Built on a background of corporate blue, Dubai Duty Free’s site is a mix of photographs and text in white font. But the colours, layout and font are dated and the site doesn’t capture the brilliance or showcase the shopping experience of Dubai Duty Free itself |
Website of the week: Dubai Duty Free
Dubai Duty Free operates at Dubai International Airport. With sales of US$590 million in 2005 the company is one of the top three airport retailers in the world.
Style
Built on a background of corporate blue, Dubai Duty Free’s site is a mix of photographs and text in white font. But the colours, layout and font as well as the overall style are dated.
The site is text heavy but photographs are used generously, although some are of low quality. If the site was created to reinforce Dubai Duty Free’s strengths in raffle and prize draw promotions, it does so well, although there is surprisingly little information on the product ranges or shopping opportunities.
Content and usability
Dubai Duty Free’s homepage is alive with movement; pictures in Flash animation illustrate the retailer’s two major competitions Millennium Millionaire and Finest Surprise Draw. To enter, one must choose a ‘Lucky number’ from a drop down menu and proceed to checkout. As a marketing gambit, this is good bait – people love big cash incentives, but does the site’s appeal extend beyond this?
Two menu bars outline the upper and lower portions of the page. The top menu includes About DDF, Dubai Airport, Shoppers Paradise, Finest Surprise and Millennium Millionaire.
To celebrate the launch of our new Travel Retail Web-Wide Index, each week we put the spotlight on one of the growing array of dedicated travel retail websites or web sections. Click here or on the image to read the index. |
Shoppers Paradise consists of a “˜brief guide’ to the outlets available at Dubai Duty Free. This translates into one or two sentences per product category. There is no further information about products or outlets.
Meanwhile, the bottom menu bar offers DDF Trivia, DDF and the Environment, Events, Winners, View Basket and Contact.
DDF Trivia, an option that intrigues, comprises a monthly log of goods sold.
One would be forgiven for interpreting View Basket as a sign of a product pre-order facility, but it’s not. View Basket is the website’s competition ticket pre-order option. The website is so geared towards its competitions that product showcasing/outlet awareness takes a back seat, which is again surprising given the well-deserved reputation Dubai Duty Free has as a market-leading travel retailer.
Judging by the number of queries our sister website, Duty Free Shopping Index.com, gets about products and pricing at Dubai Duty Free, this website could do a lot more to promote what is, after all, one of the great duty free shopping experiences. It’s not yet the showcase it could and should be.
What we like:
Strong promotions/raffle opportunities
Easy navigation
What we think needs improving/adding:
Revamp design/layout
More focus on products/outlets/pricing
Visit Dubai Duty Free.
COMING SOON: The Moodie Report Travel Retail Worldwide Web Awards.
Sponsored by P&G Prestige Products
Which websites offer the best service to consumers? Which are most user-friendly? Which are the most stylish? And which, crucially, offer the greatest incentive to shop?
Every year we will judge, through a combination of industry polling, consumer opinion and specialist judges, who is doing most to wow travellers on the web. International and regional awards.
The main award – Travel Retail Website of the Year – will be unveiled at this year’s ‘Oscars’ of the industry: the Frontier Awards in Cannes. More details coming soon.
MORE WEBSITES OF THE WEEK
Website of the Week: dutymexico.com – 24/05/06
Website of the week: SWISS – 10/05/06