世論 What Japan Thinks

[part 1] [part 2]

Macromill Inc recently published the results of some research it conducted into electronic money, in particular nanaco and WAON.

Demographics

Between the 9th and 10th of April 2007 1,030 members of Macromill Monitor group resident in Tokyo or the three surrounding prefectures completed a private online survey. The group was split exactly 50:50 male and female in each of the five age bands: 20.0% in their teens (between 15 and 19), 20.0% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, and 20.0% in their fifties.

My use of electronic money is very limited. I have a Suica, or to be correct an Icoca card, the Kansai equivalent of Suica, which holds my season ticket and also sometimes cash, although I’ve almost exclusively used it at railway ticket gates, and one time only in a cafe when I realised I hadn’t any money. Just like I was never keen on debit cards in the UK, giving away cash in advance is just not appealing to me.

My concern about the security aspect of electronic cash is not about personal loss or skimming-like attacks, but the fundamentals such as hackers working out how to add cash to a card. From what I know of RFID security it is actually theoretically straightforward to hack out passwords and keys from certain smart cards through side-channel attacks, but I don’t know what counter-measures have been taken by the manufacturers, or what protection there is on mobile-phone applications. Actually, this is the vague area where I work, so I better not speculate out loud in case my boss is listening…

Survey results

Q3: Are you currently using an electronic cash service? (Sample size=1,030)

	All	Male N=515	Female N=515
Yes (to SQs)	51.3%	58.3%	44.3%
No	48.7%	41.7%	55.7%

Q3SQ1: About how often do you use electronic cash? (Sample size=528)

Almost every day	21.8%
Three or four day a week	21.0%
One day a week	25.0%
Two or three days a month	17.0%
One day a month	7.2%
Less than one day a month	8.0%

Q3SQ2: What type of electronic cash do you use? (Sample size=528)

Contactless card type only (to SQ3)	78.2%
Mobile phone type only (to SQ4)	8.7%
Both card and mobile phone (to SQ3 and SQ4)	13.1%

Q3SQ3: What type of card-based electronic cash do you use? (Sample size=482)

Suica	78.8%
Edy	36.5%
PASMO	31.7%
QUICPay	1.9%
iD/DCMX	1.7%
VISA TOUCH	0.2%
Smartplus	0.2%
Other	0.4%

Q3SQ4: What type of mobile phone-based electronic cash do you use? (Sample size=115)

Edy	73.0%
Mobile Suica	56.5%
iD/DCMX	18.3%
QUICPay	7.0%
Smartplus	0.9%

When asked how much they spent per month using electronic cash, the average came to 5,124 yen. For men N=293) it was 5,991 yen, for women (N=224) it was 3,989 yen.

Q3SQ5: Why do you use electronic money? (Sample size=528, multiple answer)

Paying is smooth	74,2%
Don’t have a pocketful of loose change	44.5%
Convenient to be combined with season ticket, credit card	32.0%
Useful when don’t have any money	30.7%
Convenient when buying low-priced items	30.7%
Can get points	21.8%
No problems whether I use it or not	20.1%
Can use at shops I frequent	13.4%
Want to use leading-edge services	9.8%
Convenient to have record of spending	7.6%
It’s a service everyone talks about	7.2%
Can economise since cannot use more than the charged amount	5.9%
Think it’s safer than money	5.3%
Friends are using it	0.8%
Other	3.0%

Q3SQ6: Which of the following are important regarding the use of electronic money? (Sample size=528, multiple answer)

Can use at shops I often visit	54.5%
Many shops where it can be used	50.2%
Easy to use, easy to understand system	48.9%
Lots of places to charge (store money)	43.8%
Has points system	41.5%
Strong security	]31.3%
Has discount system	30.7%
Can charge (store money) in various ways	29.4%
Easy to check remaining balance, etc	29.2%
Issued by trustworthy company	28.8%
Convenient to settle bills	25.4%
Additional services other than discounts and points	16.9%
Can use on mobile phone	15.3%
Can check usage history	14.2%
Lot of users	7.6%
Spread of different spending limits	5.7%
Spread of different charging (money storage) limits	4.9%
Other	1.3%

Q4: Why don’t you use an electronic cash service? (Sample size=502, multiple answer)

Don’t feel it’s necessary	52.2%
Don’t feel it’s inconvenient paying with cash	33.5%
Worried about the security aspect	29.5%
Don’t understand the merits of using it	26.7%
Worry if I lose mobile phone or card	26.3%
Probably use it too much	26.1%
Don’t feel much benefit in it	24.3%
Don’t understand the whole electronic cash concept	22.1%
Awkward having to charge (store money)	21.9%
No places close to me to use it	12.4%
Don’t know how I could use it	11.6%
Seems difficult to use	10.6%
Awkward to ask shop staff when using it	9.2%
Worried about the effects on consumer habits	5.6%
Embarrassing if it failed when trying to use it	5.2%
No friends are using it	3.0%
Other	3.0%

Q5: What are your hopes for electronic cash in the future? (Sample size=1,030, multiple answer)

Many different types of electronic cash services	56.5%
Strengthened security	54.3%
Full set of points, discount, other services	50.4%
Number of places to use increase	50.2%
Number of places to charge (store money) increase	35.5%
Easy to understand usage instructions	28.2%
Functionality merged with credit cards, cash cards	14.3%
Can use card for user identification for net banking	11.6%
Full set of mobile phones that can be used	10.4%
Can verify age using electronic money card at cigarette and beer vending machines	9.3%
Use to pay tax	7.9%
Can verify age using electronic money card when entering pubs, adult cinemas	7.5%
Withdraw stored money	6.6%
Other	1.3%
Nothing in particular	11.8%

Q6: In the future, in what sort of places would you like to see electronic cash support introduced or increased? (Sample size=1,030, multiple answer)

Public transport	58.3%
Convenience store	46.6%
Bookstore	44.7%
Station, kiosk	40.2%
Fast food shop	36.8%
Vending machine	31.9%
Drug store	30.8%
Coffee chain	29.7%
Supermarket, grocer	28.8%
Hospital	26.9%

[part 1] [part 2]