European retailers have been feeling the heat as record-breaking temperatures on the Continent depressed shopper libido.
France was badly affected, with retail traffic decimated in Paris as the mercury climbed towards 39.6 degC in the capital.
Shopper traffic monitor SPSL said footfall in Paris fell 16.2 per cent in the week to August 12. Director of knowledge management Tim Denison said, like London, Paris 'couldn't cope with the heavy climate'. Even in Barcelona, where residents are more attuned to climatic extremes, footfall fell by 4.1 per cent.
According to statistics gathered by newspaper Le Parisien, French grocers and general merchandisers are picking up the slack on heat- sensitive products, with soft drink sales up 10 per cent, salad up 20 per cent and tuna 20 per cent. Fan sales climbed between 20 and 50 per cent by mid-July, but leaped 100 to 200 per cent in August.
Hypermarket giant Carrefour reported water sales uplifts of 38 per cent to mid-July, but closer to 50 per cent since August began.
Neighbouring Germany has also been affected. A spokesman for Metro Group, which operates MediaMarkt and Kaufhof, said the weather 'had not been typical'.
He said the second week of the Sale at department store Kaufhof had suffered because shoppers stayed away.
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