Three major points of the survey results are as follows:

1. The market scale of e-commerce between Japanese business operators and Chinese consumers was 96.8 billion yen. There is plenty room for future expansion of the market scale between Japan and China and it is estimated that the market scale will expand to approximately 1.26 trillion yen in 2020 at a maximum (See the Charts 1-2 and 1-4 of the Outline of the Survey Results).

2. The market scale of the both B to B EC (Business to Business E-Commerce) and B to C EC (Business to Consumer E-Commerce) in Japan has expanded (B to B [narrow definition] was 169 trillion yen and B to C was 7.8 trillion yen) and recovered to the level before the Lehman shock. The EC ratio, whose increase was slowing down in recent years, has significantly increased (B to B was 15.6% and B to C was 2.5%) and the computerization of commercial transactions further advanced (See the charts 2-1 and 2-2 of the Outline of the Survey Results).

3. We have conducted questionnaire surveys for targeting consumers who use EC in Japan, the U.S. and China regarding the use of trans-boundary e-commerce. As a result, we saw the trends of active use of trans-boundary EC especially in China, as explained below:

   1) The trans-boundary EC ratio has increased in each country, compared to the survey in the previous year. Especially, 58.7% of the EC users in China have experiences of using trans-boundary EC in the past one year (See the Chart 3-1 of the Outline of the Survey Results).

   2) Trans-boundary EC is actively used by people in their 30's in each country. Especially, more than 60% of the Chinese male and female EC users, who are in their 30's, are using trans-boundary EC (See the Chart 3-2 of the Outline of the Survey Results).

   3) The Chinese consumers have a high future utilization intention ratio for trans-boundary EC and this indicates the possibility of further expansion of the use of trans-boundary EC in the future (See the Chart 3-3 of the Outline of the Survey Results).

   4) The Chinese users of trans-boundary EC purchase many goods from Japan, such as clothes, accessories, books and magazines. The ratio of purchasing experiences increased, compared to the survey in the previous year (See the Charts 3-6 and 3-7 of the Outline of the Survey Results).

   5) The frequency of Japanese goods purchase by Chinese users of trans-boundary EC is higher compared to the survey in the previous year. More than 60% of the users purchase goods from Japan one or more times a month (See the Chart 3-10 of the Outline of the Survey Results).

   6) As the reasons to use trans-boundary EC, many Chinese users cite such factors as good product quality and brand. There is a group of users who are willing to purchase products even if the prices are higher than domestic products (See the Charts 3-13 and 3-14 of the Outline of the Survey Results).

   7) Language problems, shipping charges, etc. are commonly cited as the reasons not to use trans-boundary EC (See the Charts 3-1 and 3-2 of the Outline of the Survey Results).

   8) The Chinese users of trans-boundary EC recognize and compare products by using a wide variety of media such as the Internet and TV. Safety, place of production and raw materials of products are especially emphasized as the factors of comparison (See the Charts 3-3 and 3-4 and Table 3-17 of the Outline of the Survey Results).

   9) More than 70% of the Chinese users of trans-boundary EC have had experiences of price negotiation and more than 60% of the users having such experiences negotiated prices via online conversation (See the Charts 3-18 and 3-20 of the Outline of the Survey Results).

   10) Relatively diversified payment methods are used for trans-boundary EC in China, including the widely-used third-party payment services as well as credit cards and account transfers via online banking (See the Chart 3-21 of the Outline of the Survey Results).

   11) Large majority of the Chinese users of trans-boundary EC have experiences of information transmission by posting reviews on word-of-mouth communication sites or review sites (See the Charts 3-22 and 3-23 of the Outline of the Survey Results).

   12) A large majority of the Chinese users of trans-boundary EC have experience of making inquiries to business operators. The inquiries are especially about specification, function and usage of products. Logistics problems such as delay in deliveries and insufficient packaging are the main reasons for complaints and return of products (See the Charts 3-24 to 3-27 and the Tables 3-5 to 3-7 of the Outline of the Survey Results).

This survey is the 13th of a series of annual surveys conducted since 1998 and covers e-commerce market trends and actual state of users from January to December 2010.
In cooperation with the Japan Institute for Promotion of Digital Economy and Community (JIPDEC; President: Tsutomu Makino), the survey team conducted literature research, hearings from entrepreneurs and group interviews and questionnaires, etc. for consumers from October 2010 to February 2011.
METI also conducted an actual state survey on the scale and trends of trans-boundary consumer e-commerce market (among Japan, the U.S. and China) and surveyed the consciousness about utilization of the Internet and Internet business trends (in Japan, the U.S. and China).

* Please refer to the supplementary materials for details of this survey.

METI will take action for further expansion of the trans-boundary e-commerce market. Especially, considering the situation where many business operators have directly suffered damage due to the Great East Japan Earthquake which took place in March this year as well as damage caused by harmful rumors regarding the nuclear power plant, etc., we plan to transmit correct information overseas in order to eliminate the harmful rumors and to conduct surveys on effective marketing methods that can be used by individual business operators for international sales, etc.

Challenges for Expansion of Trans-Boundary EC Market Participated in by Japanese Business Operators

Action for harmful rumors caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake

According to the hearings conducted by METI, many small and medium sized business operators engaging in trans-boundary EC have experienced a significant decline of orders from overseas after the earthquake disaster, even in case of business operators located in areas far from the affected area.

However, it is possible that if an EC business operator is capable of efficiently attracting shoppers, who are not influenced by the harmful rumors, from a wide area, the EC business may be more immune to the harmful rumors than business operators engaging in real world transactions. In fact, there is an example of domestic EC business in which products from the affected area sell well.

Improvement of foreigners' awareness of Japanese trans-boundary EC sites

Development of proper transaction environment, through understanding of purchasing behavioral patterns of trans-boundary EC users in each country

For example, according to this survey, more than 70% of the Chinese users of trans-boundary EC have experiences in price negotiation. Such a situation must be considered when developing a trans-boundary EC site aimed at Chinese users.

Elimination of systematic negative effects of trans-boundary EC

Immediate Actions

(We plan to implement these immediate actions within the budgets for FY 2011 project of the infrastructure development in Japan’s information-based economy society [430 million yen] and FY 2011 project of the support for effective use of IT with the aim to transform the Asian region into a knowledge-oriented economy [190 million yen])

Development of an information website aiming to enable business operators, which engage in trans-boundary EC, to provide correct information to overseas consumers

Survey and research on effective marketing methods that can be used by trans-boundary EC business operators

Development of systems related to trans-boundary EC, within the framework of bilateral dialogue with Asian countries, etc.

In the previous year, we held dialogues with South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam with respect to systems related to EC. We will maintain this framework of bilateral dialogue in future and plan to initiate dialogue with China as well.

In cooperation with the Consumer Affairs Agency, etc., we are now studying the dispute resolution system for trans-boundary EC, which is also examined by the UNCITRAL (United Nations Commission on International Trade Law).

• Outline of the Survey Results (PDF:2,019KB) (in Japanese)
• Supplementary materials (PDF:448KB) (in Japanese)

June 2, 2011

Information Economy Division, Commerce and information Policy Bureau