There’s more to summertime
business than ice-cream vans.
Ben Richardson:
As the UK and consumers swelter in the latest heatwave, businesses are doing their best to operate as normal.
Results are mixed, however, and while some profits have hit a red-hot streak, others are feeling an earnings chill. Retailers are among those experiencing the worst of the effects as people stay away from town centres and enjoy the sunny skies, research group Footfall said. According to the company’s latest figures, the number of people in town centres on Wednesday - which proved to be the hottest July day since records began - was down 7.3% compared with a year earlier. ‘Necessity shopping is still taking place but other leisure activities and trips tend to fill the gap previously occupied by a shopping trip,’ Footfall said. ‘As the period of extreme weather continues, it is keeping consumers away from the shops,’ the research group added.
Consumers also tend to search out larger retailers that offer many different products under one air-conditioned roof, hurting sales at smaller shops and outlets, analysts said.
And it is the same with the products that the companies sell, with those that allow people to enjoy or avoid the heat doing exceptionally well.
One wholesaler told the BBC that his independent traders were selling large amounts of flip-flops, sunglasses, water pistols, and buckets and spades. He added that the best-selling item was a plain green-plastic watering can that allowed users to beat the hosepipe ban imposed across large parts of the UK and keep their gardens, and often themselves, refreshed.
Supermarket group Tesco said that it had seen a surge in demand for a number of sun-related products, including 82,000 electric fans in a week - 3 times the amount it sold a year earlier. ‘The heatwave is having a dramatic effect on sales,’ said Tesco spokesman Jonathan Church. ‘As the temperatures rise, most people are using the garden as their dining room and those products you associate with outdoor eating have seen huge increases in demand.’ The company said that over the coming weekend it expected to sell 1.2 million burgers, 2 tonnes of tiger prawns, 400,000 bottles of sun cream, 55,000 bottles of aftersun cream and 50,000 bottles of insect repellent. It also was ordering extra supplies of bread, rolls, salad and charcoal. Read more.
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