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Japan Internet Report No. 62 November 2001
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In this issue:
- Usability big and small
- Motor City Tokyo
- You want me to click where?
- Usability in action
- Internet-enabled cell phone report
- Is there an Internet industry?
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Usability big and small
Usability has been on my mind this past month, for both personal and professional reasons, and that's the general theme of this issue of JIR.
Japan is a confusing mix of world-leading and world-lagging usability experiences. Companies here excel when it comes to small, personalized environments and hand-operated gadgets and appliances. Automobiles and consumer electronics are perfect examples.
But they fall on their faces when it comes to dealing with larger environments and more expansive concepts. Freeway signage and shopping center design is dismal.
Maybe Japanese companies (and consumers) simply haven't had enough practice with big, large-scale spaces/objects/concepts to develop the amazing skill they show with miniature, individually-controllable environments.
Of course there are exceptions. For example, I recently bought a Ricoh digital camera with abominable usability. Let me share this lesson with you: When it comes to consumer electronics and gadgets here, buy the"best-selling" and "most popular" ones. There are good reasons why.
Read on for more on usability.
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Motor City Tokyo
My taste in cars runs to minivans, and, contrary to what marketers here in Japan would prefer, I tend to think of automobiles more as appliances than "an extension of my personal lifestyle."
That's why I don't fuss over my car any more than I would polish my refrigerator or wax my washing machine.
In this respect, I'm the polar opposite of many Japanese consumers, who make their vehicle selections based on "lifestyle choices," and can spend remarkable amounts of time cleaning and grooming their cars. There's even a Japanese-language magazine ("Sensha") devoted to car-washing enthusiasts. I kid you not - my next-door neighbor in Meguro seems to spend more time washing his Chevy Blazer than he does driving it.
In light of the gaping cultural chasm between me and the typical Japanese car owner, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the recent Tokyo Motor Show. Thinner crowds and the lower overall noise level, apparently mandated by the organizers to reduce the risk of terrorism, were a pleasant surprise. (All trade shows should have similar decibel limits - what an improvement.)
Two things in particular struck me about this year's show. First was the typical foresight that Japanese auto makers showed in improving the usability of their vehicles in step with and in anticipation of consumer trends. For example, leading manufacturers were showing driver's seats that swing out of the car and lower to accommodate elderly drivers, and rear ramps that reach to the ground to enable wheelchair loading.
As Japan's population rapidly ages, features like this will soon become standard fare rather than showroom novelties. (I remember when Toyota announced its first electric hybrid prototype vehicle in 1995. Three years later my buddy Aki was driving one.)
A second thing that struck me about the show was the incredible depth of the driver and passenger usability/entertainment offerings. Sony showed a passenger entertainment system that would blow away anything you'd see in even top-of-the-line, first-class airline seats.
And of course there was the Pod, a concept vehicle jointly developed by Sony and Toyota. The car assesses the driver's mood and communicates it to other drivers through sound, lights, and "facial" expressions executed on the hood of the vehicle. Too much to describe here, but typical, highly advanced, usability-driven thinking from two of the world's top companies. I had to supress my conventional Western impulse to view the Pod concept as "outlandish" or "ridiculous."
Some other highlights:
Usability, usability, usability...
Touch panels for door locks, lights, etc... Fingerprint identification on the ignition to prevent driving by unauthorized parties... A computer voice telling you when you're about to run out of gas... Insurance rates based on real-time calculations of actual number of kilometers traveled... Real-time, on-the-move analysis of tire pressure, oil temperature, etc... DVD and GPS-based map systems that show visual landmarks in three dimensions (rotatable of course), including shapes/sizes of buildings, with addresses and phone numbers popping up on command... Roadmaps for your PDA... Real-time traffic and parking lot conditions, featuring directions to nearby parking lots that have open spaces.
Gran Turismo driving simulator
This is so incredibly lifelike - every shadow, oil spill, weathered roadside billboard so real - that I reckoned it must be based on digitized full-motion video footage of actual racetrack locations. And so it is. On a three meter wide, 1.5 meter high screen, the experience seems larger-than-life...
