TOKYO: Long resisted by Japan's marketers and shoppers as yet another example of occidental commercial eccentricity, cash-value coupon clipping is now de rigeur in Nipponese circles, reports Tokyo based Japan Marketing News.

A variety of marketers in the globe's second largest advertising economy are currently latching onto cash-value coupons to promote trial and generate repeat business.

To the fore is the local unit of US coupon specialist Catalina Marketing, which recently conducted a survey amongst 1,000 Japanese women aged 20-69 who visited supermarkets at least once each week.

The findings revealed that …
  • 82.6% had used coupons.
  • 70.7% said they might be more apt to use a store again if they received a coupon.
  • The highest experience with coupon use occurred with coupons found at store registers (69.2%).
  • The kind of establishment at which the highest percentage of consumers had used coupons was fast food outlets (61.4%).
But even though substantial percentages of women have used coupons, Japan still differs from other markets in significant ways. For example, only around 20% of survey respondents had ever used a coupon found in a magazine.

Data sourced from Japan Marketing News (Tokyo); additional content by WARC staff