The main Food Plus outlets for tobacco,
drinks and chocolates are complemented by
boutique-style shopping areas and retail islands
that feature specialist products such as Cuban
cigars, Luxury watches, Leather wear, Women’s
Fashion, Sunglasses, a Gadget shop – offering
the latest fun fads and a gifts from the Dubai
area. There is also a wide range
of electronic, computer, audio-
visual and photographic products
that feature the latest in global
technology.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
Building on the hugely successful
Finest Surprise promotion,
which offers ticket holders the
chance to win a luxury car,
Dubai Duty free launched its
Millennium Millionaire draw in
July 1999.The promotion offers
entrants a chance of winning
US$1 million based on a limited
series of 5,000 tickets priced
at Dh1,000 ($278). As a result
of the promotion’s success,
a new dollar millionaire is
created every six to eight weeks
enabling the Dubai Duty Free
‘Millionaires’ Club’ to grow by
around seven each year. To date
a total of 38 new millionaires
have been created through this promotion.
Due to popular demand, the Millennium
Millionaire, together with the Finest Surprise
promotion, is now available to Internet users at
www.dubaidutyfree.com.
PROMOTION
The Millennium Millionaire is a popular addition
to the Finest Surprise Promotion, which was
launched in 1989 as a one-off venture, and
is now considered to be the longest running
promotion in the world.
Such was the interest
caused by the Finest
Surprise from the very
beginning that it was
retained as an ongoing
event and has played
an important role in
attracting customer
interest to Dubai Duty
Free.Today, tickets for
a luxury car continue
to sell at an average of
100 a day and there are
many recorded cases in
the past of travellers who
have changed their flight
plans in order to pass
through Dubai and enter
the draw.
Dubai Duty Free has played a leading role in
incorporating sports as a key promotional tool.
Dubai Duty Free may well be the only duty free
operator in the world that not only owns its own
tennis stadium but also runs an ATP and WTA
tournament. The operation is the driving force
behind the Dubai Tennis Championships and
both owns and organises the mini Grand-slam
event.The tournament is broadcast to some 300
million homes worldwide and generates over
US$135 million
worth of TV
exposure.The
WTA
tournament
– the Dubai
Duty Free
Women’s
Open – was
added to
the well
established
Dubai Duty
Free Men’s
Open in 2001.
In a recent
development,
Dubai Duty
Free have
become
an official
sponsor of the
WTA tour, a
move that will
provide the
operation with even greater global coverage.
Dubai Duty Free is not only at the forefront
of the industry but is also 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, spending approximately five per cent
of its turnover on marketing, advertising and
promotional activities. Supporting and sponsoring
sports events is an important component
of Dubai Duty Free’s
promotional strategy.
A new avenue for Dubai
Duty Free has been to
co-sponsor a series of
televisual vignettes or mini-
documentaries that take CNN
viewers on a “cultural voyage”
of Dubai. The cultural voyage
campaign – jointly funded with
Dubai International Airport –
saw Dubai Duty Free produce
its first ever TV commercial
as part of a project covering
a variety of themes including
falconry, dhow building, the
use of henna and Arabian
music and dance.
BRAND VALUES
Dubai Duty Free’s reputation has been built on
five business principles that were established
from the outset: value for money, quality of
products, range of products, quality of service
and ambience.The operation’s reputation for
success, style and innovation suggests that it lives
by these principles.
www.dubaidutyfree.com
MARKET
Today’s global duty free market is worth over
$20 billion a year, which is a long way from
humble roots: the concept of duty free originated
at Shannon Airport in the West of Ireland as
recently as 1947. Dubai Duty Free is one of
the top ten airport retail operations in the
world in terms of turnover and competes on
many fronts: with airports both far from and
within the Arabian Gulf region to the low-duty
domestic retail environment in Dubai. It seems
an improbable thought that people would change
their travel plans on the basis of duty free offers,
but there is more than anecdotal evidence to
suggest that Dubai Duty Free has been and
remains a powerful factor in attracting people to
the emirate.
The development of Dubai Duty Free must
be seen in the broader context of Dubai’s
strategy of becoming a major tourist, business
and shopping destination. If imitation is the
sincerest form of flattery, then a measure of how
successful Dubai Duty Free has been can be seen
from the considerable investment in duty free
operations at other airports in the Gulf.
