Dubai: Dubai Duty Free said its 28th Anniversary on December 20 has broken all records for the operation with the daily sales reaching $24 million (Dh86.75 million) in a 24-hour period.
A special 25 per cent discount offer to mark the operation's 28th anniversary resulted in a massive spending spree at Dubai International Airport that began at midnight on December 19 and continued throughout the day until midnight on the 20th. On the day, the cash registers recorded over 131,000 sales transactions.
Commenting on the anniversary day sales, Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman of Dubai Duty Free said: "Achieving sales of this magnitude in a 24-hour period is obviously fantastic for Dubai Duty Free and for our customers, who made the most of the annual discount day. The daily sales are a new daily record and are substantially higher than our first full year of business (1984), when our annual sales reached $20 million."
The 28th anniversary sales figure of Dh86.75 million is 30 per cent higher than sales in the previous year's anniversary.
"We began introducing a discount offer across a wide range of merchandise on our 20th Anniversary in 2003 and it has become a popular day with travelers, some of whom book their flights in order to shop on that day," added McLoughlin.
The statistics for the day highlight the huge volume of sales that passed through the cash points within the 24 hour period. From a category point of view, Perfumes were the highest selling category with sales of Dh32.47 million and representing 37 per cent of the total daily sales. Watches were the second most popular category on the anniversary day with sales of Dh17.79 million.
Cosmetics came in at third place, category wise, with sales of Dh7.1 million.
Electronics jumped to the fifth position with the demand for the latest technology driving electronic sales to Dh3.64 million. Other notable sales were seen in Gold, which reached Dh2.18 million, ladies handbags, which totalled Dh1.15 million on the day, while men's fashion saw sales top Dh936,944.
