Chinese shoppers are driving demand for air conditioners, sun protection and other cooling essentials as temperatures soar across the nation.

In Shanghai, temperatures have been hovering around 35 degrees Celsius for several days now, with desperate shoppers searching for anything that can bring a moment’s respite from the hot and humid conditions.

In one downtown store, small fans, sunscreen sprays and cooling wet wipes are prominently displayed to help shoppers find exactly what they need to beat the heat.

"Sales of mini fans have seen a year-on-year growth of 40 percent since the beginning of summer. This year, we've also got sun hats, summer slippers and aloe vera skin cream," said Su Zishu, a store staff from Miniso Shanghai Global Harbor Store.

As well as small personal items, larger electric appliances have also been popular with air-conditioners now accounting for around 65 percent of sales at a store in Shanghai's Global Harbor shopping mall.

"People are more interested in green products that are highly energy efficient. These have a 10-percent subsidy from the Shanghai government, with an upper limit of 1,000 yuan. We've prepared more than 30,000 air-conditioners in Shanghai," said Huang Yan, store manager of the Casarte Shanghai Global Harbor Store.

Sales of cooling electric appliances including fans, refrigerators and air conditioners also jumped significantly on e-commerce site JD.com last month, more than doubling May's figure.

June sales of sun protection products including umbrellas, summer clothes and sun creams all saw sales rise more than 50 percent from the previous month.

"In the electric appliances sales, 99.5 percent of the freezers are made domestically, 97.4 percent of the air-conditioners are made in China. The consumer group has been expanding. People aged 26 to 36 account for more than 40 percent of the sunscreen cream buyers, and the number of consumers aged above 56 saw the fastest growth in purchases of cooling electric appliances," said Chai Zhenzhen, a senior researcher at the JD Research Institute for Consumption and Industrial Development.

Chai added that the summer heat has also created hot demand for seasonal foods and beverages. Ice-cream sales are triple the previous month, and sales of herbal tea and plum syrup are both up as well.