Summary of Research Findings

This research analyzes consumer trends in use of major living assistance services that may support them on day-to-day basis, based on the results from online survey. Such services include home security service, housekeeping service, furniture & home electric appliances rental service, laundry delivery & pickup service, emergency service, delivery locker service, and food trucks/supermarket on wheels. Here are some takeaways:

- Usage rate* of "home security service" remained almost unchanged at 6.6% (7.0% for 2020 survey). Since home security service is provided as a home security system, it tends to show higher usage rate than other living assistance services.

- Usage rate* of "housekeeping service" was 1.3% (1.5% for 2020 survey). While standard housekeeping services are provided within consumers’ homes, services involving tasks outside of their houses, such as personal shopper service, is also gathering attention. Still, the usage rate remained almost unchanged from the last survey.

- Usage rate* of "furniture & home electric appliances rental service" increased slightly to 1.0% (0.7% for 2020 survey). Main users of the service are single households and/or those living on rent, including students and new working adults.

- Usage rate* of "laundry delivery/pickup service" stayed at 2.8% (2.8% for 2018 survey). Increase of business operators providing laundry delivery and pickup services in the last few years has been stimulating the demand for (dry)cleaning and storing seasonal clothes.

- Usage rate* of "delivery lockers" reached 3.9% (3.5% for 2020 survey). As delivery without face-to-face interaction has become common not only for newly built apartments but also for detached houses, the usage rate is forecasted to grow further hereafter.

- Usage rate* of "emergency services" slightly declined to 3.7% (4.1% for 2020 survey). However, to estimate the actual number of users, it may be more realistic to include respondents that chose "have used (the service) before, but not using currently" (3.5%), because the use of such service occurs unexpectedly at the time of emergency, in other words, it is not a type of service used on a daily basis upon user’s will. From this standpoint, the estimated actual usage rate is 7.2% (8.3% for 2020 survey).

- Usage rate* of "food trucks/supermarket on wheels" was 1.7% (1.8% for 2020 survey). Nevertheless, considering that consumers are likely to buy at food trucks or supermarket only when necessary, actual users may have chosen “have used in the past, not using at current” (2.3%). For this reason, estimated actual usage rate is 4.0% (5.0% for 2020 survey).

 

Note: “Usage rate” above (with *) indicates a total of percentage points of "using at current, on regular basis" and "using at current, only when necessary". 

Noteworthy Topics

Change in Working Environment Affects Use of Living Assistance Services

The coronavirus pandemic has prompted Japanese society to embrace diverse work styles, including work from home and telework. The shift in work environment has been affecting business climate of living assistance services considerably. While the survey results denote that domestic consumer generally lack experience of using living assistance services, business operators have been taking COVID-19 safety precautions and considerations on their workers and spaces properly, whether the service is provided in-person or not in-person. To expand the market further, it is necessary for business operators to make efforts in increasing repeat users, while acquiring large number of new users.

Research Outline