Heaters sell like hotcakes amid cold snap

Heaters could be the next seasonal sellout, after temperatures dropped and sales spiked nationwide over the weekend.

The Warehouse chief executive Pejman Okhovat said it sold 100 per cent more electric heaters this week compared with last week. ‘‘Heaters’’ were the most searched item on The Warehouse’s online store in the past week, he said.

Briscoe Group managing director Rod Duke said electric blankets were ‘‘outstandingly popular’’ in the past week, and could sell out like fans did in January.

Briscoes and Living & Giving collectively sold 60 per cent more heaters, electric blankets and duvet inners between Thursday and Sunday compared with the same days last year.

Duke said the sales were unusually late in the year. Typically the company saw a spike in heating equipment sales at the end of March, particularly in South Island stores.

If sales stayed at that rate or rose in the next month, Briscoe Group stores would sell out, he said. All of the heating equipment it had ordered was already in New Zealand and would not be restocked, he said.

‘‘All the heating we’re going to get, we’ve got.’’

Briscoes bought stock based on last year’s sales records, but every year the purchasing of stock was mostly a ‘‘guessing game’’, he said.

In Wellington, the owner of firewood supplier Ablaze, David Laurenson, said the season had been kicked off with a cold snap in April but afterwards the weather had been mild until last week. ‘‘Obviously things are picking up again now.’’

However, a chilly, rainy day did not necessarily mean the orders were rolling in, he said.

‘‘People as a rule, generally, don’t want firewood delivered on a rainy day, because if they’re buying at this time of the year, they’re buying it to use straight away and there’s not a lot of point then dumping it in front of the garage.’’

There was plenty of time for sales to shift up a gear, he said.

‘‘The coldest weather doesn’t generally come until after the shortest day.’’