A sari-sari store. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File
MANILA -- What do Filipinos prioritize in their shopping basket in "petsa de peligro" or times of impending shortage of resources, as well as during payday?
The answers were found in a study by Packworks, a startup company providing a business-to-business platform for sari-sari store owners, in collaboration with the socio-cultural research firm Fourth Wall.
The data, based on Packworks' data analytics platform Sari IQ, compared the demand for sari-sari store products on the 14th and 29th days of each month against the daily average for the year 2022.
It showed that most Filipinos prioritized personal hygiene products and ready-to-eat food. For "petsa de peligro," the Top 5 categories were shampoo (11%), detergent (8%), body soap (8%), canned meat (7%), and alcohol (7%).
On the other hand, the Top 5 categories during payday include detergent (9%), canned fish and seafood (7%), sanitary pad (7%), canned meat (6%), and baby powder (6%).
Fourth Wall research director John Brylle Bae believes that the results of the study are deeply rooted in Filipino culture, which often associates cleanliness with "hiya" or honor.
He noted that for many, keeping oneself clean means preserving one's and his or her family's honor, and is of equal importance to essentials such as food.
Packworks chief data officer Andres Montiel, for his part, said: "These insights, stemming from the deeply-rooted concept of 'hiya' in Filipino culture, emphasize the need for retailers and marketers to cater to the socio-cultural-driven priorities of the Filipino people."