世論 What Japan Thinks

My new place, being a bit posh, is serviced by a Co-op home delivery service that perhaps at least 10% take advantage of, but we’ve never tried, and I don’t know if people order via the phone or by the internet. Wifey also occasionally orders ready-made foods via phone, fax, and internet, so this survey reported on by japan.internet.com and conducted by JR Tokai Express Research Inc into food ingredient online home delivery services was of interest to me. Note that this is for ingredients, not prepared food delivery.

Demographics

On the 22nd of February 2008 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research online monitor team employed in either the public or private sector took part in a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.3% were male, 17.9% were in their twenties, 36.4% in their thirties, 26.1% in their forties, 6.1% in their fifties, and 8.2% in their sixties. Note that usually JR Tokai Express has 80% male when they survey employed people, so I don’t know if the more even sex balance is due to them selecting a more balanced group, an error in the report, or self-selection.

I suppose the main thing stopping me from using online ordering is that for fresh items, I really want to be able to cast my eye over them to check that I am picking the best available, not just good enough.

Research results

Q1: Have you ever used an online food ingredient home delivery service? (Sample size=330)

Yes, currently using (to SQ1, SQ2)	16.7%
Yes, but not currently using (to SQ3)	14.8%
No	44.5%
Don’t know what it is	23.6%

When those currently using home delivery were asked which service they used, the most popular was the Co-op Home Delivery, with 67.9% using it. Next was Oisix with 8.9%, and other services like Radish Boya, Yoshikei, Benesse Home Delivery bringing up the rear.

Q1SQ1: Why do you use an online home delivery food service? (Sample size=56, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Easy to shop from home	37	66.1%
Can get chemical-free, organic vegetables, etc	24	42.9%
No time to go shopping	15	26.8%
Can obtain exotic ingredients	13	23.2%
Cheap products	3	5.4%
Don’t know	0	0.0%
Other	12	21.4%

Q1SQ2: On average, how much do you spend per order from online home delivery food services? (Sample size=56)

Up to 999 yen	1.8%
1,000 to 2,999 yen	25.0%
3,000 to 4,999 yen	39.3%
5,000 to 9,999 yen	28.6%
10,000 to 19,999 yen	5.4%
20,000 yen or more	0.0%

Q1SQ3: Why did you quit using online home delivery food services? Choose the main reason for doing so. (Sample size=49)

Expensive products	19.3%
Expensive delivery fee	13.3%
No products I wanted	9.6%
Took time to get delivered	7.2%
Poor freshness	2.4%
Nearby shops existed, opened	19.3%
Can’t directly see what I’m buying	10.8%
Can’t really trust home delivery service	1.2%
Other	16.9%