2014年9月29日月曜日

5 Product Requirements to Meet Japanese Consumer Needs

Japanese consumers are often said to be difficult to please, with high expectations.  It is not only about the language issue, and this is likely to be one reason why many multi-national companies or individuals find it a challenge to enter and penetrate the Japanese market, which is regarded as attractive due to its size, stability and maturity in many industries.

If you know their expectations and what they regard as “high quality products and services”, meeting their needs, it is quite possible to succeed in make market entry and penetration in the Japanese market.

1. Durable and indestructible

Japanese consumers expect products to be durable and indestructible, from clothes and toys to home electronics and automobiles.  This is probably what we all know as “high quality products” and their expectations are maybe the highest in the world.

Should clothes start to come apart by little or screw of devices start to get a little loose, consumers would usually regard them as defects and may well make complaints.  Indeed, for example, materials used for T-shirts made by Japanese companies are usually much stronger than those made by companies of other countries.  Also, how clothes are tailored by Japanese companies excel from those made in other parts of the world.

2. Easy to use and convenient

Easy to use and convenience has been what Japanese companies been strong at, and this has been a key feature and differentiator in Japan.  This is a popular value-added feature in Japan, not only for products themselves but also for packages.


Great examples are abundant in FMCG (fast moving consumer goods).  Many canned food are of easy-to-open cans, which are just like opening a canned coke and therefore there is no need for a can opener.  




There are variety of Natto (Japanese food made from soy beans) packages to make consumers easy to pour sauce into the container without getting their hands dirty.

This concept is applied in such products as drugs, too, and easy to take medicines are often a feature.  Many OTC (over the counter) drugs are differentiated not only by efficacy but also how it is easy to take/swallow (e.g. in power, made sweet for children), as well as how quickly the medicine starts to work.

3. Same appearance and size


Japanese consumers do not accept products with even a little irregularity in appearance and size, even for things such as fruits and vegetables.  So, even fruits and vegetables sold in Japan are all of “perfect” shape, and size, packed very neatly.  Should they be “imperfect” in shape and size they are neglected during picking and packing processes in farms and factories. 

This is why crisps you would see in the west are not found in Japan.  Each piece of crisps is of different sizes which are not acceptable to Japanese consumers.  That is why many of the crisps sold in Japan are made “artificially” from potato ingredients, all in the same size and shape.  And, some are put in a tube-shaped container, emphasizing uniform size and shape.


Should the products be imperfect even by a degree not noticeable by the majority unless being told, they are sold as what we call “class B products” or in Japanese B級品.  These are sold in separate channel with discount price.  Such products range from Kimono and furniture to bread.

When Japanese consumers expects all products the same in appearance, it is not a surprise that they would never accept foreign substances in the products they buy and use.  Should they find any foreign substances such as hair in drugs for example, they would regard drugs as “low quality” in the similar way as “imperfect appearance” mentioned above - they would question the critical quality of efficacy.  In such a case it is reported to the manufacturer as “defects”.

4. Perfect finishing

Japanese consumers expect products and architectures to be of perfect finishing even at details.  This is not only for devices that Japanese companies are strong at.  In the case of drugs, even those with a little spot or scratch on tablets that human eyes cannot detect (and thus detected by video inspection) are regarded as “defects” though it has nothing to do with efficacy thus removed from the production line. 

This is the same for packages, too.  Even just a slight imperfection in package printing of drugs are regarded as “defect” and removed from the product line.  Japanese pharmacists and patients would question the quality including efficacy of drugs should the package is not 100% imperfect in their standard.

It is the same for architecture.  A Japanese person in construction industry visited a very famous modern architecture in Australia which he was extremely impressed at.  However, when he saw that lower part of a concrete wall finish is “rough”, he said “Gosh!  How rough is this finishing.  This is never accepted in Japan!”

5. Sophisticated

Consumer electronics is probably the good example of this.  When large, relatively bulky portable audio were popular in the North American market, small, compact and sophisticated ones were developed and marketed for the Japanese market.  Small and compact size has been a key feature in products such as digital camera and mobile phones, too.

Colour variation is also what Japanese consumers tend to like and expect.  Thus for consumer electronics (AV devices, digital camera, mobile phone), and clothes and bags/shoes, there tend to be so many colour variations.  There have been abundant colour variations in recent small cars by Japanese companies.  Many of the colours are quite sophisticated, similarly to consumer electronics,

Sophistication is also applied to food and drinks.  In Japan, “subtle sweetness” is preferred in Japanese and western sweets and beverages including cakes, yoghurt, pudding, cookies, chocolates, Japanese dumplings and juice.  In making bread, they always sift flour so that the baked bread would be of fine texture.  This is why sweet buns in Japan are rather like cakes in the west.  Coarse-textured food is not accepted in Japan.

One more thing about the Japanese consumers…

Japanese consumers also always expect “something new”.
This will be the topic of the upcoming article.