UK heatwave triggers price rises for items such as hot tubs and air conditioning units

The heatwave has triggered a surge in prices for seasonal items, with the cost of one inflatable hot tub nearly doubling in a week, while an industry expert said air conditioning units have risen by about 17% since April.

The Guardian looked at the cost of popular items across a range of websites and examined their price on PriceRunner, an independent price comparison service. One of the biggest price increases was for the Bestway inflatable hot tub Lay-Z-Spa Cancún AirJet, which was available for £160 on 21 May but now retails for a minimum of £299.

Of the 11 heatwave-related items examined by the Guardian, six were at their highest price in the last three months, while the remaining five were unchanged. The Dyson Cool Tower fan was priced at £299 on Amazon, up from a low of £249.99 during the period examined. The Morphy Richards Flexi Freeze 12K BTU portable air conditioning unit rose to £410, up from £389, in a matter of weeks after 4 May.

The De’Longhi Pinguino Gentle Jet air conditioner cost £689.95 at Tiny Lux, up from a low of £659.99 a few days earlier.

Experts warn that dynamic pricing could leave consumers paying more during periods of high demand. Nick Glynne, the chief executive of Buy It Direct Group, one of the UK’s largest independent online retailers, said: “It’s really hard to get pricing strategy right. Look at hotels, where prices change based on demand and supply. The instinct is always to help customers by offering low prices, but when demand rises and there is limited supply, the question becomes to what extent you let prices increase and where you cap them.”

He explained that price is sometimes controlled “algorithmically” based on how much interest there is in a product, and that there is no such thing as a “fixed price” but that there are price caps and collars.

Glynne said: “We are buying on supply and demand all the time. Shipping rates are entirely driven by supply and demand. If you’re bringing products over at peak times of the year, shipping costs can be two to three times higher.

“Raw material prices are also dictated by supply. Chinese factories produce millions of units every year, so even if I order a thousand containers it may only make a small difference. Input costs are constantly changing depending on constraints and fluctuations in raw material prices … oil prices, for example, have a massive impact on plastics … Our mantra is everyday low pricing and, more often than not, prices actually go down.”