Summary of Research Findings

A consumer survey was held in March 2023 to 1,000 men and women nationwide at the ages between 20 and 69 on the behavioral characteristics and value changes affected by COVID-19 crisis. The reason for no improvement in the consumption even entering the eras of “With Corona” or “Post Corona” is said to be because of Japanese-specific anxieties. The research clarified what these anxieties suppressing the consumption are by setting the axes the characteristics of the “anxieties” and behaviors, the degree of anxiety, and the determining factors of selecting leisure.

First, the survey asked about the level of anxieties for each of 10 items that related to consumption and economy.
The most significant anxiety was “price rise” earning 54.0% of “Very anxious” and 33.0% of “Somewhat anxious” which indicates that those who felt some kind of “anxiety” to this item accounted for 87.1％. Other items that showed large degree of concerns were “Savings for when gotten old, pension” that obtained 49.9% of "Very anxious” and 39.7% of “Somewhat anxious” which led the total “anxiety” to account for 82.9%, “Not able to increase savings” acquired “Very anxious” 42.4% and “Somewhat anxious” 39.7% with the total “anxiety” accounting for “82.1％, and “Not able to increase (may even decrease) income” obtained "Very anxious” 40.6% and “Somewhat anxious” 39.9%, totaling the “anxiety” to account for 80.5%.

What should focus on in the survey result was that there were so many people feeling vaguely anxious about money (“Very anxious” 40.0%, “Somewhat anxious” 42.3%, totaling 82.3%).
The concerns stemming from price rise that makes people difficult to make ends meet, anxieties about visible savings and income, as well as concerns about retirement funds, have a clear cause-and-effect relationship and are understandable. Still, the fact that over 80% of people are feeling unclear anxiety about money suggests that overwhelming number of people worry deep inside their hearts. This uncertain anxiety is estimated to be creating invisible pressure suppressing consumption.

Noteworthy Topics

Determining Factors to Select Leisure and Services Costing Less than 3,000 Yen, Difference in Such Factors between Before and After COVID Crisis

The survey listed 12 items of determining factors when selecting leisure and services costing 3,000 yen per person at a time and asked the respondents about the level of importance for each of the items on a scale of 1 to 10. In addition to the current (as of March 2023) evaluation of the items, the survey also asked about the level of importance used to be when before COVID-19 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Of the twelve items of determining factors, the current most important item (as of March 2023) was “Fits one’s interest” obtaining 7.16 points on average. This was followed by “Cost efficient, acceptable price” 7.04 points on average, “Good services and products” 6.94 points on average, “Highly safe (measures against plague, accidents, hygiene management, etc.” 6.56 points on average, and “Convenient location” 6.48 points on average.
On the other hand, the pre-corona most important item was “Fits one’s interest” obtaining 7.04 points on average. This was followed by “Good services and products” and “Cost efficient, acceptable price” both earning 6.93 points on average.

A diagram was created by setting the level of importance (indicated by average in 10 grades) of 12 determining factors for selecting which of the leisure or services costing less than 3,000 yen per person a time (i.e., dining outside, movie, karaoke, shopping, etc.) at Y axis, and the difference between the current (March 2023) importance level (indicated by average in 10 grades) and that before COVID-19 crisis (i.e., from the end of 2019 to around March 2020) at X axis.
The determining factor that enormously increased importance was “Highly safe (measures against plague, accidents, hygiene management, etc.” followed by “Easy to use alone”.
Meanwhile, those that slightly reduced the evaluation were “Stress relief, healing” and “Non-daily experiences and moving”. Relieving stresses and experiencing non-daily lives used to be the important factors for service vendors to add values to their services to offer, but after having experienced the pandemic, these items reduced the values, which is noteworthy.

Research Outline