SALES OF small neighborhood retailers, known in the trade as sari-sari stores, typically fall during the grave-tending holidays around Nov. 1, according to startup Packworks, a provider of technology to small stores.
Packworks said that daily sales from the Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, 2021 period, known in the Philippines as “Undas,” showed a sales decline of 19.78% relative to the October overage.
Citing its Sari IQ data service, Packworks said the pattern of lower sales “might be due to people leaving their houses to visit graves; thus, some sari-sari stores might be closed during this time to observe the long holiday,” Packworks Chief Data Officer Andres Montiel said in a statement over the weekend.
Sari IQ found that cigarette sales lost 1.02 percentage points of market share during the Undas period. Normal-day cigarette market share of sari-sari store sales is about 21.91%.
Packworks said the share of sales of alcoholic beverages in sari-sari stores increases during Undas.
“Sales (share) of alcoholic beverages jumped up to 14.29% from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, 2021 from 11.10% on Oct. 1-30, 2021,” Packworks said.
“Different alcoholic drinks dominated the market share during the holiday last year, with brandy rising from 1.65% for normal days to 2.70% during the holiday; rum from 2.42% to 3.20%; gin from 5.32% to 5.94%; and beer from 1.14% to 1.61%,” it added.
Packworks, which was founded in 2018, provides a business-to-business open platforms to sari-sari stores. It raised $2 million in August during a seed round. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave