| A: |
Let's look this time at the mail-order business in Japan. The mail- Order business makes use of a variety of media, am I right ?
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| B: |
Yes, mail-order marketing can take a variety of forms, including, catalog shopping, TV shopping, advertising in magazines, fliers in newspapers, direct mail, and so on.
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| A: |
What proportion of mail-order business do each of these media account for ?
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| B: |
46.8, 23.5, 19.5, 15.5 and 15.0 respectively. These figures in fact add up to more than 100% because a number of customers use more than one media. Catalog shopping is the most important, and has consistently accounted for between 40% and 50% of all the mail-order business. Internet shopping has increased of late, but still accounts for only a small proportion (9.6%). Other forms of mail-order business include mail-order marketing by credit card companies, radio shopping and personal import catalog marketing, but their share remains low, and is not on the increase.
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| A: |
How high are mail-order sales ?
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| B: |
Mail-order sales were worth \1,910 billion in 1993 (up 3.8% of the previous year), \2,110 billion in 1995 (up 5.5%), \2,200 billion in 1997 (down 1.3%), and \2,270 billion in 1999 (4.1%). Sales in 1999 reached a record high.
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| A: |
What kinds of products are sold by mail order ?
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| B: |
Top is food (excluding health food) on 46.7%, followed by accessories, footwear and bags (43.7%), jewelry, clocks, watches and spectacles (39.2%), tableware, kitchenware, household utensils and toiletries (39.2%), women's clothing (39.2%), furniture, interior accessories, rugs, carpets and storage items (38.2%), men's clothing (37.2%), cosmetic, health and medical appliances (36.2%), bedding and other clothing (35.7%), and sports and leisure goods (35.7%). (These figures add up to more than 100% because many customers buy more than one item.)
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| A: |
What share of the Japanese retail market is accounted for by mail - order business?
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| B: |
Mail-order's share of retailing over the past few years has been as follows.
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Total retail sales |
Mail-order sales |
Mail order's share |
| 1993 |
143,328 |
1,910 |
1.33 |
| 1995 |
144,810 |
2,110 |
1.46 |
| 1997 |
145,644 |
2,200 |
1.51 |
| 1999 |
135,149 |
2,270 |
1.68 |
(Unit: billion yen)
Sources: Total retail sales ? Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Census of Commerce Mail-order sales ? Japan Direct Marketing Association
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| A: |
How many people buy by mail order ?
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| B: |
According to a nationwide survey of 2,200 men and women aged between 15 and 79 on mail-order shopping conducted by the Japan Direct Marketing Association (JADMA) in FY2000 (response rate: 68%), 72% of all respondents, 80.5% of women and 63.6% of men had bought items by mail order at some time in the past.
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| A: |
How much do people spend on mail-order shopping per year ?
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| B: |
On average, \42,000 in 2000. 23.1% of people spent \10,000-\20,000, 21.3% spent less than \10,000, 16.1% spent \50,000-\100,000, 15.2% spent \20,000-\30,000, 14.7% spent \30,000-\50,000, \4.8% spent between \100,000 and under \200,000, 3.5% spent more than \200,000, and 1.3% spent other amounts. Women tended to spend slightly more on mail-order shopping than men.
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| A: |
What are the top products bought by women ?
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| B: |
(1) Women's clothing, (2) Underwear, (3) Cosmetics and medical supplies, (4) Furniture, interior accessories, rugs, carpets and storage items, (5) Men's clothing, (6) Accessories, footwear and bags, (7) Food (excluding health food), (8) Health food, (9) Children's clothes and babywear, (10) Bedding and other clothing.
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| A: |
And men ?
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| B: |
(1) Men's clothing, (2) Women's clothing, (3) Underwear, (4) Health food, (5) Furniture, interior accessories, rugs, carpets and storage items, (6) Cosmetics, (7) Food, (8) Bedding and other clothing, (9) Accessories, footwear and bags, (10) CDs and tapes, (11) Cosmetic, health and medical appliances |
| A: |
It's a little surprising that best selling type of product among both men and women is clothing. I thought that Japanese consumers would only buy clothes that they could see and feel for their satisfaction.
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| B: |
As a general rule, clothing bought by mail order is not especially expensive, and tends more to be casual wear. Mail-order catalogs nowadays also explain the products in considerable detail. The entry for a down bedding, for example, might say that it is 80% white duck down and 20% feather, and that the cover material is 100% cotton. Thus while buyers might not have a clear idea of the exact color and feel of a product, they are given enough information to convince them to buy. When buying expensive items, people still tend to go out to a specialist store or department store to check products for themselves.
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| A: |
Why do people buy by mail order ?
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| B: |
Perhaps the most important factors are (1) the attractive price, (2) the fact that catalogs are sent regularly, (3) people can buy things by mail order that they might not be able to buy elsewhere, (4) shopping by mail order saves time, (5) the attractiveness of products, (6) people can spend as much as time as they like choosing what they want, (7) people may have shopped by mail order in the past and been satisfied, and (8) purchases can be returned. Another attraction is that you don't have to deal with annoying sales assistants.
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| A: |
Internet shopping currently accounts for 9.6% of mail-order shopping. Is this figure likely to change ?
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| B: |
It'll probably grow to around 20%, though it's difficult to predict how things will progress from there. B2C Internet sales accounted for only 0.3% of total transactions in Japan in 2000. The products more commonly sold via e-commerce are those such as PCs, PC supplies and peripherals, automobiles, books and music (tapes and CDs) that are of relatively invariable quality. Japanese consumers are still wary of B2C commerce, and the same applies to Internet shopping. |
| A: |
What's the level of imports like ?
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| B: |
With no statistics available, it's hard to say. There are still only a few mail-order houses that import foreign products directly, however, and far more tend to get supplies from importers. This is because mail-order houses still lack the human resources and knowledge about products to import by themselves.
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| A: |
Does it take long for imported products to be delivered ?
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| B: |
Neither mail-order houses nor importers keep stocks of the items in their catalogs. Instead, most order from overseas once they have received a certain number of orders, and so it can take six to eight weeks or more after the consumer places an order for a product to be delivered. If you are lucky enough to order just before the firm places an order, therefore, you will get your shorter delivery. |
Note: Much of the information in this article is from JADMA's "FY2000 National Survey of Mail-Order Shopping", which appeared in "Sen'i Journal".
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