Hit products of any given year are expected to change the direction of the market, carve out a completely new market segment or appeal to changing lifestyles with something innovative.
Dec 19, 2020
Early one morning at the beginning of December, I rushed to the nearest newsstand to purchase a copy of the Nikkei Marketing Journal. It was somehow reassuring once again to see, emblazoned atop page one, the publication’s traditional sumo-style
banzuke (ranking sheet) a layout virtually unchanged since 1971 listing Japan’s top-selling hit products of 2020.
Before dissecting the 2020 rankings, it’s worth examining how this annual list began. The 1970s marked the time when discerning consumers in Japan began showing a preference for greater variety. Prior to that time, manufacturers had been content to sell their rice cookers, washing machines, TV sets and other mass-produced household items by appealing mainly through brand affinity. Increasingly, companies realized that to compete successfully they would have to attract consumers with innovative products aimed at specifically targeted segments of the market.