Video #4 - "B2B Japan"
Monday, January 09, 2006BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Japanese business-to-consumer (B2C) electronic commerce market is booming and is achieving faster growth than previously predicted, according to a survey by the Electronic Commerce Promotion Council of Japan. Based on the results of the survey, 1999 was declared the year when Japan's e-commerce market started to take off. The survey estimated that the B2C e-commerce sector was worth 336 billion yen ($3.2 billion in 1999). The figure is 420 percent higher than the 1998 estimate of 64.5 billion yen ($610 million.)
Online real estate and automobile sales and services contribute the largest slices of the market at present. Personal computers and peripherals follow. For the future, the survey predicts the B2C e-commerce market in Japan will hit 4.4 trillion yen ($42 billion in 2003.)
According to Paul A. Greenberg in E-Commerce Times, part of the success of this market has been the introduction of a system whereby customers can order goods online but pay cash for them in "brick-and-mortar" convenience stores. These stores, known as "konbini," are part of the national culture. They sell a massive variety of items and have physical locations on almost every corner. Reportedly, the Japanese have been resistant to online credit card use because of news from the U.S. of hacking incidents and stolen account numbers.
In essence, says Mr. Greenberg, the thousands of konbini plan to transform themselves into community banks. The konbini will facilitate online ordering, serve as distribution and pickup centers, and accept and process payments as well. He adds, that U.S. retailers, who are still struggling to find the best way to combine online and offline commerce, will undoubtedly be watching the konbini model carefully.
In an additional twist, a group of Japanese retailers and internet investors have unveiled plans for a new online supermarket. The group, which includes convenience stores and supermarkets, will begin services under the name e-Convenience Co Ltd. in the Tokyo area in April, taking online orders for quick delivery to homes and offices. Customers will be able to shop by Internet, telephone and fax. The service will also deliver lunch boxes to workers and sell goods of affiliated companies over the web.
The venture is the idea of Softbank, Japan's leading internet company, which has joined forces with two convenience store chains, Sunkus and Circle K, a supermarket chain, Uny, and another Internet investor, Hikari Suchin. It's hoped that 10,000 people will sign up for the service in the first year. A rival group of convenience stores, five operators and Seven-Eleven Japan Co. have teamed up as well. The consortium is setting up 7dream.com, offering online service for music, travel, tickets, gifts and other goods to its 8,000 Seven-Eleven stores in Japan. The stock market was enthusiastic about the venture, with shares in most of the companies involved rising sharply.
On-line stock trading is another form of e-commerce which is sweeping the Land of the Rising Sun. According to BBC News Online in October of 1999, "Investor demand for Internet-based trading has boomed since the commissions charged for share trading were overhauled on October 1."
Daniel Scuka, in an article about mobile access phones adds: "This isn't e-commerce, after all, but M-commerce --mobile commerce. Companies must figure out how to best satisfy on-the-move subscribers via a small screen during "microniches" of time-such as the four minutes that a potential m-shopper spends waiting for a train at Shinjuki station each morning. But m-commerce companies must also cater to the "twiddling" users just messing around with their keitai (mobile phones).
SOURCES:
"Japan takes to e-commerce;" BBC News Online, January 12, 2000
"Online trading sweeps Japan," BBC News Online, October 12, 1999
Greenberg, Paul A., "Cash-Based E-Commerce On Rise in Japan;" E-Commerce Times, January 27, 2000 www.EcommerceTimes.com/news/articles2000/000127-3.shtml
Scuka, Daniel, "Unwired;" J@pan.Inc, June 2000. (packed with information) http://www.japaninc.net/mag/com/2000/06/jun00 unwired.html
Williams, Martyn, "E-Commerce Booming in Japan;" The Standard, January 20, 2000, www.thestandard.com/article/display/1.1151.8977.00.html
LESSON PLAN
GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT: 10-12/Economics, International Relations, World History, International Baccalaureate Programs(IB), Current Events.
PURPOSE: to present activities to be used at a variety of classroom situations in order to enhance student understanding of Japanese economy and its significance globally.
OBJECTIVES: Students will be able to:
- Define e-commerce.
- Define m-commerce.
- Compare e-commerce in the U.S. with that of Japan.
- Trace the history of e-commerce around the world.
- Forecast the future of e-commerce.
MATERIALS:
- Background information provided.
- Resources on the available at your school's Media Center and the Public Library System in your area.
- Background information available through Internet "search engines".
- www.EcommerceTimes.com
- www.japaninc.net/mag/com
- www.thestandard.com
- 7dream.com
- eMarketer.com
ACTIVITIES: May be assigned as group activities or as individual tasks. They may also be designed as preparation for related presentations either by individuals or groups.
- Draw charts and graphs showing the amount of business done through e-commerce in Japan in recent years.
- Compare these charts and graphs with similar ones from the U.S.
- Draw conclusions from the charts in activities #1 and #2 about the history of e-commerce in both countries.
- Set up your own e-commerce company. Advertise your goods.
- Write a newspaper article describing the pro's and con's of e-commerce.
- Write an editorial about the possible impact of e-commerce on society.
EVALUATION: Individual assignments should be graded by the teacher using established criteria. Group activities, presentations and projects may be evaluated by teachers and students using the following criteria and scale:
Content 1= Superior (A) Creativity 2= Excellent (B) Clarity 3= Good (C) 4= Fair (D) 5= Poor (F)
To print this lesson plan: If your browser does not print frames, try this -- click the right button on your mouse and select "Open Frame In New Window." Then use your browser's print function to print that page. Another option -- choose "Select All" from your browser's pull-down Edit menu. "Copy" the highlighted text and then "Paste" it into any text editor. You can then print it from the text editor.
