Digital IQ Index®: Japan 2013

Key Takeaways

fourteen percent of today's global luxury purchases are made by japanese consumers though only nine percent of these take place in japan while an aging population delayed recovery from the 2011 tsunami and years of deflation have led many prestige firms to deprioritize the world's third largest economy luxury spending there has shown renewed vigor in recent months the cornerstones of the resurgence are 20 something consumers and men 68 of luxury shoppers in their 20s own a smartphone or tablet versus 36 percent of non-luxury shoppers in their 20s the channels of choice are changing as well many prestige brands still rely on traditional department store partners despite the sector's 16 years of declining growth over the same period e-commerce has exploded fueled by local player rakuten and amazon which together control 40 percent of the market prestige brands appear to be poorly equipped to respond to this shifting landscape only 51 percent of prestige brands in our digital iq index japan currently sell online one-quarter of japanese e-commerce sales originate on a mobile device but less than half of prestige brands feature a mobile site specific to japan in terms of facebook and twitter just 39 and 35 percent of prestige brands respectively maintain japanese dedicated accounts despite the fact that social media communities in japan register some of the highest engagement rates in the aipac region 85 of the prestige brands accept local credit card jcb on their japanese e-commerce sites but while kobini accounts for 17 of all e-commerce transactions in japan just four brands in the study shiseido keels lancome and local jewelry brand tsutsumi provide this payment option this report analyzes the digital performance of 100 prestige brands in japan across four metrics site digital marketing mobile and social media and includes a ranking of the top 10 digital performers in the country our aim is to provide a tool for identifying areas of strength and weakness helping brands achieve greater return on investment members can download the full report at l2thinktank.com you