Dubai Duty Free’s first quarter sales hit $479.5m, up +10% over the same period in 2013, signalling a positive start to the year. Sales rose across all three terminals: the strongest being +23% in Terminal 2, and +11% in Terminal 3.

 

By category, perfume, liquor and gold held on to the top three spots in Q1, with perfume sales reaching $78.5m, representing a strong year-on-year gain of +16%.

 

Other categories that had robust growth were cosmetics (+30% to $38.7m), handbags/small leather (+62% to $6.9m) and Gifts From Dubai (+9% to $9m) which DDF says indicates the increase in tourism number to Dubai in the first quarter.

 

Commenting on the strong result, Colm McLoughlin (left), Executive Vice Chairman of Dubai Duty Free says: “We are very much on track for our sales forecast of AED 7bn ($1.92bn). Terminal 3 continues to be the biggest in terms of accumulative sales and accounts for 62% of our total turnover.

 

“The expansion and upgrade of Terminal 2 late last year has provided us with an opportunity to extend our product range and boost sales in T2, which account for 8.3% of our total revenue. The last phase of that development will be the opening of a new arrivals shop in T2.”

 

Looking ahead, DDF says it will continue to enhance its retail operation this year while continuing to plan for the opening of Concourse D next year. In the meantime the retailer is continuing with its busy events and promotional calendar which includes the Dubai Duty Free Stakes taking place at the Newbury Racecourse in the UK on 11 and 12 April.