In every nook and cranny of Philippine streets, there lies at least one sari-sari store.
According to the statistics report by the analytics startup, Packworks, there are at least 270,000 sari-sari stores nationwide. In the same report, they found that the sales earned by sari-sari stores increased by P8 billion in 2023. This is a 21.2% increase from the P6.6 billion sales in 2022.
Similarly, the increase in sales is also directly proportional to the transactions of sari-sari transactions that reached 8.2 million in 2023; in 2022, the sari-sari store transactions were recorded to have climbed up to 7.2 million.
INSTANT PRODUCTS GARNERED HIGHEST SALESÂ
Among all products, Packworks recorded that instant noodles, ready-to-heat products, recipe mix, and ready-to-cook goods are the products with high sales.
RURAL AREAS, HIGH SALESÂ
It was also reported that places in the Philippines have the highest sales, especially the suburban and large rural areas in the Luzon areas.Â
The P8 Billion sales were led by Region IV-A which garnered P2.83 billion. This is followed by Region II having P1.82 billion sales. The third region with the highest sales is Region III with P1.58 billion.
Meanwhile, Philippine urban especially the National Capital Region (NCR) came out fifth to bring the highest sales with P1 billion. Cebu comes sixth with P900 million in sales.
The regions with the lowest recorded sales are the Cordillera Administrative Region having P90 million, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with around P3 million.
NOT CAUSED BY INFLATION
Contrary to assumptions, the recorded higher sales of sari-sari stores were not caused by inflation. Packworks clarified that it is driven by trends and major occasions such as the Holy Weeks and Christmas season.
Also, Packworks added that sari-sari stores in rural and agricultural areas often gather higher sales because the people around these areas are often dependent on widely and easily accessible sari-sari stores than grocery establishments.
