Japanese customers online shopping jumped 20% in July as heatwave impacted shopping & mobility according to report

TOKYO (Nikkei)--A growing number of consumers are going online to purchase daily necessities amid the heat wave that has hit Japan since late July.



GyaO Corp., an online video streaming service provider owned by Yahoo Japan Corp. (4689), reported a roughly 20% sales increase, compared with the normal level, during the two-day weekend of July 17-18, the first weekend after this year's rainy season was declared over across the nation. Its revenue from streaming movies surged 25% from the first week of the month during the week from July 19 through July 25, while those from streaming TV drama series jumped 35%.

Maruetsu Inc. (8178), a supermarket chain, saw its online sales of food ingredients rise 20% on the year during the week from July 12 through July 18. Most of the online shoppers were housewives in their 30s and 40s. Although per-customer spending was unchanged from a year earlier, customer traffic surged due to a jump in the number of those who were reluctant to go out shopping in excessively hot weather.

Tokyu Store Corp. saw the number of online orders received daily jump 15-20% on the month in July.

The Internet gives consumers a tool to make purchases while staying at home, with the number of Net-savvy seniors rising steadily.


Source: Heat Wave Turning More People Into Stay-At-Home Online Shoppers
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Nikkei
http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20100803D03HH609.htm