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Competition in Japan’s Healthy Food Market
Coca-Cola maintains its leadership in Japan’s healthy food product
industry, possessing 11.6% of the industry’s retail market share in
2016, due to acceptance and confidence from Japanese consumers. Etc.
The company also holds functional beverage lines such as Aquarius
- drinks for sportsmen, and Ayataka - instant green tea produced
from natural ingredients. However, looking in a big picture, the
majority of the manufacturers in Japan’s healthy food markets are Product
domestic players, for instance, Suntory Beverage & Food, Ito En, Type
Asahi Soft Drinks, Yakut Honsha, Kirin Beverage, Otsuka Holdings,
and Meiji, who hold 10.4%, 9.6%, 5.8%, 4.4%, 3.6%, 3.3%, and
3.2% of the market share, respectively. The most popular drink in
Japan is instant tea from Oi Ocha brand, who dominates 4.5% of
the market share. Notably, the success is partly due to the success Unit: (Value) Billion Yen
of barley tea or Mugicha. รูปที่ 3 โครงสร้างตลาดสินค้าอาหารเพื่อสุขภาพในญี่ปุ่น ปี 2560 จำาแนกตามชนิดสินค้า
Figure 3 Japanese healthy F&B market structure in 2017 categorized by product type
Japanese Consumers’ Habit and Shopping Style
for Healthy Food Products ที่มา/Source: Euromonitor International
The majority of Japanese consumers are keen to buy general lemongrass, basil, finger-root, and other popular ingredients among
wellbeing food, which accounts for 61.5% of the total sales of healthy Japanese consumers such as shiitake, seaweed, and tofu. Products
food products in the Japanese market in 2016. The second most development should aim to make these raw material more convenient
consumed products are weight management food, digestive health to consume and packed in easy-to-grasp packagings, in response to
food, and energy boosting food, which take 9.1%, 8.4%, and 6.5% the lifestyle and characteristics of Japanese consumers, which are
of the market share, respectively. However, considering expansion increasingly concluded of working age and elderlies.
trend, vision health and beauty from within are the 2 products with Notwithstanding, considering the high-growth potential products in
outstanding growth of 64% and 23% year-on-year (between 2011- the Japanese market, Thai enterprises should focus on developing
2016), respectively. vision and skin health products. This includes foods with extracts from
For the shopping habit for healthy food products among fruits and vegetables that have properties for greater eyesight like water
Japanese, we found that 40.3% of Japanese consumers shop at spinach, carrot, ivy gourd, kale, pumpkin, and those with properties for
supermarket for retail healthy food products. Convenience store collagen strengthening and antioxidants like coconut, orange, lime,
follows, along with other no-store front channels such as mail order, pomegranate, banana, tomato, to name a few.
vending machine, and TV shopping, with 23.4% and 19.9%,
respectively. Nonetheless, different products may have different
sales method. Organic food, for example, is mostly sold online, while
other types of product like better for you food, naturally healthy food,
and fortified/functional food are sold in supermarket and convenience
store. Free-from food is not only sold in supermarket, but also in
online store.

Potential Thai Healthy Food Products and the
Opportunities to Expand into the Japanese Market
The Japanese consumers are known for their concerns about the
quality of the products. Every food products sold in Japan are
required to meet food safety standard and must strictly be controlled
by related authorities. Thai entrepreneurs should study in detail
about relevant regulations, in order to avoid opportunity and income
losses from entering this alluring market. Nevertheless, the Japanese
government have issued new
regulations that are more
relaxed, such as the regulations
on Food with Functional Claims,
which creates a new trade
opportunity for Thai food
enterprises. Thailand is a
country with great variety and
abundance of agricultural
ingredients, and has the
manufacturing technology that
is reputable and acceptable
among Japanese consumers.
Thai enterprises should take
these advantages and develop
new healthy food products for
the Japanese market by
processing the local healthy
materials such as coriander,

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