世論 What Japan Thinks

infoPLANT carried out a survey over a week at the end of January to find out what people thought regarding pre-cooked frozen foodstuffs. From the explanations within, this covers a wide spectrum covering both complete meals and individual side dishes. I do not believe that chilled foods are covered by this survey.

A self-selecting sample of 8,578 people, 66.4% female, completed a survey presented through the DoCoMo iMode menuing system. 3% were in their teens, 37% in their twenties, 43% in their thirties, 16% in their forties, and just 2% fifty or older.

This is probably about the most dull survey I have ever translated, so I apologise for that!

Notice that over four in five chose taste as the most important factor, whilst only a quarter stated taste as a reason for using them, suggesting that Japanese consumers are not particularly impressed by the taste of their frozen foods.

In Q2 it was seen that the over fifty group tended more to buy in bulk, and that is reflected in this question where the same demographic noted the highest importance in the best before date. Over fifty year old women also recorded the highest percentage in the safety, maker or brand image, and preparation method questions.

Q1: Usually, about how often do you use pre-cooked frozen foods? (Sample size=8,578)

	All	Male N=2,886	Female N=5,692
Almost every day	11.8%	10.4%	12.5%
About three to five times a week	20.8%	17.2%	22.7%
About one or two times a week	34.5%	35.6%	33.9%
About one or two times a month	22.3%	24.2%	21.3%
Less than once a month	8.4%	9.7%	7.7%
Don’t use pre-cooked frozen foods	2.3%	3.0%	1.9%

Looking at the detailed age breakdown, there was hardly any significant variation, except that the over fifty group were slightly less likely to use frozen foods more than one or two times a week.

Q2: Why do you use pre-cooked frozen foods? (Sample size=8,384, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=2,798	Female N=5,586
Takes no time or effort to prepare	81.0%	76.8%	83.1%
Can be bought in bulk and stored	67.8%	67.4%	68.0%
Portion sizes are just right	35.6%	29.3%	38.8%
Want to increase the number of side dishes	33.3%	23.0%	38.4%
Tasty	24.7%	20.9%	26.5%
Cheap	19.8%	23.2%	18.2%
Thinking of menus is troublesome	19.1%	14.6%	21.3%
Hygenic	5.0%	5.9%	4.6%
Other	6.8%	5.9%	7.3%

Buying in bulk appealed more to the older generation; whilst only 39.8% of male teenagers chose this reason, over 83% of the over fifties of both sexes chose this as a merit of frozen foods. Similarly, the hygene aspect was most popular with the older demographic. Price appealed more to men, and for both sexes the younger, the more they bought due to cheapness.

Q3: When buying pre-cooked frozen foods, what points that are important to you? (Sample size=8,578, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=2,798	Female N=5,586
Taste	82.6%	77.6%	85.1%
Price	81.1%	79.4%	82.0%
Safety	29.9%	26.6%	31.5%
Best before date	27.0%	30.1%	25.5%
Maker or brand	22.1%	21.2%	22.6%
Product packaging or design	13.7%	11.9%	14.5%
Advertising image	10.5%	8.6%	11.4%
Famous shop’s recipe or other preparation method	6.7%	6.8%	6.7%
Other	5.0%	4.9%	5.1%

The “safety” reply seems a bit vague, but I think it is perhaps getting at checking the country of origin of the ingredients, such as ensuring it doesn’t contain US beef or Chinese vegetables, which do have a bit of a poor image.