Pinoy Traditions Drive Sari-Sari Store Sales Surge During Chinese New Year – Packworks
As Chinese New Year approaches, Filipinos are turning cultural traditions and ‘suwerte’ (luck) into a shopping list, fueling a sales surge in sari-sari stores nationwide as families prepare to welcome prosperity for the year ahead. Filipino tech startup Packworks, through its business intelligence tool Sari IQ, analyzed over a million monthly transactions across its network of 300,000 stores over a three-year period. The study compared sales trends for holiday-related items two weeks before and after Chinese New Year from 2023 to 2025. The data reveals that items linked to abundance and luck, such as hopia, Chinese wine, and Asian noodles, posted sales increases, reflecting how Filipino beliefs influence consumption during the occasion. Hopia, a round pastry of Chinese origin symbolizing togetherness and good fortune, steadily grew sales from 2023 to 2025. Its median gross merchandise value (GMV) rose 20% in 2025, up from 14% increase in 2023. The Visayas regions led the sales growth
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