Navigation on steroids
Imagine "booting up" your car like a PC, then entering in your driver name, current position, and destination. The car then tells you there's a traffic jam on the way, and suggests a route you hadn't considered.
Sensing, recognition, and security
Rear-mounted cameras and a monitor screen in front so the driver sees exactly how close he is to a parked vehicle, the curb, etc. Laser sensors that measure distance to the closest object in real-time and display that as well. Onboard face recognition capability so the car can tell when you are getting sleepy, and jolt you awake again. And of course systems that automatically read and record license plate numbers, designed for parking garage surveillance, monitoring delivery and/or employee vehicles going in and out of manufacturing facilities, and so forth. A very timely application given today's security concerns.
And of course, the companions...
Stunning models ("companions") strutting across pedestal-stages to four-to the-bar bass drum "club" music, stopping every few seconds to freeze and pose for the gaggle of all-male amateur photographers below, who waggled and flashed their digital cameras at these perfect, unattainable women. It would have been as lonely as a pornography show were it not for the bright lights and the mutual acceptance of the photographing ritual by both models and picture-takers.
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You want me to click where?
If most Web sites in Japan were as user-friendly as this amazing new automobile technology, then I might have some good things to say about them. But as many of you long-time JIR readers will attest, I call 'em like I see 'em.
Like the title of the usability book by Steve Krug, my personal Web user philosophy is simple: Don't make me think. I'm the type of person that, when I go shopping, I don't like to wander around the aisles until I finally stumble across what I'm looking for; I immediately track down a clerk and ask him where the product I need is located. Many times I'll even ask to be escorted to the exact shelf. If a store helps me find what I want with as little effort as possible, I'll keep returning to that store time after time.
Visiting a Web site is no different for me: You confuse me, you lose me. And that's typically what happens when I visit Japanese e-commerce sites.
Uniqlo is one of the fastest-group growing firms in Japanese history, and it broke the mold with its stunning Web debut last year (see the November 2000 JIR at <http://www.jir.net/jir11_00.html). Now that it's out and on the mainstream Web, though, it needs to reconcile its hip, leading-edge image with good, logical catalog organization.
As a case in point, follow me on a shopping trip to Uniqlo. The company's e-commerce site is located at <www.uniqlo.com>, but for the purpose of this experiment, we'll go to <www.uniqlo.co.jp> as many Japanese Internet users who have never visited the site logically would. The site that pops up looks like a Uniqlo storefront, but it's actually the corporate site in storefront camouflage. I don't realize this right away, however, and nothing sticks out on the page that says "Click here to go shopping!" So already the shopping experience has turned into a hidden treasure hunt.
I finally come across a small graphic at the bottom of the page that says "online store." Why a company selling clothes online would put a tiny entrance to its online store at the bottom of the page - almost as an afterthought - amazes me. There are other ways to get to Uniqlo's online store from this site, but they all require more than three clicks.
Next I click on the "online store" graphic and am taken to the <uniqlo.com> site, where I am greeted with a Flash movie - another obstacle between me and the product I want. Finally I reach the top page only to find that there is no search engine; there is however a pull-down category menu, so I click on it and select "T-shirts." The following page displays a variety of T-shirts (no "Buy now" button yet), and I click on the image of a turtleneck (great price: 1,900 yen). The next page shows all of the sizes and colors that the product comes in. But wait - still no "Buy now" or "Add to shopping cart" button. I search the page from top to bottom. There is a "View contents of shopping cart" button, but when I click on that, the following page tells me only that my shopping cart is empty.
I go back and frantically click on all the the different size buttons. Nothing. As a last resort, I click on one of the available colors, and... Success! At last, a button that enables me to actually place an order. Apparently I have to click on the desired size first, wait for that page to load, and then click on the desired color before I can check out. Nothing on the initial pages tells me this. The whole process has taken no less than ten minutes.
