last minute demand#3 - 常時英心：言葉の森から 1.0

日用消費財以外の売上が伸びております。
本日のニュースを見ると，4月の増税前に商品を購入する人が増えたことで，自動車，宝石，住宅関連の売上が増加しているそうです。一般に「駆け込み需要」と呼ばれる現象ですが，英語での表現を調べてみるとWeblioでは，”last minute (surge in) demand”， SPACE ALCでは”rush to buy”などの表現がありました。”last minute”の「最後の瞬間，土壇場での」などという意味からも「駆け込み需要」の様子を想像できると思います。
消費が伸びるのはいいことですが，本当に必要なものを購入しているのかを吟味する必要があると思いました。(Ume)

Last-minute demand key to Japan's rosier economic outlook

The morning of New Year's Day is usually very quiet all over the country. Exceptions are the big shrines and temples open for New Year's prayers and some retail outlets selling New Year's grab bags of deeply discounted goods. Because of the coming consumption tax hike, the lines of shoppers at these stores were much longer than usual.

At 6:30 a.m. on Jan. 1, two hours before Yodobashi Camera's main store in Shinjuku officially opened, more than 600 costumers were already lined up to buy one of the electronic retailer's grab bags. Every New Year's Day, the store sells bags containing popular electronic products such as tablet computers, digital cameras, blue-ray players or notebook computers. Customers cannot choose the specific brand nor version of the product, only its type. The tradeoff is that they can purchase a brand-new item at around half to two-thirds of the already discounted everyday price.

Last-minute purchases ahead of the tax hike can be seen in many areas, apart from daily necessities. Furniture, home remodeling, automobiles, jewelry and travel are among the goods and services that have been selling markedly better than during ordinary years.

http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Economy/Last-minute-demand-key-to-Japan-s-rosier-economic-outlook