Jul 29, 2016

Following on from the coverage of our Australian consumer research earlier this month, last week Drapers included more of our consumer research findings, this time from Japan, in an article about ’The opportunities for etail expansion in Japan’.

Drapers is high quality weekly magazine which is the voice of the UK’s fashion industry. It provides content that fashion businesses rely on to do their jobs better and delivers relevant insight that answers the sector’s complex questions.

The latest article, written by Christina Simone, discusses how the Japanese market is a potentially lucrative one for UK brands expanding into etail, but that there are particular expectations and customs that retailers need to be aware of.

Japan has the third-largest economy in the world (following the US and China). It is reported that Japanese eCommerce totalled £66.4bn in 2015 with predictions that it will reach a staggering £94bn by 2018.

In November 2015, we surveyed over 1000 consumers in Japan who have bought clothing / apparel online in order to gain an accurate understanding of the frequency with which the Japanese buy from national and international websites and also the key factors which can influence their purchasing decisions.

We shared our exclusive Japanese consumer research report with our friends at Drapers and just some of our key findings are included in the latest article including:

• One in 10 Japanese consumers who have shopped online for clothing did so with an international brand or website within the last one to three months
• If they do actively seek an international brand, most Japanese consumers favour retailers from the USA or UK
• In terms of delivery of their purchases, the majority of Japanese consumers say that cost of delivery is the most important consideration
• When Japanese shoppers need to return an item of clothing that they purchased online, their favoured method of return is a courier collecting from home

Drapers subscribers can read the full article here