To be fair, Uniqlo is a great company. Over the past two years I've spent more money with Uniqlo than any other clothing manufacturer. My wife loves their stuff, and the kids' clothes are robust and come in terrific, bright colors. And the overall quality is exceptional. I remember last year ordering four 100% cotton dress shirts from a leading U.S. mail-order house, then matching them up against comparable Uniqlo shirts I own. The Uniqlo shirts were better made and cost <one-third> of the Hong Kong-manufactured, U.S.-branded product.
The tremendous success Uniqlo has achieved in a relatively short time is a testament to the superior marketing strategies it has adopted. While the Web site, too, has received critical acclaim, the experience above indicates there are still opportunities for the company to further improve its online offerings and as a result boost sales.
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Usability in action
Let me know if you are interested in Japan-specific usability evaluations. Here are our service offers in Tokyo:
The Web Scorecard
In our view, this is the most reliable, objective, and robust quantitative evaluation tool for which a well-localized Japanese language version exists. This software-driven quantitative evaluation of usability is most often performed on both client and client competitor sites.
Expert Review
This is an objective, plain-language review of a Web site conducted by a trained observer who focuses on naive visitor usability and avoids subjective, qualitative interpretations of graphic and design elements.
Qualitative Design Review
This review is subjective and qualitative, and focuses on constructively critiquing design and graphic elements, with a particular eye toward design localization appropriate to the Japanese market.
Expert Print Collateral Review
An expert review of Japanese language printed materials that covers usability, functionality, and qualitative design. Ideal for business-to-business catalogs and regular direct-mail pieces.
Your time zone permitting, please call rather than send e-mail if you would like to talk about Japan-specific usability. Much as I love the Internet, I find the phone at least ten times as efficient as e-mail when it comes to this type of discussion. You'll find my full contact information at the end of every issue.
If you have usability needs in languages other than Japanese, please contact
Steve Kemper of our Usability Lab in the U.S.:
Tel. 503-235-4433 x100
E-mail: <steve.kemper@us.ion-global.com>
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Internet-enabled cell phone report
Response to our latest White Paper on Japan's Internet-enabled cellular telephone market has been outstanding. If you haven't read it yet, take a look and request a copy at:
<www.ion-global.com/insights/articles/mbizpaper.htm>
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Is there an Internet industry?
The other day I was chatting with a young acquaintance who is contemplating a career change. He currently works for what is probably Japan's highest-flying "Internet sector" firm, but for a number of good reasons is considering a lateral move. He said he wants to stay in the "Internet industry."
I considered for a moment whether there even is such a thing as an "Internet industry," or an "Internet market." I decided that there is, but only in the same sense that there is a "telephone industry."
If you want to work in the "telephone industry," you need to be specific about whether you want to work for a telemarketing services company, a carrier, a call center, a switch or PBX manufacturer, etc. All of these occupations could fall under a "telephone industry" moniker, but there is no "telephone industry" in the same sense that there is a pharmaceutical industry, for example.
It's the same with the Internet. You could work for a professional services integrator, a data center, a Web design shop, a carrier, or an Internet-centric startup. But where is the "center," so to speak, of the "Internet industry?"
It seems to me there is none. The Internet is not an industry. Neither is it a media channel or a business platform. It's a communication tool that 1) can transmit images as well as text, and 2) eliminates the variable costs associated with long-distance communications. That's all.
Here is Peter Drucker's perspective:
"During the Internet bubble, it was argued that because the Internet is important, it must be profitable. That does not follow. Whether the Internet will ever be profitable...is doubtful. But its impact is unbelievably great."
Thanks to Frank Yu (www.asiainternetreport.com) for the Peter Drucker alert.
So am I going to change the name of this publication to "Tim's Japan Watch?"
Not this year... :)
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Copyright 2002 by Ion Global. All rights reserved.
Tim Clark
Strategy Director, Japan
Voice 813.5777.3810 Fax 813.5777.3817
Ion Global <http://www.ion-global.com>
strategic e-business integration
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