世論 What Japan Thinks

One way of making Japan a cheaper country to live it is to make sure you participate in as many point cards and other loyalty schemes as possible, as many shops and restaurants offer some degree of discounts (often from 3% to 10% or more) if you sign up to their schemes. Of course, one drawback is that you end up with a bulging wallet and time-consuming scrambles looking for the correct card. Recently, Macromill Inc reported on a survey they conducted on this topic, point cards.

Demographics

Over the 13th and 14th of July 2007 516 members of the Macromill Monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was split exactly 50:50 male and female in each age group, and similarly there were 25.0% in their twenties, 25.0% in their thirties, 25.0% in their forties and 25.0% in their fifties.

Note that in this survey questions Q1 and Q2, point cards include stamp cards, airline mileage cards, and other loyalty point-based systems, but exclude credit card points, which are investingated in Qs 5 to 7. However, some of the newer combined credit card and railway pass cards have schemes where you get bonus points for spending money in the railway line’s department store or other group companies, so I don’t know whether these point schemes are counted or not.

With some of the big electrical chains who have point systems offering from 10% to 20% depending on purchases, it can be definitely argued that their prices are artificially higher to fund this system, and with comparison shopping it is possible to save more money. However, in Osaka the choice for me is bascially either the huge Yodobashi Camera right beside the main station or perhaps saving 5% to 10% if I head down to Den-Den Town, taking 10 minutes in the subway then 15 minutes by foot, fighting my way through the crowds, then hoping the store still has the product in stock, takes credit cards, doesn’t have a prohibitive delivery cost, etc.

Research results

Q1: For which of the following types of business do you have a point card or stamp card? (Sample size=516, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=258	Female N=258
Home electrical store	73.4%	75.2%	71.7%
Drug store	58.9%	40.3%	77.5%
Supermarket	54.1%	36.0%	72.1%
CD, DVD store (including rental)	44.0%	43.4%	44.6%
Restaurant	32.6%	23.3%	41.9%
Hair salon, beauty parlour	32.4%	16.3%	48.4%
Department store	31.6%	19.8%	43.4%
Bread, cake shop	29.1%	9.3%	48.8%
Petrol station (gas stand)	28.1%	30.6%	25.6%
Clothes shop, accessories	27.5%	14.0%	41.1%
Airline	27.3%	31.4%	23.3%
Convenience store	19.6%	20.9%	18.2%
Furniture, interior shop	17.6%	5.8%	29.5%
Shopping street, shopping mall	17.2%	10.1%	24.4%
Book shop	16.1%	14.3%	17.8%
Massage parlour	5.6%	3.5%	7.8%
Esthetic, spa	4.5%	1.2%	7.8%
Other point card	5.8%	6.2%	5.4%
Don’t carry any (to Q2)	2.7%	3.1%	2.3%

The next table is sorted by the sum of the first two columns.

Q1SQ1: How do you use your cards for each type of business? (Sample size=those carrying each type of card, multiple answer)

	Only shop at that store	Save points, but also shop elsewhere	Don’t worry about collecting points
Home electrical store	48.5%	43.0%	8.4%
Drug store	47.4%	42.8%	9.9%
Supermarket	29.0%	61.6%	9.3%
Petrol station (gas stand)	66.2%	22.1%	11.7%
Convenience store	38.6%	43.6%	17.8%
Department store	40.5%	41.1%	18.4%
CD, DVD store (including rental)	55.1%	26.0%	18.9%
Book shop	41.0%	38.6%	20.5%
Massage parlour	48.3%	27.6%	24.1%
Shopping street, shopping mall	24.7%	50.6%	24.7%
Airline	42.6%	31.2%	26.2%
Bread, cake shop	23.3%	50.0%	26.7%
Hair salon, beauty parlour	56.3%	16.8%	26.9%
Furniture, interior shop	24.2%	42.9%	33.0%
Esthetic, spa	47.8%	17.4%	34.8%
Clothes shop, accessories	21.8%	43.0%	35.2%
Restaurant	17.3%	46.4%	36.3%
Other point card	40.0%	50.0%	10.0%

Q1SQ2: How do you feel about your point cards for each type of business? (Sample size=those carrying each type of card, multiple answer)