ACHIEVEMENTS
In the past twenty years Dubai Duty Free has
received over 80 awards which have been
presented by the industry, media and the
business community.
The first major award was presented in
Nice in 1985 when the relatively new, start-up
operation won the very first Frontier Award for
“Airport Duty Free Operator of the Year”.
A year later, the operation won another two
Frontier Awards for “Best Marketing Campaign
for a Duty Free Operator” and a personal award
for Managing Director Colm McLoughlin who
was voted “Duty Free Person of the Year”.
At last count Dubai Duty Free had received a
total of seven Frontier Awards including winning
the much-acclaimed “Airport Retailer of the
Year” award for two consecutive years, (2001
and 2002).
In the past two years alone, Dubai Duty
Free has added ten new accolades to its name.
Chief among these is the Dubai Government’s
Quality Award which recognised the company
as “Company of the Year” in the Gold category.
The operation was also named “Most Distinctive
Retailer of the Year” in 2002 and won the
Business Traveller Middle East magazine award
for “Best Duty Free Shopping” in both 2002
and 2003. Also in 2003, Raven Fox presented
the “Middle East Travel Retailer of the Year” for a
third consecutive year.
In 2003 Dubai Duty free became the only
airport operation in the world to achieve both
ISO 14001 certification and OHSAS 18001
certification for its
environmental and
health and safety
policies.
HISTORY
Just like the
butterfly on
its logo, Dubai
Duty free has
metamorphosed
from a chrysalis
twenty years
ago – one of the
youngest players
then in the duty
free industry
worldwide – into a
Papillon that has
spread its wings
far and wide, and
is now at the top
of the industry.
From its beginnings in 1983, Dubai Duty Free
has grown into a company that ranks among
the top three largest duty free operations in
the world with an annual turnover in excess of
1.37 billion dirhams (US$380 million).
It all began when the Dubai Government
commissioned Irish airpor t operator Aer
Rianta to set up a new duty free at Dubai
International Airpor t. A six-month contract was
agreed upon and in September 1983, a ten man
team from Aer Rianta came to Dubai. Their
brief was “to develop the best-ever duty free
shops in the industry”. Within three months of
round-the-clock working, on December 20th
1983, Dubai Duty Free, as we now know it, was
born.
From the original enterprising team of ten,
three stayed on to manage the brand new
operation. Fondly called the “Irish Trinity”, these
men were Colm McLoughlin, John Sutcliffe and
George Horan.
Barely two years after it began operation,
Dubai Duty Free was named “Airport Duty
Free Operator of the Year” at the Frontier
Awards in France.
PRODUCT
Global and local is a watchword in modern
business and it is one that Dubai Duty Free
embodies. Its 35,000 product lines satisfy the
needs of even the most demanding of travellers.
While the vast retail area is a showcase for
famous international names in retail, the biggest
seller remains gold, not surprisingly perhaps, since
Dubai is renowned worldwide as the “City of
Gold”. In 2003 Dubai Duty Free sold 3,116 of
gold, including 18, 22 and 24 carat gold jewellery.
On average, Dubai Duty Free sells over 726,000kg
of chocolate annually.
Gold continues to be among the top three selling
items at Dubai Duty Free, with annual sales
accounting for 12% of total shop floor sales.
Last year Dubai Duty Free sold 3,116 kilos of
gold.
Perfumes are another top selling item, with over
40 brands available. Last year over 999,000
bottles of perfume were sold.
The famous Finest Surprise Luxury Car
promotion began life in 1989 as a “one-off ”
event. This is now complemented by the
Millenium Millionaire promotion.
Dubai Duty Free averages a daily total of over
24,000 sales transactions and over 9 million
transactions a year.
On 20 December, Dubai Duty Free celebrated
20 years of operation. On the day, the
operation offered travelers 20% discount on
a huge range of products and sales soared to
a phenomenal Dhs7.1 million (US$1.9 million).
A number of local charities benefited from the
high-spending day, which saw a total of 35,733
sales transactions.
Also, on the anniversary day, Dubai Duty Free
honoured its long serving staff. Of the original
100 staff, 64 remain in full time service. The
operation currently employs over 1,200 staff
made up of 24 different nationalities who
speak a total of 36 different languages.
