Canadian duty free airport sales reached C$291.8m (US$247.6m), while land border sales hit C$132.5m (US$112.4m) between January and November 2014.

The total market amounted to US$360m in the first 11 months of 2014, according to the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA), which reported the figures on January 2, 2015 – alongside the usual analysis from the Frontier Duty Free Association (FDFA).

On the airports side, Toronto (Nuance/Dufry); Vancouver (World Duty Free) and Montreal (Aer Rianta International NA) continued to be the dominant contributors to sales, with Perfume, Cosmetics & Skincare leading all product categories at all airports with sales of C$98.4m (a 33.7% share).

MAJOR PRODUCT CATEGORY SALES

The next nine biggest product categories (measured in Canadian dollars only) were as follows: Alcohol (liquor, liqueurs, wine, coolers) C$60.2m (20.63%); Tobacco, Cigars, Loose Tobacco C$39.7m (13.61%); Jewellery, Watches & Clocks C$24.9m (8.56%); Food C$21.6m (7.41%); Clothing, hats, fur, leather C$14.8m (5.08%); Accessories, purses, wallets, sunglasses etc $14.4m ($4.96%); Office and travel supplies C$12.6m (4.33%); Souvenirs C$4.1m (1.44%); and Electronics, Cameras, Binoculars, etc C$316.212((0.11%).

On the land border side, Alcocol sales accounted for C$49.4m (37.30%); followed by Tobacco with C$36.6m (27.68%); Perfume, Cosmetics & Skincare C$21.1m (15.95%); Food C$7.3m (5.52%); Beer C$5.9m (4.50%); Jewellery, Watches & Clocks C$4.2m (3.24%); Accessories C$2.7m (2.05%); and Clothing C$2.4m (1.82%).

TOP IMAGE: One of the best looking airport stores in Canada at Montreal, with Aer Rianta International North America. (Right) The Peach Arch Bridge Canadian border Store operation.