Report Summary

Period covered 05 July – 01 August 2026

3 minute read

Note: This report summary is one or two months behind the current month as standard reporting practice. The content is indicative only and incomplete with certain data undisclosed. Become a member to access this data or take out a free 30 day membership trial now.

Electricals sales

Electricals sales increased by xx year-on-year in July, easing from xx in June but remaining slightly ahead of the xx rise recorded a year ago.

Growth continued, although the stronger performance seen at the beginning of the summer lost pace as several of the factors that had encouraged households to bring purchases forward began to run their course.

Three consecutive months of exceptional temperatures had already generated considerable demand for fans, air-conditioning units and other cooling products, while the World Cup provided a further reason to spend on televisions and home entertainment during the first half of the month.

Those opportunities remained present, but neither had the same capacity to generate new purchases after several weeks of favourable trading conditions.

Key drivers and category performance

Cooling products remained relevant during another exceptionally hot month, with July becoming the UK's second warmest July on record and the sunniest on record.

England's progress to the World Cup semi-finals kept interest in televisions and home entertainment alive during the opening weeks of July, extending a purchasing opportunity that had begun in June.

Once the tournament ended, that immediate reason to upgrade became less prominent, leaving the sector more reliant on normal replacement cycles and product-specific demand.

Higher-value technology remained harder to shift, particularly computing, as households continued to postpone purchases where existing devices were still serviceable.

This created a divide within electricals between products bought to meet an immediate requirement and upgrades that could comfortably be left until later.

Product innovation continues to provide pockets of demand away from the traditional replacement cycle. Currys recently reported that Copilot+ PCs accounted for almost a quarter of its laptop sales during FY2025/26, while newer categories including health and beauty technology and outdoor living grew strongly.

Consumer behaviour and channel trends

Electricals remains one of the more researched areas of retail, particularly for higher-value purchases where differences in price, specifications and service can be considerable.

Consumers can spend significant time comparing products before committing, and that research does not necessarily translate into an immediate transaction when the existing appliance or device still works.

Digital channels remain central to this process. Currys reported that omnichannel sales represented xx of UK and Ireland revenue in FY2025/26, three percentage points higher than two years earlier, illustrating how routinely consumers now move between online research and physical retail during an electricals purchase.

Outlook

After three months of exceptional heat, many households that wanted additional cooling equipment have already bought it, while the end of the World Cup removes another immediate prompt for television and home entertainment purchases. August begins with less scope for these products to provide the same uplift.

The latter part of the year will bring a different set of purchasing decisions, particularly as consumers begin considering technology replacements and upgrades ahead of the autumn and peak trading period.

Newer products can still create demand where the improvement over existing technology is easy to understand, but consumers have become comfortable extending replacement cycles when that case is less convincing.

Electricals remains capable of attracting spending when a product solves an immediate problem or offers something materially different, yet the willingness to replace functioning technology remains restrained.

With higher energy bills now competing for household income and borrowing costs still elevated, the next few months will provide a better measure of demand once the exceptional heat and football-related spending of early summer are no longer in play.

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Real GDP grew by 0.4% in the three months to June 2026, following a growth of 0.6% in the three months to May 2026 and a growth of 0.8% in the three months to April 2026