On July 1, the German chain Lidl put 200,000 fans on sale starting at four euros in several cities in France. Hours before the stores opened, hordes of excited customers gathered at the doors of the establishments to try to get their hands on the most coveted object in France in recent weeks. In Bordeaux, Lille or Nanterre (on the outskirts of Paris), images captured by television showed customers fighting to get first access to stores, and even attacking each other, to be able to get an air conditioning unit that will allow them to survive the next summer heat waves. The image illustrates the phenomenon experienced these weeks: record temperatures and record sales. The heat wave of May, but especially that of the end of June, the earliest and most intense that the country has experienced in which 2,000 people died, has skyrocketed sales of air conditioning devices, with historic peaks. According to the latest figures published by NielsenIQ, 1.8 million fans and 160,000 air conditioners were sold in France between June 15 and 28, 66% more than in the same period last year. One million were sold only between June 21 and 28, when the country experienced the hottest days in its history and the entire country was on red or orange alert due to high temperatures. That second half of June accounts for 50% of all fan sales since January. This is “a historic peak,” according to Nielsen. This second week of July, the country faces its third heat wave, although with somewhat more moderate temperatures (below 40 degrees) and, far from thinking that after the fury of recent weeks, homes have already been equipped, distributors are anticipating a new wave of sales and hastily replenishing their stocks to avoid the shortages that have been seen these days, with products sold out in almost all stores. As soon as they were replenished, they disappeared in a few hours. Although these episodes of suffocation are increasingly earlier and more frequent, the country is poorly prepared and every year, when the heat arrives, sales skyrocket and the scenes already described are repeated. The buildings are poorly insulated and accumulate heat, especially on the upper floors, and many houses do not have blinds. Despite this, only 25% of homes have air conditioning, although 10 years ago it was only 14%, according to the Environment and Energy Agency (Ademe, in its French acronym). Sales of air appliances are progressing, but most homes see the fan as the only option, which is more economical and has less energy costs. In May, with the first heat wave of the season, the networks began to do the math. According to Nielsen, 680,620 ventilators were sold in just seven days, a year-on-year increase of 1,500% and a turnover of 28.4 million euros.
Resale works
Distribution chains have recently realized this phenomenon. In Leclerc stores, one of the large French stores, 700,000 fans were sold in just three weeks, an increase of 200% compared to previous years, according to data from the chain’s own president, Michel-Édouard Leclerc. In an interview on the RMC network, he said that these figures “are incredible,” admitted that Lidl’s low prices “attract the French” and said that “many customers buy the devices and then resell them.” Another large store, Intermarché, sold 100,000 devices in one week and Cooperative U sold as much in one week as it did in an entire year. The State itself has contributed to this fury over the ventilator. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu ordered the purchase of 30,000 devices to equip schools and hospitals lacking air conditioning. He did it in the middle of a wave of suffocation and said they would be ready in a week. According to data from the Ministry of Health itself, only 40% of health centers are equipped. Also on days of record temperatures, the mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Gregoire, ordered another 1,200 to equip schools, since only 7% are adapted. You can consult other letters in this section here.