Things you didn’t know about
Dubai Duty Free
40
SUPERBRANDS
The main Food Plus outlets for tobacco,
drinks and chocolates are complemented by
boutique-style shopping areas and retail islands
that feature specialist products such as Cuban
cigars, Luxury watches, Leather wear, Women’s
Fashion, Sunglasses, a Gadget shop – offering
the latest fun fads and a gifts from the Dubai
area. There is also a wide range
of electronic, computer, audio-
visual and photographic products
that feature the latest in global
technology.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
Building on the hugely successful
Finest Surprise promotion,
which offers ticket holders the
chance to win a luxury car,
Dubai Duty free launched its
Millennium Millionaire draw in
July 1999.The promotion offers
entrants a chance of winning
US$1 million based on a limited
series of 5,000 tickets priced
at Dh1,000 ($278). As a result
of the promotion’s success,
a new dollar millionaire is
created every six to eight weeks
enabling the Dubai Duty Free
‘Millionaires’ Club’ to grow by
around seven each year. To date
a total of 38 new millionaires
have been created through this promotion.
Due to popular demand, the Millennium
Millionaire, together with the Finest Surprise
promotion, is now available to Internet users at
www.dubaidutyfree.com.
PROMOTION
The Millennium Millionaire is a popular addition
to the Finest Surprise Promotion, which was
launched in 1989 as a one-off venture, and
is now considered to be the longest running
promotion in the world.
Such was the interest
caused by the Finest
Surprise from the very
beginning that it was
retained as an ongoing
event and has played
an important role in
attracting customer
interest to Dubai Duty
Free.Today, tickets for
a luxury car continue
to sell at an average of
100 a day and there are
many recorded cases in
the past of travellers who
have changed their flight
plans in order to pass
through Dubai and enter
the draw.
Dubai Duty Free has played a leading role in
incorporating sports as a key promotional tool.
Dubai Duty Free may well be the only duty free
operator in the world that not only owns its own
tennis stadium but also runs an ATP and WTA
tournament. The operation is the driving force
behind the Dubai Tennis Championships and
both owns and organises the mini Grand-slam
event.The tournament is broadcast to some 300
million homes worldwide and generates over
US$135 million
worth of TV
exposure.The
WTA
tournament
– the Dubai
Duty Free
Women’s
Open – was
added to
the well
established
Dubai Duty
Free Men’s
Open in 2001.
In a recent
development,
Dubai Duty
Free have
become
an official
sponsor of the
WTA tour, a
move that will
provide the
operation with even greater global coverage.
Dubai Duty Free is not only at the forefront
of the industry but is also 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, spending approximately five per cent
of its turnover on marketing, advertising and
promotional activities. Supporting and sponsoring
sports events is an important component
of Dubai Duty Free’s
promotional strategy.
A new avenue for Dubai
Duty Free has been to
co-sponsor a series of
televisual vignettes or mini-
documentaries that take CNN
viewers on a “cultural voyage”
of Dubai. The cultural voyage
campaign – jointly funded with
Dubai International Airport –
saw Dubai Duty Free produce
its first ever TV commercial
as part of a project covering
a variety of themes including
falconry, dhow building, the
use of henna and Arabian
music and dance.
BRAND VALUES
Dubai Duty Free’s reputation has been built on
five business principles that were established
from the outset: value for money, quality of
products, range of products, quality of service
and ambience.The operation’s reputation for
success, style and innovation suggests that it lives
by these principles.
www.dubaidutyfree.com
MARKET
Today’s global duty free market is worth over
$20 billion a year, which is a long way from
humble roots: the concept of duty free originated
at Shannon Airport in the West of Ireland as
recently as 1947. Dubai Duty Free is one of
the top ten airport retail operations in the
world in terms of turnover and competes on
many fronts: with airports both far from and
within the Arabian Gulf region to the low-duty
domestic retail environment in Dubai. It seems
an improbable thought that people would change
their travel plans on the basis of duty free offers,
but there is more than anecdotal evidence to
suggest that Dubai Duty Free has been and
remains a powerful factor in attracting people to
the emirate.
The development of Dubai Duty Free must
be seen in the broader context of Dubai’s
strategy of becoming a major tourist, business
and shopping destination. If imitation is the
sincerest form of flattery, then a measure of how
successful Dubai Duty Free has been can be seen
from the considerable investment in duty free
operations at other airports in the Gulf.
