Dubai Duty Free Completes Upgrade of Oracle Retail in 8 Months

Today, Oracle announced that Dubai Duty Free is the first customer to upgrade to Oracle Retail Release 16. Dubai Duty Free, one of the largest airport retailer in the world in terms of turnover, which recorded US$1.85 billion in 2016 continues to provide customers with a first-class customer service, excellent value for money, a wide range of quality products and a world class shopping environment. Now employing almost 6,000 people, the operation has consistently raised the benchmark for airport retailing while welcoming over 78 million shoppers in 2016.

In less than 8 months, Dubai Duty Free completed their upgrade of Oracle Retail Merchandising System, Price Management, Invoice Match, Sales Audit, Warehouse Management, Store Inventory Management and Retail Insights from Release 12 to Release 16. The upgrade project also included the Interface to E-Commerce and interfaces to the point-of-sale system, as well as the material handling and control system for warehouse automation and the Oracle E-business Suite. The new functionality of Release 16 will increase user productivity through exception based retailing, persona specific dashboards, operational efficiencies, and widespread mobility. Additionally, Dubai Duty Free’s technology refresh empowers associates to support consumer journeys like click & collect with accurate inventory visibility and best in class processes with Oracle Commerce and Oracle Retail.

"Oracle understands the Middle Eastern market and has a very strong presence here. Oracle also is constantly extending the breadth and depth of its applications to match the challenges of modern organizations in all industry sectors,” said Ramesh Cidambi, Chief Operating Officer, Dubai Duty Free. “Throughout our journey, which has seen Dubai Duty Free grow to become one of the largest airport retailers in the world, Oracle Retail has shown a great understanding of our retail business. The Oracle Retail solutions reflect that retail expertise, the knowledge, and the understanding that we need as our business continues to grow. Dubai Duty Free can incorporate these best practices and experience into our business processes.” 

“Tata Consulting Services (TCS) partnered with my team and Oracle Retail to ensure the project was delivered on time and within budget. Dubai Duty Free established a Train the Trainer program and anointed a User Acceptance Team to ensure a smooth roll out across the enterprise,” said Cidambi. “Setting up an Oracle Customer Management Office (CMO) for better turnaround time on Service Requests has helped in timely resolution of priority issues.” 

“TCS provided expertise, enthusiasm and a collaborative approach to the implementation. The implementation of Oracle Retail is one of the smoothest implementations of my retail career,” added Cidambi. 

“Congratulations to Ramesh and his team. We appreciate the true partnership of the first deployment of a new release. I am proud of my team for delivering a high-quality, retail rich solution that could be implemented so quickly and without customization,” said Ray Carlin, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Oracle Retail.