What the importer says: "we prepare and we deliver"
According to Rodolphe Pilette, CEO of Optimea, interviewed by Numerama, the out-of-stock signs everywhere do not mean the logistics operation has stopped: the company says it receives "containers and trucks every day" and has multiplied the quantities of PortaSplit ordered this year by four and a half. It supplies Leroy Merlin, Castorama, Boulanger, Darty and ManoMano, among others.
The problem is not arrival, it is sell-through. Still according to Numerama: a truck of 400 units delivered to a Leroy Merlin sold out "in two hours," with customers waiting outside the store from 6 AM; just over 130 units received by ManoMano sold out "in eight minutes"; and on 7 July, a restock of around a hundred units put online sold out "in under three minutes." At Boulanger and Darty, some stock is even sold as pre-orders, before reaching the shelves.
The schedule: late July, then a gap until mid-September
An air conditioner cannot be restocked in a few days: the importer counts "2 to 3 months of production" then "2 to 3 months at sea." Summer volumes are therefore locked in from winter, regardless of demand. Concretely, Optimea announces trickle arrivals through to the end of July, then a next major batch expected in mid-September.
Its advice to consumers goes against summer instincts: plan ahead — shop in September-October, buy in November or December, when stock is available and demand has fallen. The argument is all the stronger because the PortaSplit is reversible: according to the importer, it heats at two to three times less cost than an electric heater, making an autumn purchase less premature than it might seem.
What our 8 July readings show
At the 8 July reading at 8:45 AM, the Midea PortaSplit is available in 7 of the 477 points of sale monitored in France by ClimRadar: six Castorama stores — Englos, Le Cannet and La Seyne-sur-Mer in stock; Orvault, Aix-en-Provence and Agen at low stock — and the Leroy Merlin in Osny (3 units recorded, at €999). The other 470 monitored points of sale are out of stock.
This is exactly the regime the importer describes: real but brief arrivals, leaving only a few hours to act. In that window, two reflexes: the ClimRadar email alert, which notifies you within one monitoring cycle when stock is detected in your area, and calling the store to have the unit set aside before making the trip.
"In stock" online but not in store: check before making the trip →