Summary of Research Findings

In this research, consumer trend analysis was carried out based on the comparison of 2016 and 2019 survey results on consumption of Japanese sweets, western sweets, and desserts, the survey which is done periodically. 

According to the 2019 survey result on consumption of Japanese sweets/ western sweets in the last year (one answer per question), 84.0% of respondents said they have purchased Japanese sweets in general for oneself or for ones’ family, while 91.2% answered to have purchased western sweets in general. Comparing Japanese sweets with western sweets, the western sweets rose 7 points. 

​In comparison with 2016 survey result, no significant change is noted in the percentage of people buying sweets in general for oneself or for ones’ family, either Japanese sweets or western sweets; still, it indicates fall in purchase of Japanese sweets, down 2 points, while western sweets up 0.4 points.

In addition, the 2019 survey result showed that 54.9% of the respondents have purchased Japanese sweets in general for gifts, whereas 62.4% purchased western sweets in general for gifts. The western sweets earned 7.5 points higher than Japanese sweets.

There is no drastic change from 2016 in the percentage of people purchasing sweets for gifts; however, Japanese sweets in general increased 1.7 points, western sweets in general 1.4 points.

Based on these survey results, it can be assumed that although consumption trends in the last 3 years imply stable demand for both Japanese sweets and western sweets for gifts, demand is slightly diminishing for Japanese sweets for oneself or for ones’ family.

Noteworthy Topics

Ice Cream as Most Purchased Desserts for Oneself or for Ones’ Family

Of the desserts (ice cream, yogurt, custard pudding, fruit jelly, coffee jelly, sherbet and gelato) purchased for oneself or for ones’ family, ice cream scored highest response rates in both 2016 survey and 2019 survey, followed by yogurt and custard pudding. 

Comparative analysis on response rates for each item indicates scale down for all items. Yogurt, in particular, decreased 3.6 points, indicating sharpest drop among all items. Meanwhile, ice cream had a least level of decline to remain almost flat.

Research Outline