Domestic Clock and Watch Market in Japan: Key Research Findings 2017
Research Outline
- Research period: From October to December, 2017
- Research targets: Manufacturers and wholesalers in the clock and watch industry, local subsidiaries of overseas companies, international traders, and retailers
- Research methodologies: Face-to-face interviews by the expert researchers and mail-in questionnaire
What is the Domestic Clock and Watch Market?
The domestic clock and watch market in this research consists of the following two markets: Watches (i.e., wrist watches) and clocks (i.e., table, wall, and alarm clocks). The actual figures from 2011 to 2016 are quoted from the materials in Japan Clock and Watch Association.
Summary of Research Findings
- Domestic Watch Market in 2016 Ended Up As 786,700 Million Yen, 87.4% on Y-o-Y Basis, Projected to Attain 900,000 Million Yen by 2021
The domestic watch market in 2016 ended up as 786,700 million yen, 87.4% of the size of the previous year, based on the retail price. The market took a turn for the worse to result in a large decrease, because inbound tourism demand, especially the demand by Chinese tourists who had provided huge benefit to the market for the past few years has suddenly stopped growing after the Chinese government raised the tariff in 2016. It is likely that increasing number of brands in the market shift to rely more on Japanese people rather than foreign tourists by continuing appealing to the rich population who are the largest consumers, trying to retrieve the demand from the estranged middle-income group, and endeavoring to acquire new customer bases including the millennial generation. In addition, by making effort to increase purchase from the tourists from Southeast Asian countries, the market is likely to be invigorated gradually. The domestic watch market is projected to attain 900,000 million yen by 2021, 114.4% of the size of 2016.
- Domestic Clock Market in 2016 Attained 54,600 Million Yen, 98.6% on Y-o-Y Basis, Expected to Achieve 55,000 Million Yen by 2021
The domestic clock market in 2016 declined to 54,600 million yen, 98.6% of the size of the previous year, based on the retail price. Although domestic makers have managed to promote their products by adding high values, together with proactive launches of new products leading the domestic market to a plus, the market of imported clocks largely plunged to make the entire domestic clock market to slightly decline.
By promoting new lifestyle values into clocks, such as enjoying music and/or improving sleep quality, the domestic clock makers have succeeded in acquiring new demands. Because clocks have already been widely accepted among consumers, such development of high-value-added products and diversification of sales channels to include door-to-door sales and some household-goods and interior stores can lead the market to grow as large as 100.7% of the size of 2016 to attain 55,000 million yen.
- Figure 1: Transition of Size of Domestic Clock and Watch Market
