How often do you visit a self-service coffee shop? graph of japanese opinionMyVoice carried out a survey of its community at the start of this month to see what they thought about self-service (counter service only) coffee shops. 16,311 people, 46% male, completed their internet questionnaire. 3% were teenagers, 24% in their twenties, 37% in their thirties, 24% in their forties, and 12% fifty years old or over.

Japan is apparently the only country in the world (sorry, I can’t find a definite statement of the statistics) where the Coca-Cola Company make more money (or sell more by volume, or something) with a drink other than their signature fizzy brown bevarage, namely their line of Georgia canned coffee, which are, on the whole, either over-sugary, over-milky (a friend got kidney stones from drinking six or eight cans a day and hardly any other liquids, bar beer) or over-bitter for my taste.

Also note that in Japan there is little tradition of carrying out a cup of coffee from a shop. Even around Starbucks, almost no-one will drink their coffee anywhere bar the shop; I personally can only recall one time seeing a Japanese person carrying a coffee cup onto a train, for instance.

Finally, most coffee shops are still smoking. Starbucks is non-smoking throughout (except for seating outside, if available), but other chains often have perhaps only have a quarter or less reserved for non-smokers, and little effective segregation. However, note the last question, about why people like their particular favourite chain – only 9.5% choose smoking segregation (all non-smoking was not an option) as a plus, at most just a fifth of the Starbucks fans, versus 9% who choose that smoking is allowed, which is again just about a fifth of those with a favourite other than Starbucks.

I seem to have written far too much about Starbucks already! I’m much more a tea and table service man myself.

Q1: Which drinks do you usually drink a lot of? (Sample size=16,311, multiple answer)

Coffee 77.1%
Green tea 54.2%
Brown tea 43.6%
Milk, milk-based drinks 31.7%
Oolong Tea 30.8%
Cocoa 24.8%
Fruit juice, fruit drinks 21.1%
Mineral water 20.0%
Sports drinks 19.9%
Fizzy drinks 17.5%
Other 6.8%
Nothing in particular 1.3%

Q2: About how often do you visit a self-service coffee shop? (Sample size=16,311)

Almost every day 2.6%
Three or four times a week 3.6%
Once or twice a week 11.2%
Two or three times a month 21.9%
Once a month or less 42.2%
Never 18.6%

Note that people may visit coffee shops but drink something other than coffee.

Q3: At what times do you visit self-service coffee shops? (Sample size=approximately 13,277, self-service coffee shop users, multiple answer)

When I want a rest 46.5%
To chat with friends 32.9%
Just to pass the time 29.3%
For snacks 29.0%
When my throat is dry 24.8%
To change the/my mood 22.4%
To eat lunch 16.9%
Don’t know why! 14.6%
When I want a smoke 9.2%
To eat breakfast 8.8%
Business discussions, meetings, other work 5.4%
To read 4.8%
To study 2.9%
To eat evening meal 1.8%
To use PC 1.4%
Other 2.4%
No answer 1.3%

Q4: What self-service coffee shops have you used? (Sample size=approximately 13,277, self-service coffee shop users, multiple answer)

Starbucks 82.1%
Doutor Coffee 78.8%
Tully’s Coffee 32.4%
Saint Marc Cafe 30.5%
Pronto Caffe 25.9%
Excelsior Caffe 25.6%
Caffe Veloce 22.0%
Cafe de Crie 15.7%
Cafe Colorado 7.4%
Other 9.1%
No answer 1.4%

Q5: What self-service coffee shop chain do you like the most? (Sample size=approximately 13,277, self-service coffee shop users, multiple answer)

Starbucks 34.1%
Doutor Coffee 19.7%
Tully’s Coffee 3.9%
Saint Marc Cafe 3.3%
Excelsior Caffe 2.7%
Caffe Veloce 2.5%
Pronto 1.4%
Cafe de Crie 1.3%
Cafe Cororado 0.3%
Other 1.4%
None in particular 27.7%
No answer 1.7%

Q6: For what reasons do you like that self-service coffee shop chain the most? (Sample size=approximately 9,374, those with favourite self-service coffee shop, multiple answer)

Drink taste or quality is good 45.0%
Reasonable prices 40.8%
Good atmosphere in shop 37.1%
Easy to enter shop interior 25.3%
Good access 17.5%
Comfortable 17.2%
Food taste or quality is good 16.2%
Varied menu 14.3%
Originality of menu 10.6%
Smoking is segregated 9.5%
Smoking is allowed 9.0%
Don’t know why! 8.7%
Good service 8.7%
Shop brand 8.2%
Points or promotions 1.3%
Other 1.9%
Nothing in particular 1.9%
No answer 0.4%

2 Comments

A 120 Years Of Mornings: The History Of Coffee In Japan · April 30, 2014 at 01:38

[…] branch in 1996 in Ginza, Tokyo, and quickly gained footing in the Japanese coffee-service market. A 2006 survey by MyVoice demonstrates how connected Starbucks became to local consumers in just ten years: for those […]

Not only tea: Japanese are coffee lovers – Coffee Business Intelligence · May 24, 2016 at 17:59

[…] ten years, Starbucks became to local consumers, according to a survey by MyVoice (tofugu.com,  whatjapanthinks.com)  On March 2016 the Starbucks  has reached in Japan 1178 […]

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