Japanese Consumer Behaviour

Abstract

In general terms, consumer behaviour is strongly related to the national culture of the consumer group in question (Schutte and Ciarliante, 1998). Culture is defined as the set of values, beliefs and activities which are communicated from elders to younger people (Adler, 2001), or ‘patterns of thought and manners which are widely shared’ (Child and Kieser, 1977, quoted in Usunier, 2000). It is reasonable to expect, then, that consumer behaviour in Japan would be strongly related to Japanese culture; and, indeed, Japanese consumers have displayed very particular patterns of consumer behaviour. The Japanese predilection for brand products and European luxury goods is particularly well known in the West; what is perhaps less well known, but is nonetheless of significant interest, is the Japanese attitude towards product prices, which has in recent years changed from a preference for high prices to a wider acceptance of cheaper products.