	Very good value	Quite good value	Can’t say either way	Not very good value	Not good value at all
Home electrical store	27.7%	57.3%	11.9%	2.4%	0.8%
Supermarket	21.5%	62.4%	12.9%	2.5%	0.7%
Petrol station (gas stand)	21.4%	57.9%	15.2%	4.1%	1.4%
Drug store	17.4%	61.8%	15.1%	3.9%	1.6%
Department store	18.4%	54.0%	20.2%	4.9%	2.5%
Convenience store	15.8%	52.5%	28.7%	3.0%	0.0%
Book shop	9.6%	57.8%	24.1%	7,2%	1.2%
Bread, cake shop	10.7%	56.0%	25.3%	6.0%	2.0%
Hair salon, beauty parlour	15.6%	50.9%	25.1%	7.2%	1.2%
Esthetic, spa	26.1%	39.1%	30.4%	0.0%	4.3%
Airline	19.9%	44.7%	29.1%	4.3%	2.1%
Restaurant	8.3%	54.8%	27.4%	6.0%	3.6%
Massage parlour	17.2%	44.8%	37.9%	0.0%	0.0%
CD, DVD store (including rental)	11.9%	49.8%	31.3%	4.8%	2.2%
Shopping street, shopping mall	4.5%	55.1%	33.7%	6.7%	0.0%
Clothes shop, accessories	11.3%	41.5%	38.0%	7.7%	1.4%
Furniture, interior shop	3.3%	48.4%	35.2%	12.1%	1.1%
Other point card	20.0%	70.0%	6.7%	3.3%

Q2: To what degree do you agree with the following statements regarding point services? (Sample size=516, multiple answer)

	Agree	Agree to some extent	Neither agree nor disagree	Disagree to some extent	Disagree
Don’t want to increase the number of point cards I have	31.6%	30.8%	30.6%	5.0%	1.9%
It’s troublesome carrying all my point cards	35.9%	27.9%	17.4%	10.7%	8.1%
I only use point cards for shops where I feel they are good value	26.7%	50.2%	16.7%	4.7%	1.7%
I only use point cards for shops I often visit	33.3%	47.7%	14.1%	3.7%	1.2%
I feel discounts are more attractive than points	28.5%	35.3%	34.1%	1.4%	0.8%
I feel point cards with no expiry date are attractive	56.8%	31.4%	10.9%	0.8%	0.2%

From the original sample, 487 people, or 94.4%, carried mobile phones. They were asked the following questions.

Q3: How do you feel about point services for mobile phone users? (Sample size=487)

	All N=487	Male N=246	Female N=241
Having saved points makes it harder to change provider	22.6%	22.0%	23.2%
I’m aware of saving points, but it wouldn’t affect decisions on changing provider	29.8%	28.9%	30.7%
Not really aware of saving points	47.6%	49.2%	46.1%

Although the male and female percentages were roughly equal, with men there was a very definite trend as age increased the interest in mobile phone point schemes decreased. No such trend was present in the female group.

Q4: How good value do you feel mobile phone point services are? (Sample size=487)

	All N=487	Male N=246	Female N=241
Very good value	10.7%	6.1%	15.4%
Quite good value	49.5%	54.1%	44.8%
Can’t say either way	32.2%	30.5%	34.0%
Not very good value	5.1%	5.3%	5.0%
Not good value at all	2.5%	4.1%	0.8%

From the original sample, 424 people, or 82.2%, carried mobile phones. They were asked the following questions.

Q5: How do you use your credit cards in relation to point services? (Sample size=424)

	All N=424	Male N=218	Female N=206
In order to collect points, I try to use just one card	56.6%	55.5%	57.8%
I use various credit cards and collect points on all	22.6%	22.9%	23.3%
Not really (not at all) aware of points	20.8%	21.6%	19.9%

Q6: How good value do you feel credit card point services are? (Sample size=424)

	All N=424	Male N=218	Female N=206
Very good value	12.7%	11.5%	14.1%
Quite good value	56.8%	57.8%	55.8%
Can’t say either way	22.9%	23.4%	22.3%
Not very good value	4.0%	3.2%	4.9%
Not good value at all	3.5%	4.1%	2.9%

Q7: When do you use your credit cards? (Sample size=424, multiple answer)

	All N=424	Male N=218	Female N=206
When internet, mail order shopping	61.6%	61.9%	61.2%
When buying high-priced items	57.5%	50.0%	65.5%
When I only have a little money on me	52.6%	48.2%	57.3%
When I want to earn points	50.0%	44.5%	55.8%
When there is special offers for card members	39.9%	33.5%	46.6%
When on holiday	36.1%	35.8%	36.4%
Use whenever possible	25.0%	29.8%	19.9%
When there are bonus points	23.8%	17.9%	30.1%
Other	3.1%	2.3%	3.9%