An analysis of the 2024 Survey of Household Consumption results, focusing on online shopping and electronic money usage trends.
Key Points
1. Record High Online Shopping Usage
- Online shopping usage rate for two-or-more-person households reached a record high of 55.3% (up from 53.5% previous year)
- Average monthly spending was 24,928 yen, with 45,047 yen per using household, both record highs
- Nominal growth rate of 8.3% exceeded price increases (3.2%), showing real growth
- Spending increased across all age groups, with ages 60-69 showing the highest growth rate at 11.4%
2. Breakdown and Characteristics of Online Shopping Spending
- Spending composition: Food 21.0%, travel expenses 20.8%, clothing and footwear 10.2% as top 3 categories
- Travel expenses showed the highest growth rate at 15.5% year-on-year (increased across all age groups)
- Compared to 2019: Food up 163.1%, insurance up 89.2%, tickets up 57.9%, travel expenses up 52.5%
- In educational expenses, spending on e-books and downloadable content increased
3. Expansion of E-money Ownership and Usage
- E-money owning households reached a record high of 74.1% (up 1.1 points from previous year)
- E-money using households reached a record high of 63.5% (up 0.1 points from previous year)
- Households with head aged in their 40s showed the highest usage rate
- Average monthly usage amount reached a record high
- Households with head under 40 showed the highest growth rate
4. Economic Environment Characteristics of 2024
- Policy changes including new NISA system launch, end of negative interest rate policy, fixed amount tax reduction
- Yen depreciation (temporarily reaching 160 yen per dollar), Nikkei average hitting record high (exceeding 40,000)
- Minimum wage increase of 51 yen (national average 1,055 yen), major company wage increases at record 5.58%
- Social events including new banknote issuance, Paris Olympics, Noto Peninsula earthquake also had impacts
The article demonstrates that digitalization progress and economic environment changes are steadily expanding online shopping and electronic money usage, advancing structural changes in household consumption behavior.