Page 27 - July 2021

their customers, many of whom are well-travelled and familiar with duty-free stores.
“We continue to work with many suppliers on creating exciting new retail products and concepts that appeal to our customers. Customer
service is also vitally important to our business, even though we are a large retailer; we try to keep the personal touch in all we do. Our job
is to offer a great range of quality products at value-for-money prices, provide great customer service and satisfaction and ensure a shopper-
friendly environment,” explains McLoughlin.
The CEO feels there are several reasons behind the success to date of the company and the first of these is the support that they have
received from the Government of Dubai, and in particular from their Chairman, H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum who has allowed
them the freedom and encouragement to grow the business. Alongside this McLoughlin feels that they have the greatest team of staff in the
world who are well trained and motivated which reflects positively on the organisation.
Finally, part of their original brief back in 1983 was to promote the city of Dubai and to a large extent this is done through their sports
sponsorship, and this has continued despite the challenges the pandemic presented as they once again invested in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis
Championships, which is owned by DDF.
“Our industry has faced major challenges over the years and Covid-19 is obviously the biggest one we have faced. As such, we all have to
be realistic and acknowledge that it is going to take time for things to come back to where they used to be, but we are determined to make
DDF a ‘re-success’. I’m really confident that given the right amount of time we will make a full recovery,” McLoughlin concludes.

Retail & leisuRe inteRnational
JulY 2021 Retail & leisuRe inteRnational 27
2021 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships