The iPhone 6 and Bleu de Chanel fragrance were among the top selling festive gift items at the world’s biggest duty free shop this week.
Thousands of passengers thronged the aisles of Dubai Duty Free yesterday, as the retailer slashed prices by as much as 25 per cent on the busiest weekend of the year.
Ekaterina Katrin, 30, a Dubai resident, was among the shoppers taking advantage of the discounts at the cosmetics counter yesterday.
“I am rewarding myself,” she said.
Dubai Duty Free, which aims to generate more than US$1.9 billion in sales this year, regained its position as the world’s largest single airport retail operation this year, ahead of Seoul Incheon and Singapore Changi.
The Dubai Airport retailer is famed for its eclectic mix of products ranging from the basic to the ultra luxurious.
In the first nine months of the year, it sold more than 1090 tonnes of the Tang powdered fruit drink as well as 559 tonnes of dates.
But luxury items dominate the list of best-selling items this week as hundreds of thousands of passengers pass through the airport for the holiday period.
The iPhone 6, starting from Dh2,749 was the top selling electronics item in the run-up to the holidays.
A Dh438 bottle of Bleu de Chanel was the fastest-selling fragrance for men, while the Dh535 Chanel Coco Mademoiselle was the most popular choice for women.
The retailer is benefiting from the rapid growth of Emirates Airline, which expects to fly 70 million passengers annually by 2020.
Such growth in passenger numbers is the main driver of the expansion of Dubai International Airport, which is set to overtake London Heathrow as the busiest by volume of international traffic this year.
Global duty free and travel retail sales reached a record US$60 billion, last year. More than half of that business comes from airport sales.
Dubai Duty Free has more than 5 per cent market share of the global airport duty free business according to Generation Research data.
Dubai also accounts for almost half of the entire airport-based duty free sales in the Middle East.
Dubai Duty Free retail operations are expected to reach 33,000 square metres with the opening of Dubai Duty Free next year. It also has 2,500 sq metres of retail space at Al Maktoum International in the emirate.
* with reporting by Victor Besa
scronin@thenational.ae
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