ACHIEVEMENTS
In the past twenty years Dubai Duty Free has
received over 80 awards which have been
presented by the industry, media and the
business community.
The first major award was presented in
Nice in 1985 when the relatively new, start-up
operation won the very first Frontier Award for
“Airport Duty Free Operator of the Year”.
A year later, the operation won another two
Frontier Awards for “Best Marketing Campaign
for a Duty Free Operator” and a personal award
for Managing Director Colm McLoughlin who
was voted “Duty Free Person of the Year”.
At last count Dubai Duty Free had received a
total of seven Frontier Awards including winning
the much-acclaimed “Airport Retailer of the
Year” award for two consecutive years, (2001
and 2002).
In the past two years alone, Dubai Duty
Free has added ten new accolades to its name.
Chief among these is the Dubai Government’s
Quality Award which recognised the company
as “Company of the Year” in the Gold category.
The operation was also named “Most Distinctive
Retailer of the Year” in 2002 and won the
Business Traveller Middle East magazine award
for “Best Duty Free Shopping” in both 2002
and 2003. Also in 2003, Raven Fox presented
the “Middle East Travel Retailer of the Year” for a
third consecutive year.
In 2003 Dubai Duty free became the only
airport operation in the world to achieve both
ISO 14001 certification and OHSAS 18001
certification for its
environmental and
health and safety
policies.
HISTORY
Just like the
butterfly on
its logo, Dubai
Duty free has
metamorphosed
from a chrysalis
twenty years
ago – one of the
youngest players
then in the duty
free industry
worldwide – into a
Papillon that has
spread its wings
far and wide, and
is now at the top
of the industry.
From its beginnings in 1983, Dubai Duty Free
has grown into a company that ranks among
the top three largest duty free operations in
the world with an annual turnover in excess of
1.37 billion dirhams (US$380 million).
It all began when the Dubai Government
commissioned Irish airpor t operator Aer
Rianta to set up a new duty free at Dubai
International Airpor t. A six-month contract was
agreed upon and in September 1983, a ten man
team from Aer Rianta came to Dubai. Their
brief was “to develop the best-ever duty free
shops in the industry”. Within three months of
round-the-clock working, on December 20th
1983, Dubai Duty Free, as we now know it, was
born.
From the original enterprising team of ten,
three stayed on to manage the brand new
operation. Fondly called the “Irish Trinity”, these
men were Colm McLoughlin, John Sutcliffe and
George Horan.
Barely two years after it began operation,
Dubai Duty Free was named “Airport Duty
Free Operator of the Year” at the Frontier
Awards in France.
PRODUCT
Global and local is a watchword in modern
business and it is one that Dubai Duty Free
embodies. Its 35,000 product lines satisfy the
needs of even the most demanding of travellers.
While the vast retail area is a showcase for
famous international names in retail, the biggest
seller remains gold, not surprisingly perhaps, since
Dubai is renowned worldwide as the “City of
Gold”. In 2003 Dubai Duty Free sold 3,116 of
gold, including 18, 22 and 24 carat gold jewellery.
On average, Dubai Duty Free sells over 726,000kg
of chocolate annually.
Gold continues to be among the top three selling
items at Dubai Duty Free, with annual sales
accounting for 12% of total shop floor sales.
Last year Dubai Duty Free sold 3,116 kilos of
gold.
Perfumes are another top selling item, with over
40 brands available. Last year over 999,000
bottles of perfume were sold.
The famous Finest Surprise Luxury Car
promotion began life in 1989 as a “one-off ”
event. This is now complemented by the
Millenium Millionaire promotion.
Dubai Duty Free averages a daily total of over
24,000 sales transactions and over 9 million
transactions a year.
On 20 December, Dubai Duty Free celebrated
20 years of operation. On the day, the
operation offered travelers 20% discount on
a huge range of products and sales soared to
a phenomenal Dhs7.1 million (US$1.9 million).
A number of local charities benefited from the
high-spending day, which saw a total of 35,733
sales transactions.
Also, on the anniversary day, Dubai Duty Free
honoured its long serving staff. Of the original
100 staff, 64 remain in full time service. The
operation currently employs over 1,200 staff
made up of 24 different nationalities who
speak a total of 36 different languages.
Things you didn’t know about
Dubai Duty Free
40
SUPERBRANDS
