Vacuum cleaners in Japan: part 1 of 2
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[My main role in housework is hoovering up the rubbish (and anyone complaining about my British English will be summarily banned 
) every Sunday morning, so this recent survey conducted by DIMSDRIVE Research into vacuum cleaners is right up my street.
Demographics
Between the 5th and 13th of December 2007 8,803 members of the DIMSDRIVE Monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 59.7% of the sample was female, 0.5% in their teens, 15.7% in their twenties, 37.4% in their thirties, 28.6% in their forties, 13.1% in their fifties, and 4.7% aged sixty or older. 48.9% had children (up to what age is not specified) at home, 12.8% lived by themselves, 23.3% with one other person, 24.8% with two others, 25.1% with three others, and 14.0% with four or more others. Pet ownership is interesting enough to merit a separate table!
I’ve read a lot about cyclones and Dysons in particular, and they are rated highly by their owners, but I have this overriding suspicion that the users are like Mac owners, smug about their premium purchase, so they are trying to justify to themselves as much as to everyone else the extra expense.
I got the impression when I was in the UK that upright cleaners were the more popular type, but as this is not What Britain Thinks, I cannot find any statistics to confirm or deny this suspicion; here in Japan the default is the canister type, as this survey reveals.
Research results
Q1: What kinds of pets do you have at home? (Sample size=8,803, multiple answer)
Dog 16.5% Cat 12.1% Fish 11.5% Reptile, turtle 2.8% Bird 2.6% Insect 2.2% Hamster 1.9% Rabbit 1.7% Ferret 0.3% Other 0.9% Don’t have a pet 60.4% Q2: What type of vacuum cleaner do you have at home? If more than one, answer for the one you use the most. (Sample size=8,803)
Paper bag type 64.7% Cyclone type 24.1% Upright type 5.1% Mini sized 2.1% Industrial type 0.3% Robot (Roomba, etc) 0.0% Other 0.8% Don’t have one, don’t know (to Q15) 2.9% 11.1% of people living by themselves didn’t have a hoover! For other family sizes, the percentages owning each type did not vary to any significant degree.
Q3: What type of vacuum cleaner do you have at home? If more than one, answer for the one you use the most. (Sample size=8,545)
Almost every day 18.6% Four or five times a week 13.2% Two or three times a week 27.2% Once a week 23.5% Two or three times a month 8.4% Once a month 3.2% Once every two or three months 2.3% Less than that 2.0% Don’t use it, don’t know (to Q15) 1.6% As you might guess, those living alone did much less cleaning, with around two in five doing it less than once a week. As family size increased, so did the frequency of cleaning. In addition, about 30% of those with children younger than school age ran the hoover just about every day.
Just under a quarter of those with a Dyson or other cyclone cleaner ran it every day. Unfortunately there is no cross-reference of machine type versus child ages to see if parents are buying cyclones to try to more effectively protect their children from dust.
By pet type, over a third of insect owners cleaned every day, followed by 28.5% of reptile owners. Only 15.7% of non-pet owners cleaned every day, with bird owners being the least frequent (excluding the too small group of ferret owners) daily cleaners, with 20.1% doing so, followed by 21.8% of cat owners. I’d have thought cats would require more frequent cleaning myself, so it might be interesting if we could examine the relationship between pet ownership and child ages.
Q4: Who is the maker of this vacuum cleaner? (Sample size=8,412)
National (Panasonic) 16.6% Sanyo 16.0% Toshiba 15.5% Hitachi 12.4% Sharp 9.4% Mitsubishi 7.9% Dyson 3.8% Other 3.5% Don’t know 14.9% Q5: How much did this vacuum cleaner cost? (Sample size=8,412)
Under 9,999 yen 16.9% 10,000 to 14,999 yen 20.6% 15,000 to 19,999 yen 14.7% 20,000 to 29,999 yen 13.5% 30,000 to 49,999 yen 8.9% 50,000 to 69,999 yen 2.6% 70,000 yen or more 2.4% Don’t know, didn’t buy it 20.4% Q6: When choosing this vacuum cleaner, what information did you reference? (Sample size=8,412, multiple answer)
Product in shop, POP advertising in shop 45.3% Discussion with shop staff 22.0% Catalogue, pamphlet 14.1% Trying out product in the shop 13.8% Price comparison site, word of mouth site, auction site 7.1% Friends, family, etc 6.0% Maker’s web page 5.2% Advertisement folded into newspaper 5.0% Other internet web page 3.8% Television advertisement 3.2% Electrical retailer’s web site 2.6% Television shopping program 1.1% Magazine 1.0% Newspaper 0.7% Public advertising in train, etc 0.2% Other 1.4% Nowhere in particular, didn’t choose myself 21.4% Interestingly, when looking at the important points by maker, all the Japanese manufacturers scored much the same in each category, bu Dyson scored worst for in-shope display, was average for discussions with shop staff, but in most other categories was significantly higher, scoring between 20% and 30% for almost every point.
Q7: Based on which points did you choose this vacuum cleaner? (Sample size=8,412, multiple answer)
Price, discount 39.5% Whether bag or cyclone type 24.0% Suction power 21.0% Weight, size, portability of body 20.8% Body shape (upright, hand-held, etc) 18.4% Ease of throwing away rubbish 17.3% Maker, brand 12.3% Compact storage possible 12.2% Colour, design 11.4% Shop staff recommendation 7.6% Lack of drop-off in suction power in use 6.4% Switches at fingertips 6.1% No need to clean filter 6.0% Shape of head 5.5% Quietness in use 5.5% Head brush 5.3% Exhaust issues 3.6% Low energy type 3.5% Could try out in shop 3.0% Accessory brush, head set 2.9% Filter (HEPA filter, etc) 2.6% Hose 1.8% Other 2.2% Nothing in particular, didn’t choose myself 22.6% Q7A: Based on which points did you choose this vacuum cleaner? (by cleaner type, multiple answer)
Bag type
N=5,581Cyclone type
N=2,098Dyson
N=319Body shape (upright, hand-held, etc) 15.6% 17.9% N/A Whether bag or cyclone type 13.5% 56.0% 45.8% Suction power 18.2% 31.4% 58.0% Lack of drop-off in suction power in use 3.3% 15.5% 51.1% No need to clean filter 2.1% 15.9% 36.1% Ease of throwing away rubbish 11.4% 32.9% 35.4% Price, discount 42.7% 33.3% 15.0%
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