This is the latest in a series of blogs based on newsletters provided by our local research partner INterRIDE Inc..
iPhone Repeaters?
One of the biggest changes in the mobile phone market here in the last twelve months or so has been the influx of major competitors to the iPhone’s domination of the smartphone sector. So, now that those free contracts with SOFTBANK are drawing to a close, the big question is whether people will make the switch to an Android model from Toshiba, Samsung et al.
In a survey of 1,162 iPhone users made using AskSmart.ly, a quarter did indeed answer that for their next cellphone they would opt for a different smartphone. Still, 76% still want to keep an iPhone, suggesting that the market isn’t set for a sudden reversal of fortune for Apple and SOFTBANK just yet. However, it being the case that a lot of iPhone users in fact carry a second, auxiliary regular Japanese feature phone as well, the survey also queried whether respondents would then keep the iPhone as their main phone. 26% of the 1,162 did indeed have at least one other phone, however 64% of them were actually using the iPhone as their primary device. Only a fraction indicated that they would change their main phone to a regular Japanese keitai; it seems once you’ve made the switch there is likely no going back.
Some soy sauce with your…game
It sounds like an unlikely promotion but Japan’s mobile gaming platforms — and the nation’s love of food products — are a flexible beast.
A tie-up campaign on the farming game app Nouen Hokkorina available on Mobage saw users able to claim free digital items by accessing the site from QR codes printed on Yamasa soy sauce products bought at convenience stores and supermarkets.
The first 100,000 visitors got free items to use on their “farms”, plus for every item downloaded a 100 yen donation was also made to relief efforts for the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. As if this wasn’t enough virtual enticement, Yamasa offered 200 people a staggering 5,000 coins if they registered to their YAMASA RED SNS community website, and then 10 coins for the first 50,000 people to “friend” their official account.
I think only in a place as obsessed with food as Japan could there be a social networking site themed around a soy sauce product!
Value for your yen
After the brouhaha about New Year food featured in a Groupon campaign actually being a total rip-off, local consumers have become increasingly anxious about value, it seems. (Putting aside all the effects of the March 11th earthquake on consumer mindsets for just a moment.) Some developers have cottoned onto this and come up with Nezuke (literally, “attaching a value”), which lets you leave impressions of eateries and places based on their price, called “ii ne!” (a pun on the phrase “it’s good, isn’t it?” as the last part also sounds the same as the word for price).
You can describe your impression in terms of numbers; if you thought that what you ate seemed like it was actually worth an extra few hundred yen, or what you received seemed more the equivalent of a price less than what you paid, then you state your feelings in the currency of value. After your calculation you can share these “ii ne!” ratings via Twitter, Facebook and mixi.
The usual Japanese navigation sites for restaurants and cafes have ratings and user reviews aplenty, though price isn’t necessarily such a driving issue as food quality and atmosphere. (Good service is a given for the most part.) Parring things down to such a simple level appears a little too, well, simplistic so we will have to wait and see how successful this new app becomes. Currently the makers have stated their target membership is only 10,000 users.
Facebook Coupons
The American SNS is really pushing hard in Japan these days and this is typified by their new Check-In Coupon (known as Check-In Deals in America, which started in November last year), where users who check out a restaurant or store’s details on Facebook Places will get a coupon displayed on their phone. The idea is to spread the word about interesting places; all your Facebook friends also get a message about the coupon you just accessed.
There are four types of coupon: a single-use one for users who “check-in” on the venue, or group ones for when you check-in with a friend. There are also “point coupons” aimed at people who check-in multiple times, as well as coupons that can be redeemed with the money then going to a charity (promotions we are seeing more and more of since the disaster in March).
Personally I can see this getting rather irritating. If John Doe just got himself a coupon for a ramen restaurant in Shinjuku, should I be alerted to this life-shattering event? (Well, hopefully you don’t regard your Facebook friends as anonymously as John Doe but there are certainly cases where you are not interested in their lives on such a minute, daily level.) Clearly retailers think it is a great opportunity to both entice would-be shoppers and then advertise to all the connected friends of that person. Participants already include convenience stores Lawson and Family Mart, Domino’s Pizza, adidas, FITNESS gym, the Disney Store, GAP, and more. Some reports are suggesting that Facebook is growing in bursts, despite its mammoth lag behind mixi, but as JapanPulse rightly notes, local giants like Uniqlo have already set the bar high for integrating social media with coupons.
Related Posts:
Facebook Deals Launches in Japan
Japan Mobile Marketing Round-Up: Part 3
Social Campaign for Coffee Art Lovers
