Internet: a major player in Japanese's purchasing decision making

The latest report on information gathering in Japan shows that Internet plays a big part in people’s information gathering and decision making process. 95% of 500 survey participants said that they use Internet to gather information prior to purchasing products and services. 89.6% of them use “search engines” and 59% of them use “products/services comparison sites”. What’s interesting is that more men use “comparison sites” and more women use “samples and trial products” before they make purchases.

If you have products or services targeting Japanese men, add comparison information on your website, and if your products or services are targeting Japanese women, try free sample offering to see if the RIO improves.

Motoko Hunt

Motoko Hunt manages the SEO for all of Adobe's properties in Japan and the APAC region. Prior to joining Adobe, Motoko established AJPR in 1998; she has been providing search marketing consulting services targeting Japan and Asia to companies around the world. Her services have made a big impact on the search marketing campaigns of some of the world's most popular multi-national brands. A number of her articles have been published on industry websites and printed media including MultiLingual Computing and the International Journal of Localisation. She also writes about the Japanese online market on her blog at AJPR and contributes to several online magazines in Japan and Asia. She served as a member of the board of directors of SEMPO in 2010-2012, and is a chairperson of the SEMPO Asia-Pacific Committee.

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5 responses

Emal Haidari says:
June 14, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Dear Motoko,
You provided a very good statistics, could I use your statistics on my website? If so, please confirm.
Thank you for your time.
regards
Emal Haidari
Absolute.
Reply
Pavel Mka says:
June 16, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Hello Motoko,
would you have any examples of the services used in Japan for comparison shopping?, would really love to see them.
PM
Reply
Motoko Hunt says:
June 16, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Hi Pavel,
There are many comparison sites in Japan, and one of the most popular ones is Kakaku.com.
Reply
Emi says:
January 29, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Hello Motokoo,
Can you please confirm what does RIO standard for in your article?
Reply
Motoko Hunt says:
January 29, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Hi Emi,
Thanks for finding typo. It’s ROI, return of investment.
Reply