all groups. With respect to PCs, “utility (usefulness)”, “convenience (easy access)”, and “speed” are highly appreciated by the young-generation, working group and homemaker group. As for mobile phones, the young-generation evaluates “sharing (transmission or storing of own ideas and opinions)” and “convenience” as “high”.

As seen from the above results, TV’s evaluation has been established as an entertainment media and newspapers as accurate and familiar media. It is thus thought that they will continue to play a role by making use of such characteristics. On the other hand, the volume, utility, convenience and speed of PCs are highly appreciated and the sharing and convenience of mobile phones are also highly appreciated, particularly by the young-generation, and the use of PCs and mobile phones as media tools is expected to expand.

### 3. Changes in consumer behavior

## (1) New consumption patterns in the ubiquitous society

One of the most remarkable changes in people’s lives caused by advanced ubiquitous networks is a change in consumption patterns. Before the ubiquitous society arrived, it took time to exchange information and the volume of information exchanged was markedly smaller, and consumers’ consumption took place within a limited time and with limited information. There is a principle of AIDMA which is a theoretical model of consumers’ psychological processes with regard to product purchase in such limited circumstances. This principle proposes that consumers’ behavior is composed of five stages: “attention” to a product, “interest” in the product, “desire” for the product, “memory” of the product, and “purchase (action)” of the product.

However, now that large volumes of information can be exchanged in an instant regardless of time or place, new consumption patterns have emerged, besides AIDMA. Specifically, after consumers pay “attention” to and become “interested” in a product, they gather “information” on the product on the Internet and make comparisons and examinations of several attractive products using the information collected, and make purchase decisions after “evaluation on options”, and move to actual “purchase”. Furthermore, a consumer who has actually purchased a product discloses his/her own experience of the purchase on the Internet and the information is “shared” among consumers. Such “word of mouth information” becomes a source of information on the product for other consumers. Thus, after becoming interested in a product, a new process of consumer behavior centered on “information” seems to take place.

## (2) Attention/information collection/evaluation of options

### A. Attention

When looking at the information sources of individual products that have caught consumer attention and interest, the products with the most cited response of “storefront” are PCs and peripheral devices, home appliances, and clothing/accessories. The products with the most cited response of “TV” are music/videos, foods/beverages, and automobiles (Figure 1-58). By transmitting information that impacts on a wide range of consumers with a combination of music and images, TV plays an important role in giving an opportunity for consumers to form an image of the product, know about and become inter-

Fig. 1-58 Information sources that serve as a trigger to learning about the product and increasing interest (multiple answers allowed)

(Source) “Investigative Study on Access to Information and Consumer Behavior in the Ubiquitous Network Society”