| Japan's Seasonal Factors Seasonal income flow & impact on consumer spending |
| Arbitrage & Consumers Law of "One Price" in consumer product markets |
| Japan Viewed from the Outside "Gai-jin," outsiders, views of Japan uncover new insights |
| Mobile phone usage habits -- Japan, China, U.S. JMR study finds culturally influenced patterns |
| Richard May -- interview on iTV Video clip -- marketing research trends in Japan now |
| Software-as-a-Service SaaS changes how you acquire software |
| China and Korea's High Consumption Drive "Consume now, even if it means going into debt" |
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| In part 1 of this series, we reported on economic and expenditure. Here, we will look in more detail at the income and expenditures of the 3 countries (China, Japan and Korea). The average household annual income of those polled, with Japan level set as 1.00, Korea is at 0.46 and China is at 0.15. Likewise, with household expenditures, with Japan as 1.00, Korea is 0.70 and China is 0.13.
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| Regarding income and expenditures, there are sizeable gaps among Japan, Korea and China. But, with regards to personal disposable income, the differences are small. In China, individual disparities are great -- so that the group with more than 50,000 yen per month available for personal disposable income accounts for just 16.3% of the whole. Possible reasons behind this are lower domestic expenses (for basics, such as food, housing, education) and the large number of double-income households. In addition, the fact that number of children per family is low (generally only one) relative to income, the amount available to the individual for free spending is greater than for families with 2 or more children to support.
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| Also, with regards to the ratio of income to expenditures, approximately a fourth of all households (24.1%), are faced with a family budget situation with a 100% or greater deficit spending balance. The Chinese urban dweller, with great confidence in economic growth, has a willingness to spend, even if it means going into debt. In Korea, it is widely thought to be in a consumers' recession. Nevertheless, compared to Japan, a high proportion of Korean households have a high ratio of expenditures to income. Reference:Internet Diffusion Rate by Country Japan: 60.6% (Year end '03) (MPHPT "H15 Communication Usage Trend Report") Korea: 64.5% (Year end '03) (NCA "2004Korea Internet White Report") Beijing: 28% (Year end '03) (China Network Information Center Inquiry) Open Data:Average Annual Household Income by Country Japan: 6.6 million yen (MPHPT'03 Savings Trend Report for Household of 2 or More) Korea: 3.35 million yen (@Yen0.095 rate,Korea National Statistical Office) Beijing/Shanghai/Guangzhou: 208 thousand yen (@Yen14 rate,China National Statistical Office) Note: Average annual income of surveyed city residents in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou of equivalent Yen 208,000 basis (2003 National Statistical Office data). This is a a sign that the income of surveyed respondents is shifting to the upper region. Based on JMR estimates, these upwardly mobile economic group members constitute the upper 20% of the 3 cities' residents. In Japan and Korea, the Internet diffusion rate of the 3 major cities exceeds 60%. In China, Beijing has the highest Internet usage at 28% (5% rate for China overall). Along the prosperous China coastal area (200 million people), some 40 million belong to the upper 20% group of personal discretionary spenders. |
