In the survey, 47.5 percent of the respondents said they had shopped on the Internet, for an increase of 6.8 percentage points from the survey conducted in December 1997. Japan's Internet population is approaching 10 million, and the survey shows that the ratio of users who shop on the Internet is growing steadily.
Women tend to use credit cards on the Internet more often than men.
In response to a question on means of payment for shopping on the Internet, 35.8 percent of women respondents said that they used their credit card numbers directly on the Web, as compared with 28. 2 percent for men. A total of 23.6 percent of women respondents said that they gave their credit card numbers by fax or over the phone, or more than double the percentage for men, at 8.5 percent. The survey indicated that 34.8 percent of men preferred bank or postal money transfers, while 22.1 percent of women preferred such transfers. In addition, 15.7 percent of men favored cash on delivery, compared with 10.5 percent for women. Nikkei Multimedia received 5,571 valid responses.