日本成人紙尿褲銷量將趕超嬰兒紙尿褲
Japan's rapidly aging population is producing some interesting new business opportunities, including a booming market for adult diapers.
The Nikkei newsPaper (subscription only) reported on Thursday that three Japanese paper companies--Daio, and Nippon Paper--are expanding their manufacturing facilities for what are politely called "incontinence products" due to an expected surge in demand. The Nikkei said adult diapers are expected to outsell baby diapers in Japan by 2020, but according to Unicharm, Japan's biggest diaper maker, the tipping point was in 2011.
The adult diaper market is growing at 6-10% a year, and already pulls in 140 billion yen ($1.4 billion) by catering to Japan's elderly population--it has the highest percentage of over-65s in the world, making up more than 20% of the population.
Demographics aside, adult diapers are an attractive business in their own right--they sell for as much as 2.5 times more than infant diapers, resulting in higher profit margins, and there's also a lucrative sales channel to institutions like hospitals and nursing homes. Marketing to consumers can still be a minefield (as the parody ad from Saturday Night Live, below, demonstrates) but diaper manufacturers--confident that the embarrassment factor can be overcome--are determined to push the envelope.
Sweden's SCA, the world's biggest hygiene product maker, recently sent a sample of its adult diapers to every Swedish man over the age of 55. It was besieged by angry phone calls from men who were perhaps not quite reconciled to needing the company's products someday.據《大西洋月刊》報道，日本快速增長的老齡人口帶來了有趣的新商機。這其中就包括蓬勃發展的成人紙尿褲市場。
據《日經新聞》週四報道，三家日本造紙企業——日本大王（Diao）製紙公司和日本製紙集團（Nippon Paper）——因爲預期市場需求將會激增，正在擴大官方所謂的“尿失禁產品”的生產設施。日本製紙集團稱日本成人紙尿褲的銷量將在2020年趕超嬰兒紙尿褲。但是根據日本最大尿褲生產商，日本尤妮佳的說法，2011年成人紙尿褲市場就已經全面爆發。
成人紙尿褲市場以每年6—10%的比例增長，單日本老年顧客就爲其帶來了1400億日元（14億美元）的收入。日本65歲以上的老人佔了總人口的20%，是世界上比例最高的國家。
撇開人口統計資料不談，成人紙尿褲自身也是誘人的生意——它的價格高達嬰兒紙尿褲的2.5倍，具有更高的利潤率。此外，像醫院和養老院等機構都是有利可圖的銷售渠道。雖然向消費者銷售這類產品還是存在雷區（正如《週六夜現場》拿廣告做的詼諧模仿），但是尿褲製造商們對克服其中的尷尬因素信心十足，他們下定決心突破界限。
世界上最大的衛生產品製造商，瑞典愛生雅（SCA）近期向每個超過55歲的瑞典男性郵寄了一份他們公司成人尿褲的樣品。結果來自顧客憤怒的投訴將他們的電話都打爆了。看來這些人並不甘心認爲他們會在某一天需要這家公司的成人尿褲產品。
