Amazon is inundated with shoppers desperately trying to cool off
Air conditioners displayed for sale at a Home Depot store during a heatwave in Austin
By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN
New York (CNN) — Consumers are snapping up air conditioners, ice makers, pool floats and other goods to help them cool down in response to a brutal heat wave in the United States.
On Amazon, sales of air conditioners increased 248% during the 30 days ending July 14, according to data from Jungle Scout, a data and analytics platform for Amazon sellers. Sales for fans grew 60%.
Searches on Amazon for “single room AC units” and “portable misting fans” also spiked triple digits during the period, according to Jungle Scout.
On Wednesday morning, a sun shade for car windshields was listed as the best-selling product on Amazon’s automotive page.
Lightweight and cooling bed sheets were the best sellers for Amazon’s home and kitchen department, and a hammock pool float topped the charts on Amazon’s toys and games page.
It’s the latest example of how climate change and extreme weather patterns have impacted consumer purchases.
Last month, sales of air purifier units increased by 96% compared to June of last year amid some of the worst air quality levels on record on the East Coast, according to data from Circana.
Canadian wildfires smothered large swaths of the United States. In the Northeast, where the wildfire smoke was worst, air purifier sales jumped 119% in June.
Hotter summers also are increasing the financial burden on families.
The cost of home energy bills this summer will increase by 11.7% to an average of $578, up from $517 last summer, according to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association.
In the region including Texas and Louisiana — where some cities are having their hottest summer on record — the tab is projected to rise to $706, up 10% from last year.
The association is calling on Congress to provide an additional $3 billion for cooling assistance this summer, which would help about six million households, and it is asking utilities to voluntarily suspend shutoffs this summer for those behind on their bills.
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CNN’s Tami Luhby contributed to this article.
