Selling necessities like canned goods and toiletries are the lifeline of any sari-sari store, but over the year, customers tend to look for specific products that are in season. Selling seasonal products is a great opportunity for you to earn extra and drive more customers.
Knowing what your customer needs and catering to those needs is an essential negosyo trait that you must practice to sustain your business. Doing a little research on customer behavior during different seasons can give you an idea of how to add seasonal items to your inventory.
Welcoming summer and rainy days
The Philippines, being a tropical country, experiences 2 seasons—summer and rainy season. During summer, try selling ice cream or ice candy in different flavors. Condura’s inverter upright freezer under its Negosyo Pro series is the perfect refrigerator to stock cold items. They have deeper shelves to store more items and use inverter technology that is capable of reducing energy consumption.
You can also sell drinks and desserts like sago gulaman, mais con yelo, saging con yelo, and of course, the famous halo-halo. You make a stall as an extension of your store for these desserts and sell them in the afternoon in time for merienda.
During the rainy days, try selling something hot like lugaw or champorado. Stock up on instant or cup noodles and instant coffee or choco mix during this time because it’s something people usually buy during this period.
If your sari-sari store is centrally-located, then you can turn rainy days into revenue by selling umbrellas, raincoats, or slippers. Stores located near public transport terminals would usually sell these essentials in anticipation of a broken umbrella or people needing slippers to avoid getting their shoes wet.
You can also try selling seasonal fruits to earn more. Ripe mangoes and melons are usually in season during the summer, while bananas are almost a staple in every household because of its availability all-year-round. Lanzones are usually in season from August to December.
Back to School
June marks the beginning of school years in the country so selling school supplies around May is a great strategy for you. Bond papers of different sizes as well as various adhesive tapes are usually among the best-selling school supplies so make sure you always have stocks of those.
Ber months are an opportunity to earn
Late October marks Halloween and selling themed candies for the trick-or-treat tradition could be a good way to boost your sales. Selling costumes and masks can also be a great way to expand your inventory ideally if your store is near a central business district. Why? Because corporate Halloween parties are a thing. Companies celebrate Halloween and people are required to don a costume or dress up as someone for a day.
After Halloween comes to the Undas in November so you can set up a stall near cemeteries and sell candles and flowers for visitors to buy.
Christmas is a time of giving and apparently for Filipinos, a time of splurging. The Philippines is known to celebrate the longest Christmas and Filipinos go all out during the yuletide season. As a business owner, use that cultural factor to your advantage and drive up your sales.
Try selling traditional noche buena staples like keso de bola and hamon. Baked pastries like banana bread or red velvet crinkles are also becoming a favorite Christmas gifts so if you can bake, try to catch this opportunity to earn from your hobby.
Make sure you stock the ham and cheese in a reliable refrigerator to ensure quality. Condura’s inverter chest freezer is a suitable option for sari-sari store owners who sell processed food products. It features a fast freezing mode at -35°C that transforms the liquid in the food into micro-crystals, which do not damage the tissues, and upon thawing, the product will still retain its flavor and texture.
The inverter chest freezer has a sliding glass so you can see products easily and has a lock and key for safety purposes. Its removable wire basket can allow you to separate products plus it has a four-wheel roller for easy mobility.
Looking for other opportunities to earn this holiday? Check these 5 No-Bake Recipes to Try During the Holidays
Know what’s in demand
Having an idea of consumer patterns is a great advantage in how you sell your merchandise. During fiestas, stock up on cases of beer and soft drinks. Stock up on condiments as well because these are the usual products that run out when there are plenty of visitors.
If your store is located within areas of resorts or beaches, then sell what you think beachgoers will need like sunblock or floaties especially for kids. Having paper cups and utensils in stock will also drive your profits because families who go to the beach tend to use disposable utensils for convenience.
Filipinos have a habit of buying in portions, so selling your products in the portion is a great way to sell items. Try placing cooking oil in sachets and other condiments in small sizes.
Getting on the internet side of things, remember a few years back when fidget spinners became a thing? Every toy store had stocks of it, with retail and even sari-sari stores jumping in and selling it. Social media has elevated consumer retail experience and knowing what’s trending, in terms of products and services, is knowing what is in demand.
It’s also important to know how to select products for your sari-sari store, may it be seasonal or not. As a trusted negosyo partner, Condura aims to educate business owners about managing product quality.
Practice the first in and first out method:Â what first came in your store must be the first one that gets sold to a customer.
Lastly, check the expiration date of your items and make sure that you input it into your inventory. You don’t want to be known as the store that sells expired products.
