世論 What Japan Thinks

During one week towards the end of January infoPLANT carried out a survey, via their usual means of an option in the DoCoMo iMode menuing system, of 7,977 people from all over the country, 63.5% female, to find out their opinions regarding televisions.

Looking at the results, it seems that most people go to shops to get televisions sold to them; the in-store information is the most important reference for most people, and display quality and price are what makes the deal, both these factors being ones that the salespeople are more than able to convey face-to-face.

Q1: What kind of television do you own? (Sample size=7,977)

	All N=7,977	Male N=2,913	Female N=5,064
Standard CRT	57.6%	60.2%	56.1%
Flat-type CRT	28.2%	33.8%	24.9%
LCD	15.1%	15.0%	15.1%
Plasma	3.1%	2.7%	3.3%
Don’t know	6.5%	2.1%	9.0%

How exactly people with more than one TV are supposed to answer is not made clear!

Looking at the breakdown by age groups, 32.0% of teenage girls didn’t know what kind of TV they had. I suppose that telling the difference between a standard CRT and a flat CRT is rather difficult, for instance. The biggest owners of plasma televisions were women over fifty, at 7.5% or over double the next highest group! I wonder how much of this is due to the face of Sharp Aquos being a more mature woman? Younger people tended to favour standard CRTs over flat screens, perhaps due to them owning smaller units?

Q2: When buying a television, what do you consult or where do you get your information from? (Sample size=7,977, multiple answer)

	All N=7,977	Male N=2,913	Female N=5,064
In store	85.4%	79.9%	88.5%
Catalogues	52.6%	55.1%	51.1%
Television	32.6%	25.6%	36.6%
Magazines	21.7%	32.2%	15.6%
Web site (PC or mobile phone)	14.3%	20.5%	10.9%
Word of mouth	13.6%	10.2%	15.6%
Newspapers	6.6%	6.6%	6.7%
Email magazine	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%
Other	5.7%	4.8%	6.2%

Trends noticable within the age breakdown include an increased use of catalogues for reference by both sexes as they got older, whilst conversely the internet was consulted more often by the younger groups.

Q3: When buying a television, what points are important? (Sample size=7,977, up to three answers)

	All N=7,977	Male N=2,913	Female N=5,064
Price	70.8%	68.4%	72.2%
Image quality	56.2%	59.9%	54.1%
Size or weight	53.9%	48.5%	57.0%
Maker or brand	34.7%	34.3%	34.9%
Design	29.9%	29.5%	30.1%
Energy consumption	17.0%	13.9%	18.8%
Sound quality	12.0%	15.1%	10.2%
Good reputation	9.3%	9.5%	9.1%
Other	1.8%	2.0%	1.6%
Nothing in particular	0.4%	0.5%	0.3%

Image quality was most important feature for the youngest and oldest age groups of both sexes, but price was signicantly less important for the over fities; 55.9% and 64.2% for the male and female groups respectively.