Seven & i Group is expanding services and supporting shopping to enable easy use by all customers, including senior citizens, people with disabilities, and foreign residents whose numbers are increasing yearly.

Seven & i Group supports the creation, localities where it has opened stores, of neighborhoods where residents who suffer from cognitive impairment and their families can live with security. To this end, we are encouraging our employees to attend training courses for “dementia supporters.” Each Group company holds training courses, and the number of the supporters across the 24 Group companies as of the end of February 2023, is 55,986 in total.

In March 2022, Ito-Yokado was the only retailer to announce the “Declaration of Dementia Barrier-free by the Japan Public-Private Council on Dementia” indicating policies and guidelines for promoting dementia barrier-free. The purpose of this declaration is to provide a store environment where persons with dementia and their families can use products and services with peace of mind when they visit our stores, and to foster momentum for a dementia barrier-free society by promoting joint initiatives with corporations and organizations. In addition, in the declaration for dementia barrier-free, Ito-Yokado has set the goal of increasing the percentage of “dementia supporters” among all employees to “50% by FY2022, 75% by FY2023, and 100% by FY2024.” Ito-Yokado had 14,571 supporters in fiscal year ended February 28, 2023 and the percentage among all employees stood at 55.9%.

We will continue to strengthen our efforts to develop “dementia supporters.”

Seven & i Food Systems has been pouring its energies into training dementia supporters. In July 2019, dementia supporters were posted to nearly all Denny's locations, where they have been engaged primarily in providing help to customers who suffer from cognitive impairments and their families.

Against this backdrop, in September 2020, after Tokyo's Chiyoda City consulted with us about the possibility of holding "Dementia Meetings by People with Early Dementia"* at one of our locations, the first such meeting took place at the Denny's Nibancho restaurant in the city. Having the meeting in the at-home atmosphere of a family restaurant while being able to enjoy Denny's desserts and other offerings allowed for the lively exchange of ideas and the meeting has won great reviews. Since then, Seven & i has been working in parallel to expand the number of locations where these meetings are held, such as by cooperating with Shinagawa and Ota-ku in Tokyo, Sakai City in Osaka Prefecture, Tsurugashima City in Saitama Prefecture, and Chiba and Ichihara Cities in Chiba Prefecture to hold meetings at Denny's locations opening those respective regions.

Seven & i Food Systems will continue to expand the areas in which these Dementia Meetings by People with Early Dementia are held and contribute to those local communities.

According to the Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, as of September 15, 2023, the share of the total population of persons aged 65 years old and over (elderly ratio) was estimated 36.23 million, accounting for 29.1% percent of Japan’s population. In addition, it is forecast that this percentage will reach 36.3% by 2045. In this context, Seven & i Group is promoting the development and retail of products, and proposing lifestyle solutions, aimed at the elderly.

Ito-Yokado is developing the Anshin Support Shop at 91 stores, which carries an extensive selection of apparel, daily essentials, and foods, including products that support the health and lifestyles of seniors and care products (as of the end of February 2023). In addition to explanations of products features by sales staff with specialized knowledge on caring including counselors specialized in welfare equipment, these staff are also able to deal with consultations regarding nursing care and welfare issues in general (about 250 counselors as of the end of February 2023).

In addition, Ito-Yokado is working to develop products in response to customer opinions and comments. Products such as the “Petite Size Pajamas” with specifications tailored to the height of the elderly, and the “Triangular-fit Walking Stick” which prevents finger pain with its triangular grip customized to fit the palm and its original-design curved arm, have been well-received by customers.

The financial services that Seven Bank provides incorporate multilingual guidance in a variety of setting to make more accessible to foreign customers.

For example, when foreign residents with Seven Bank accounts make deposits or withdrawals or use its overseas remittance service, they are supported by ATM screens that handle nine languages. Furthermore, when they make inquiries about their Seven Bank account, it has the contact center staff to handle 10 languages. Also, foreign nationals visiting Japan on vacation or other reasons who wish to obtain Japanese yen can use cash cards and credit cards issued overseas at its ATMs. The ATM screen in these instances is available in 12 languages. Furthermore, to help foreign residents live comfortable in Japan, Seven Global Remit, a subsidiary of Seven Bank offers an overseas remittance service via the "Sendy"* smartphone application to make it possible to send money easily, conveniently, and with affordable fees.

Seven Bank is making daily progress on the ATM functions and services so that all customers can use them with confidence. With its voice guidance service, which is mainly for customers with visual disabilities, users can make a transaction by following voice instructions delivered through an intercom phone installed on the ATM to operate the buttons on the phone. Currently, customers with the cash cards of over 500 affiliated partner financial institutions can use this service. The system of voice guidance was developed after soliciting feedback from people with visual disabilities and testing its operability.

Given how the living environment for people has changed greatly in the 15 years since it was developed, in the fiscal year ended February 28, 2022, it conducted a needs assessment of people with visual impairments through interviews and questionnaires. In order to achieve the SDGs goal of "Leave No One Behind," Seve Bank is working to improve its ATM services based on the opinions it has received and develop them further.