Lowest temperatures in 25 years as businesses roll out "extreme cold countermeasures" promotions

By Chi Binghui, reporting

With the global climate becoming increasingly polarized—with sweltering summers and freezing winters—this September’s average temperature was already 1.2°C lower than last year, and recent temperatures have dropped even more sharply. Businesses are racing to roll out “extreme cold countermeasures” initiatives to meet consumers’ need for warmth, featuring commonly used items like heat packs and warm clothing, as well as warming products for different parts of the body, including shoulder, neck, and lumbar heat packs, heat patches, and warming creams, ensuring the public won’t have to be “icy beauties” this winter.

Watsons reported that the average temperature from January to March this year was 15.3°C, the lowest in nearly 25 years, which has driven strong sales of cold-weather health and beauty products. For instance, heat packs have seen double-digit growth over the past three years. Ready-to-drink beverages sold over 50,000 units last winter alone, a 40% increase from the same period the previous year. In December last year, when temperatures plummeted by 10°C, sales of cold-weather textiles immediately surged fourfold, while heat packs grew 2.5 times, and even sales of traditional hot drinks like ginger tea doubled, showing how quickly falling temperatures impact consumer behavior.

In the area of thermal textiles, Watsons offers its own-brand COSMED thermal wear, made in Taiwan with patented heating fibers and excellent stretch. The online bestseller, Little Devil Compression Functional Series, is designed by a well-known Japanese manufacturer and provides heat-retaining clothing for the body, abdomen, neck, and feet. For warming accessories targeting different body parts, Watsons offers both handheld and patch-type heat packs, as well as imported items from Japan such as White Henkel shoulder and neck heat packs, lumbar heat packs, facial warming masks, and body warming creams. In terms of wellness beverages, there are offerings such as Korea’s Cheong Kwan Jang Korean ginseng tea, as well as various local herbal drink series and ready-to-brew beverages, all aimed at meeting customers’ demand for staying warm during the cold season.