concourse B at Dubai International (DXB), which will be completed early this year. There will also be scheduled renovations of three Arrival shops in the first quarter of 2024, with construction to continue until the second to third quarter of 2024. Concourse A (two perfumes and cosmetics shops and the fashion area) will also be refurbished starting in the second quarter of 2024 and will be ready by early to mid-2025 with three new boutiques of major fashion brands.
At the Business Traveller Middle East Awards 2023, Dubai Duty Free won the “Best Duty Free Shopping in the Middle East” accolade.
(Image: Supplied by Dubai Duty Free)
