Wii Fit, iPhone top Japanese impulse buys
Usually, when we think of impulse purchases, our minds go to that alluring candy bar that we drop into our cart in the supermarket checkout aisle. Apparently that is not what the typical citizen of Japan thinks of, though. Two of the top 20 impulse buys in that island nation are the Wii Fit game console and the Apple iPhone. Items like candy are on the Japanese list, as well, although in slightly different forms than what their American counterparts would buy on impulse.
This news comes from a survey conducted by the Goo Japanese search engine, as reported by PC World. The Wii Fit came in third in the list of 20, easily beating out the iPhone, which came in at number 14. The Wii Fit, the runaway hit game console from Nintendo, is wildly popular in Japan as an easy way to achieve and maintain personal fitness. Of the ten million Wii Fit units that will be sold worldwide in 2008, Nintendo expects to sell three million in Japan
As popular as the Wii Fit is in Japan, it still came in third after two much less expensive Japanese favorites: salted sweets and raw caramel. Another game was on the list. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G for the Sony Playstation hit the list at number 12. The iPhone came in two positions behind this second most popular game, tied with a mobile personal computer.
The iPhone was launched in Japan as a part of the Worldwide launch of the iPhone 3G in July. It received considerable media attention in Japan, a country long known for it’s seemingly quirky and incompatible cellular phones. The 3G iPhone was the first iPhone to be compatible with Japanese cellular networks. As was true in much of the world, people lined up at stores in Japan to be among the first to get an iPhone 3G.
The appearance of items such as the Wii Fit and iPhone on a list of impulse purchases in the US is unlikely this year given the downturn in the economy. Still, the economic climate in Japan has not been much better this year, so it might be interesting to see what US consumers thought of as impulse buys during 2008.
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