世論 What Japan Thinks

Let’s get the What Japan Thinks show back on the road after the holidays with this look by goo Research, reported on by japan.internet.com, into home appliances, the sixth time this regular survey has been conducted.

Demographics

Between the 28th of July and the 3rd of August 2010 1,041 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 16.2% in their teens, 18.0% in their twenties, 21.2% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.9% in their fifties, and 12.4% aged sixty or older.

I did buy one electrical device last month, a Brother MyMio MFC-735CD phone/fax/answering machine/printer/scanner/SD card reader/kitchen sink device (linked US version has no wireless handset, but has networking). Our old telephone’s screen suddenly went blank, so we checked out new ones in a nearby electrical store and nearly bought there, but we instead used kakaku.com to do a price check (if you’re in Japan, don’t buy anything without checking them out first!) and found Amazon just 106 yen off the cheapest, so of course with they being a big name we ordered from there. We placed the order at about 5 pm on Sunday evening, and even with just their standard free shipping it arrived the next day at about 2:30 pm!

In Q2, note that three of the top four items, digital televisions, air conditioners, and fridges, award eco points for purchase.

Research results

Q1: Which of the following devices do you currently have? (Sample size=1,041, multiple answer)

Fridge, freezer	95.2%
Washing machine	94.4%
Microwave oven	92.2%
Vacuum cleaner	91.8%
Air conditioner (to SQ)	84.8%
Point and shoot digital camera	78.9%
Laptop computer	74.2%
Terrestrial digital broadcast-ready television	70.7%
DVD player (including DVD recorder)	65.9%
Desktop computer	63.8%
Analogue television	62.9%
ETC Electronic Toll Collection system	47.6%
VHS recorder	47.0%
Humidifier, dehumidifier	43.5%
Air cleaner	36.7%
Video camera	27.2%
Blu-ray player (including recorder)	20.5%
Facial beauty, health device	18.9%
Digital SLR	14.5%
Digital photo frame	10.2%
Netbook computer	6.8%
Pomera	0.7%
None of the above	1.3%

Q1SQ: Where did you last purchase an air conditioner from? (Sample size=883)

Electrical superstore	82.3%
Small electrical store	7.4%
Received it	2.5%
Internet shop	1.6%
Supermarket, home centre	1.2%
Second-hand shop	0.7%
Internet auction	0.4%
Department store	0.4%
Television shopping	0.0%
Magazine, etc mail order	0.0%
Other	0.2%
Don’t know	3.2%

There was also another reported figure regarding air conditioners. From the whole 1,041 sample, they were asked if they planned to buy an air conditioner during this summer. 5.0% said they already had, 3.9% said they planned to buy one, and 18.3% said they’d buy one if any of their current ones broke down. The state of the remaining 72.8% was not reported, although it does seem odd that only 18.3% would replace a broken down air conditioner – perhaps the implication is that they wouldn’t bother trying to get it fixed?

Q2: Which of the following devices have you purchased within the last month? (Sample size=1,041, multiple answer)

Terrestrial digital broadcast-ready television	6.2%
Laptop computer	3.0%
Air conditioner	2.5%
Fridge, freezer	2.3%
Point and shoot digital camera	2.0%
Vacuum cleaner	2.0%
Blu-ray player (including recorder)	1.7%
Washing machine	1.7%
DVD player (including DVD recorder)	1.4%
Desktop computer	1.3%
Microwave oven	1.0%
Facial beauty, health device	0.9%
ETC Electronic Toll Collection system	0.8%
Digital SLR	0.7%
Video camera	0.7%
Air cleaner	0.7%
Humidifier, dehumidifier	0.6%
Digital photo frame	0.6%
Analogue television	0.3%
Netbook computer	0.2%
VHS recorder	0.2%
Pomera	0.0%
None of the above	79.4%