Inflation rate for food items (excluding beverages) sold in sari-sari stores  or the small neighborhood stores reached 15.62 percent in January, 4.4 percent above the official food inflation rate of 11.2 percent, according to a new research. Packworks in collaboration with Fourthwall, a sociocultural research firm, showed that the food items bought at sari-sari stores was 4.4 percent higher than the 11.2 percent reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in January this year. The inflation of ready-made food (16.9%) recorded the highest difference with the official statistics (9.2%), exceeding PSA’s data by 7.7 percent. This is followed by milk, dairy, and egg products, and cereals, with a difference of 5.3 percent, according to the study. For the joint analysis, Fourth Wall and Packworks replicated the consumer price index (CPI) approach used by the PSA, applying it to the products available in Sari IQ’s data. Moreover, the products included per category are only those that are available in sari-sari stores. According to the study, the higher sari-sari store level inflation rate could be indicative of the increasing pressure among sari-sari store owners to increase their mark-ups and profit margins. These pressures come from continuing supply-side challenges, such as the shortage of eggs due to bird flu (thus, explaining the high discrepancy between dairy and egg products). “It is important for Filipino consumers to be aware of these discrepancies because the products (ready-to-eat food, egg) whose inflation rate at the sari-sari store exceeds that of PSA are also the ones that the lower class typically consume due to their association with convenience and cheap price.  In a socio-cultural context, we tend to measure how well off or worse off we are through inflation - that is, inflation is the primary metric of poverty and economic performance, which becomes even more relevant if what is being discussed is food,” John Brylle L. Bae, Research Director of Fourth Wall, explained. Bae said this only means that “we are economically worse off now.” Andres Montiel, head of data at Packworks, said that “Official statistics are limited in capturing grassroots patterns, which makes it crucial to cross-check them with data at the sari-sari store level to obtain a more precise understanding of micro-level dynamics.” Montiel said that at Packworks, we provide retailers with reliable data that can be utilized to enhance customer engagement. Sari IQ is instrumental in uncovering what is happening at the ground level.”