世論 What Japan Thinks

With the rather amusingly-name “My Bag” campaign to persuade Japanese consumers to start bringing their own shopping bag with them gathering steam, MyVoice recently published the results of a survey they conducted into the reuse of check-out bags. This is quite a timely survey, with the big convenience store chain 7-11 recently announcing that it would start charging 5 yen per bag at all its stores.

Demographics

Over the first five days of May 2007, 15,078 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 46% of the sample was male, 1% in their teens, 17% in their twenties, 40% in their thirties, 28% in their forties, and 14% in their fifties.

This is a subject I’ve looked at before, but this survey takes an interesting look at what exactly people do with the bags once they get home. Sadly, Q2 and Q3 were badly-worded, lumping two questions together; I would have rather seen the two parts asked individually.

Research results

Q1: How do you reuse checkout bags you bring home? (Sample size=15,078, multiple answer)

Garbage bags (indoor use)	65.0%
Kitchen waste bags (indoor use)	63.9%
Garbage bags (outdoor use)	54.8%
For wet, sweaty clothes after sports, etc	31.7%
Vegetable storage	29.9%
When packing for holidays	21.8%
For lunchbox, etc, garbage	21.7%
For carrying stuff	18.4%
For small damp items (cleaning related, etc)	16.1%
Keeping things dry in the rain, etc	15.9%
Meat and other fresh food storage	15.4%
For keeping small items	13.2%
For keeping nappies, etc before use	12.5%
For pet poo	9.4%
Cover things to keep dust off them	7.7%
For sports equipment	5.7%
Other	5.2%
No particular use	0.9%
Don’t take checkout bags	1.5%
No answer	0.0%

Q2: If checkout bags had to be paid for at supermarkets, how would your frequency usage of supermarkets, and the amount you purchase change? (Sample size=15,078, multiple answer)

Usage frequency would increase	1.2%
Usage frequency wouldn’t change	48.8%
Usage frequency would decrease	38.9%
Would buy less at one time	6.1%
Would buy the same amount at one time	31.1%
Would buy more at one time	6.9%
None of the above	5.7%
No answer	0.6%

Q3: If checkout bags had to be paid for at convenience stores, how would your frequency usage of convenience stores, and the amount you purchase change? (Sample size=15,078, multiple answer)

Usage frequency would increase	0.8%
Usage frequency wouldn’t change	49.1%
Usage frequency would decrease	36.6%
Would buy less at one time	3.0%
Would buy the same amount at one time	29.8%
Would buy more at one time	8.0%
None of the above	7.7%
No answer	0.5%

Q4: If check-out bags had to be paid for, about how much do you think should be charged per bag? (Sample size=15,078)

One yen	22.5%
Two to four yen	12.6%
Five yen	27.9%
Six to nine yen	0.3%
Ten yen	7.6%
Eleven to twenty yen	0.3%
Twenty-one to fifty yen	0.2%
Fifty-one to one hundred yen	0.1%
One hundred yen or more	0.0%
Would not use if not free	28.5%
No answer	0.1%

Q5: If you bring (or brought) your own shopping bag with you, what are you (or would you be) concerned about? (Sample size=15,078, multiple answer)

Being unable to get everything into the bag when buying a lot	53.8%
Things leaking out if not put in correctly	41.6%
Leakage from fresh or frozen foods	41.2%
Not enough bags if I visit a number of shops	36.9%
Can’t reuse as garbage bags	36.4%
Bothersome to carry own bag around	36.4%
Can’t buy things on a whim	28.4%
Nowhere to pack own bag at convenience store	22.4%
Difficult to separate shopping from different stores	19.9%
Problems on rainy days (own bag getting wet, etc)	17.9%
Concern about bag getting dirty	17.3%
Other	2.4%
No particular points of concern	10.3%
No answer	0.3%

Q6: Do you agree with check-out bags being charged for? (Sample size=15,078)

Agree	42.7%
Disagree	21.0%
Can’t say either way	36.3%