While according to Nielsen, the heatwave of the second-half of June 2026 gave a boost to food products and domestic appliances in France, it also brought a share of difficulties. “Without marked geographical disparities, summer weather stimulated sales of fresh products, liquids and sweet frozen foods, thereby contributing to the growth of all retailers,” said Nielsen. Over the second fortnight of June, between June 15 and June 28, consumers’ demand exploded for fans and air conditioners in France : in volume, consumers bought 1.8 million fans during this fortnight (up by 66% in a year) and 160,000 air conditioners (up by 34% in a year). “These two weeks alone already concentrated 59% of fan sales made since the beginning of 2026 and 57% of air conditioner sales, ” summarizes Nielsen in a press release. “This heatwave propelled sales to their highest level ever observed. And this reality poses a fundamental question for manufacturers and retailers: how to anticipate categories capable of achieving nearly 6 annual sales out of 10 in just two weeks?”
Nevertheless, stores were put to a severe test, particularly supermarkets, as evidenced by empty frozen food aisles seen at an array of retailers, notably Monoprix and Carrefour. “In store, there is generally a central unit that produces cold for all refrigerated cabinets and for the air conditioning system at the same time, ” explained a spokesperson for a European retail federation. “But above 26°C, this unit doesn’t work well. Some retailers decided to gather frozen products into a single aisle, turning off some frozen cabinets, in order to preserve proper functioning of this central unit.”
