In China, companies are required by society to promote CSR, for example, by formulating CSR initiative policies and evaluation indicators in line with Chinese government policy, and by publishing CSR evaluation rankings.

Ito-Yokado (China) Investment Co., Ltd. established a CSR Management Committee in the latter half of 2021 and each China operating company has begun building a structure for a cross-sectoral activity system for its China operations in cooperation with the CSR Management Committee. The CSR Management Committee consists of three subcommittees: the Corporate Ethics and Culture Subcommittee, the Environmental Subcommittee, and the Consumer Affairs and Quality Control Subcommittee. The Corporate Ethics and Culture Subcommittee goes back to the starting point of the company's establishment and ensures that employees are fully aware of the company's policies and corporate creed. The Environment Subcommittee promotes energy-saving store operations while working to achieve specific reduction targets for electricity and water conservation. The Consumer Affairs and Quality Control Subcommittee works to provide safe and secure products and services and enhances compliance initiatives, while also delivering improved products and services.

Chengdu Ito-Yokado and Hua Tang Yokado Commercial have begun working together with the CSR Management Committee of Ito-Yokado (China) Investment Co., Ltd. to promote CSR more comprehensively. The CSR Management Committee shares the Seven & i Group Material Issues through online and offline communication meetings, and formulates plans to resolve these issues. The committee is furthermore focusing efforts on expanding the employee training curriculum, which includes hosting of network-based online training sessions.

Chengdu Ito-Yokado has published a report annually since its first CSR Report, which summarizes its social and environmental initiatives, in July 2016. In preparing the report, we refer to various indicators in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), SDGs, and ESG, with a comparison table on each included at the end of the report.

The CSR Report for FY2021, published in August 2022, was distributed to attendees of the Sichuan CSR Report Presentation and conferences for the private sector, and was also provided to the Ministry of Industry and Credit, the State Resources Commission, and other government agencies through the China Federation of Industry and Economy for their use.

Chengdu Ito-Yokado distributes a "Standard Operating Procedures Manual" to each employee to unify production and processing standards and improve quality, and headquarters personnel regularly visit stores to confirm that products meet the standards. We also screen, evaluate, and track contracts with suppliers of products, and work to realize a total quality management system for the supply chain from the farms to the dining tables.

Hua Tang Yokado Commercial holds quality control training for employees in the food sales floor four times each year and strictly adheres to quality control standards. In addition, the company conducts regular inspections of facilities and equipment, sanitation management processes, and quality management system for employees, on the sales floor and backrooms. Besides these inspections, employees in the food sales floor conduct PCR tests daily, and employees in the backroom conduct PCR tests every 24 to 48 hours in response to administrative requirements to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infections. The sales floor and backroom are regularly sanitized at our own initiative, as part of efforts to provide customers with a safe and secure shopping environment.

Since 2013, Chengdu Ito-Yokado has established a food traceability system in cooperation with producers to disclose product information to customers. Chengdu Ito-Yokado independently developed "看得見的放心" and manages the quality of its products. 看得見的放心 has the same concept as "Traceable Fresh Food with Producers' Faces" sold at Ito-Yokado in Japan with many customers endorsing these as safe and secure products.

看得见的放心 had expanded its range to a total of 348 items, and achieved a sales volume of 1.69 million units and sales figures of 25.84 million yuan, by 2022. In FY2022, 113 new items had been added, and the number of production sites expanded to 35 locations, including Wuchang, Dandong, Xinjiang, Hainan, Dali of Shaanxi Province, Xjshanshan County, Chengdu, Honghe, Shandong, Hanyuan County, Huili County, Zhangzhou, Pengzhou City, Pidu District, Suining, and Wensu County.

