KairoTech, Packworks Launch Philippines' First Sari-Sari Retail Media Network

KairoTech and Packworks have entered into a strategic partnership to develop what the two companies envision as the Philippines’ first Sari-Sari Retail Media Network, creating a new way for brands to understand, reach and engage Filipino consumers closer to where everyday purchasing decisions take place. KairoTech is a Philippine digital media intelligence company led by co-founder and managing partner Ed Sunico. The company specializes in behavior-led and contextually matched advertising. Its capabilities include audience intelligence, programmatic media activation, dynamic creative optimization and campaign analytics, helping advertisers identify and reach relevant audiences across the open internet. Packworks is a Philippine social enterprise and technology company focused on digitizing and empowering small neighborhood convenience stores locally known as sari-sari stores. As a social enterprise, the company’s mission is to empower women-led micro-enterprises through technology, data and partnerships, and thereby transform the lives of over 300,000 sari-sari store owners – 75 percent of whom are women — through digital inclusion. Packworks’ platform connects more than 300,000 micro-retailers nationwide and provides capabilities spanning retail intelligence, route-to-market, ordering, promotions and precision marketing. Their platform serves sari-sari stores by digitizing operations, enabling loyalty programs, Point of Sale or POS /inventory management and connecting to FMCG brands for promos and incentives. Packworks is led by founders Bing Tan who is also the chief executive officer and chief technical officer; Ibrahim or “Ibba” Rasul Bernardo, who is the co-founder, chief marketing officer and chief strategy and communications officer as well, and Hubert Yap, who is the chief platform officer. All three have 20 years experience in technology, FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) distribution and impact-driven platforms. In the Filipino language sari-sari actually refers to a neighborhood store where items sold range from canned food staples or apportioned packets or ti-ngi of household staples like rice, cooking oil, sugar and condiments, cigarettes and alcoholic beverages. They also sell small toiletry items such as the now popular packets of shampoos, conditioners, toothpaste and small bath soaps, laundry soap packets, bottled sodas that are sometimes repacked in small plastic packets, snacks and even cellphone load. However, they differ from the now popular chain convenience stores because more of the sari-sari stores are family-owned with a limited capital. However, with the advent of technology, even such stores are now learning to digitize. Packworks’ platform, Ibba reveals, actually connects to 379,000 micro-retailers nationwide and provides capabilities spanning retail intelligence, route-to-market, ordering, promotions and precision marketing. The partnership with Kairo combines Packworks’ network of more than 379,000 digitized sari-sari stores with KairoTech’s behavior-led digital media and audience intelligence capabilities. Together, the companies aim to connect one of the country’s most important grassroots retail channels more closely with brands, media and the digital economy. They estimate that there are 1.3 million sari-sari stores nationwide. Beyond their scale, these stores are deeply embedded in Filipino communities, providing convenient access to everyday goods while serving as trusted neighborhood businesses built on proximity, familiarity and personal relationships. According to Sunico, “Retail media should do more than make advertising more precise. In the Philippine context, it can connect brand investment to real economic activity in communities — helping brands build demand while creating more opportunities for sari-sari stores to sell more, strengthen their economics and grow.” As supermarkets, convenience stores, e-commerce platforms and other modern retail formats expand, Kairo and Packworks aim to strengthen the sari-sari channel as a whole. For store owners, stronger and more relevant demand can mean faster product movement and higher sales. The partnership believes that better visibility into local demand can support smarter stocking and ordering, reduce inventory inefficiencies and create opportunities for better purchasing economics and lower cost of goods over time. These gains can help improve margins, support more competitive pricing and strengthen the long-term viability of neighborhood stores. The model also builds on an advantage unique to neighborhood retail: the traditional suki or trusted relationship. Built on trust, convenience and everyday interaction, this community connection is difficult for larger retail formats to replicate. By giving store owners greater access to technology, brand support and market opportunities while helping them respond more effectively to local needs, Kairo and Packworks aim to strengthen that relationship rather than replace it. “Sari-sari stores understand their neighborhoods better than anyone. By giving them greater access to technology, data and market opportunities while preserving the trust and suki relationships that define neighborhood retail, we can help the entire channel become stronger, more competitive and more sustainable,” said Ibba. Ibba, by the way, is the eldest son of Monetary Board Member Romeo Bernardo and Amina Rasul-Bernardo, who is the president of the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy. For brands and agencies, the Sari-Sari Retail Media Network provides a new layer of intelligence between broad national media planning and actual neighborhood consumption. It can help identify where demand is developing, focus marketing and distribution efforts around priority communities and examine how consumer engagement may translate into retail activity. According to Ibba, this creates opportunities across product launches, regional expansion, distribution support, promotions and local demand generation. Rather than replicate retail media models built around large supermarket chains or e-commerce platforms, KairoTech and Packworks are developing an approach designed around the realities of Philippine commerce — where hundreds of thousands of independently operated stores remain close to the everyday lives of consumers. The broader ambition of the partnership is to create shared value across the ecosystem — helping brands build demand more effectively, enabling sari-sari stores to grow and compete more strongly with other retail channels, and giving Filipino consumers greater access, choice and value in the communities where they live. By connecting brands, consumers and neighborhood retailers more intelligently, KairoTech and Packworks aim to turn better market understanding into stronger brands, stronger sari-sari stores and stronger local communities.