SALES of sari-sari stores with artificial intelligence (AI)-aided inventory planning soared by 79 percent, Filipino tech firm Packworks said on Wednesday.
Packworks provides microentrepreneurs with a mobile app for inventory management, sales tracking, working capital loans and bulk supply ordering.
According to its latest report based on over 1 million monthly transactions across Packworks’ network of 300,000 micro-retailers, store owners using the AI-powered Store Insighting Project (SIP) saw revenues increase in just two months.
SIP is a personalized report that turns each store’s transaction history into actionable recommendations through AI.
The initiative — developed with the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development — supports wider AI adoption in the country’s micro-retail sector.
With SIP, maximizing high-demand items in sari-sari stores pushed median gross merchandise value (GMV) sales from P187,229 to P335,818 per store, the report said.
The benefits of using SIP data were evident during a period of changing consumer demand. There was a 47-percent increase in median GMV sales of seasonal products among stores using SIP reports, suggesting that store owners were better able to anticipate purchasing patterns during rainy days, weekends and other high-demand periods, said the report.
Sari-sari stores also used SIP reports to manage slower-moving products, raising median GMV sales by 96 percent, from P7,361.60 to P14,429.
Overall, stores using the data recorded a 29-percent increase in median total sales and a 20-percent increase in median transactions.
“Our findings show that when data is democratized, we give grassroots entrepreneurs the power to chart their own growth. By equipping sari-sari store owners with the insights to stock smarter and operate efficiently, we are not only boosting individual store sales, but expanding access to technology to build a more resilient grassroots economy,” Packworks chief data officer Andoy Montiel said.
“Sari-sari stores remain the economic lifeblood of our communities, and women serve as the backbone of this ecosystem,” Packworks cofounder Ibba Bernardo added.
Packworks’ mission to bring AI into micro retail stores aligns with the Philippine Development Plan 2023–2028, which recognizes the role of digital transformation and emerging technologies like AI in increasing efficiency and revitalizing industries and services.
