世論 What Japan Thinks

The next milestone for electronic cash, the subject of a recent survey from goo Research (the 14th in the regular series) and reported on by japan.internet.com, is two-thirds of the sample having experienced electronic cash, a figure which should be reached by summer, I suspect.

Demographics

Between the 15th and 18th of February 2010 1,086 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 15.9% in their teens, 18.0% in their twenties, 21.5% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, and 28.3% aged fifty or older.

Note that the survey is looking only at credit card form-factor cash, not IC chips embedded into mobile phones.

I use mine mostly for trains and in-station shops, as it doesn’t come out of my monthly budget. When I first got my card I did use it at a restaurant and book store, but I found out that thrice as many points were on offer if I used the credit card function instead!

Research results

Q1: Do you have contactless IC card-type of electronic cash? (Sample size=1,086)

Currently have (to SQs)	57.6%
Used to have	4.6%
Never had	34.7%
Don’t know what a contactless IC card is	3.0%

Although 626 people had electronic cash, only 593 people, or 94.7%, were currently using their card, although it didn’t report how the remaining 5.3% was split between ex-users and never used.

Q1SQ1: Why do you use IC card-type electronic cash? (Sample size=593, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Shortens payment time	380	64.1%
Can get points	301	50.8%
Don’t end up with a pocketful of change	246	41.5%
Can pay for things without carrying money	209	35.2%
Can use at shops I often visit	162	27.3%
Don’t need to pay attention to how much money I’m carrying	110	18.5%
Feature came with a cash card, season ticket, etc	69	11.6%
Handy to have a record of purchases	55	9.3%
Handy that I don’t have to go to the bank to withdraw money	47	7.9%
Safer than real money	26	4.4%
Other	22	3.7%

Q1SQ2: At what kinds of locations do you use IC card-type electronic cash? (Sample size=593, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Public transport (train, bus, etc)	420	70.8%
Convenience store	332	56.0%
In-station shops	207	34.9%
Supermarket	158	26.6%
Vending machine	151	25.5%
Fast food restaurant	62	10.5%
Electrical superstore	47	7.9%
Drug store	42	7.1%
Restaurant	31	5.2%
Book store	31	5.2%
Online shopping	20	3.4%
Cafe, coffee shop	17	2.9%
Department store	8	1.3%
Taxi	8	1.3%
Work, school restaurant	7	1.2%
Hospital	0	0.0%
Other	12	2.0%