Successful Selling Factors/Techniques in Japan Marketplace
Trade Promotion and Advertising in Japan
2008/01/15 17:53 | by 
Electronic Commerce /e-Business in Japan
According to the statistics published in March 2006 by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the market size of business-to-business (B2B) electronic commerce in Japan in 2005 was 140.4 trillion yen ($1.3 billion). The industry sectors that are the biggest users of B2B electronic commerce are wholesalers (41.7 trillion yen or $379 billion), followed by electronic/IT (21.9 trillion yen or $200 billion), and transportation-related parts and equipment (21.7 trillion yen or $197.5 billion).
The same report noted that the market size of the business-to-consumer (B2C) electronic commerce market in 2005 at 3.5 trillion yen (or $31.4 billion), and identified the biggest users of B2C electronic commerce as IT/telecommunication (858 billion yen or $7.8 billion), general retail (832 billion yen or $7.6 billion), electric appliances (380 billion yen or $3.5 billion), and travel and accommodations (360 billion yen or $3.3 billion).
People in Japan, especially young consumers, are counting more and more on state-of-the-art cell phones to access the Internet, check information, buy tickets and goods, listen to music, play games, and even watch TV. In the B2C market, shopping-related mobile e-commerce accounted for 407 billion yen ($3.7 billion) in 2005 for shopping-related sectors (not including contents such as music and games, advertisements, solutions, etc.), according to Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication’s report. This indicates a 57% increase from the previous year and represents 12% of the total BtoC e-commerce market. Mobile e-commerce is expected to continue to grow rapidly as the use of QR codes and flat-fee systems get more popular, and the easy payment/collection methods that mobile phones provide will further contribute to the growth. U.S. companies that wish to expand their Internet sales transactions into the mobile market should select the products and construct new web pages that fit nicely on the small screen of cell phones as one part of their B2C e-commerce strategy.
In 2004, METI, the Next Generation Electronic Commerce Promotion Council of Japan, and NTT Data Institute of Management, Inc. jointly published “Survey on the Current Status and market Size of Electronic Commerce for 2004” in English at:
www.meti.go.jp/policy/itpo....
Though no updated version of the full survey is currently available, a summary of METI’s survey report for 2005 was posted on METI’s home page on June 26, 2006, at:
http://www.meti.go.jp/engl....
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