Among the items in the 看得见的放心 range are Shoen black pig products, produced from a carefully selected breed of Zoko pigs and Kawa black pigs which are raised for 12 years over six generations in regions with altitudes in excess of 4,000 meters. Shoen black pig products have enjoyed popular renown as a delicious pork characterized by its savory flavor and tenderness, with the pigs raised on feed consisting of a mix of cereals and mountain spring water, and pigs which are slowly and meticulously reared in a rich natural environment over a period of some 300 days.

We also offer “flower vegetables,” a winter staple vegetable in Sichuan province as part of the 看得见的放心range. Five varieties and different shapes of flower vegetable were developed at production sites in Jianyang City and Pengzhou City, Sichuan, respectively. The different hues and textures of these are adding color to the diets of the citizens of Chengdu.

In 2019, Chengdu Ito-Yokado began monthly quality inspections of store operational aspects by the Administration Division in order to fully enhance store management, operational, and service capabilities. The Administration Division leads the operational quality inspections, which are conducted by the Division and stores together, and include monthly on-site inspections and on-site evaluations for matters such as basic customer service on the sales floor, sales floor and backroom management, and fire safety. For any problems discovered, the causes and countermeasures are shared with all employees to improve the management awareness and level of store managers and to ensure a safe and secure store environment.

Since 2022, inspections and evaluations of sales floors and backroom management, in-store equipment and environment, and safety and fire safety equipment, as well as employee customer service have been enhanced. The frequency of inspections and scope of items inspected have been increased, with inspections regarding waste segregation and waste management statuses also being made more rigorous.

Chengdu Ito-Yokado has conducted public recruitment of “Citizen Quality Supervisors” from among its customers since 2008 to improve its products and stores in line with customer standards. In FY2022, however, the company suspended customer roundtables and quality supervisor activities with a view to preventing the spread of COVID-19 infections. Despite this situation, activities to make active use of feedback from customers were maintained, with the range of Japanese products expanded, the number of products for women that can be redeemed with member points expanded, and products and services improved in response to the numerous comments received on the "伊藤到家" (online supermarket) portal site.

Chengdu Ito-Yokado supports school education and assists needy families. Since FY2007, we have selected four elementary schools and donated necessary equipment to improve school facilities and equipment. We donated stationery, teaching materials, and sports equipment to disadvantaged children in response to the schools' requests. Furthermore, every year, we provide scholarships to outstanding students in the Sichuan University Japanese language program, both encouraging their studies and helping to nurture the skilled talent that will serve as a bridge between Japan and China in the future. This initiative marked its 25th anniversary in 2022.

On September 5, 2022, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck lcags zam, Sichuan Province. Numerous homes were destroyed and many people who had been living deep in the mountains were forced to live in evacuation shelters. Chengdu Ito-Yokado decided immediately after the earthquake to donate 250,000 yuan. Our assistance went primarily to severely affected underage children from the De Tuo Town area, which suffered the greatest damage. We also visited the homes of disaster-struck children and provided them with good necessary to their daily lives and their studies.  

On the third Wednesday of every month, Chengdu Ito-Yokado employees at every store clean up the areas around the stores.

At Hua Tang Yokado, employees take the initiative in beautifying public facilities and spaces by making clean-up activities a daily routine.

All Chengdu Ito-Yokado and Hua Tang Yokado Commercial stores have actively promoted local employees since the opening of their stores in China in order to create stores that are rooted in the local community, and Chinese staff are still playing an active role in each store. The percentage of Chinese employees (excluding directors) in management positions is 99.1% at Chengdu Ito-Yokado and 98.5% at Hua Tang Yokado Commercial, with local employees basically running the company. Chengdu Ito-Yokado's stores in local cities (Meishan and Leshan stores) employ a large number of local personnel, accounting for 89%.

We have also actively promoted women. The percentage of women in executive positions is 63.8% at Chengdu Ito-Yokado, and five of its 10 stores have female store managers. The percentage of female managers at Hua Tang Yokado is 50.6% (excluding directors), and the store manager of the Asian Village store is also a woman.

At the Chengdu Ito-Yokado and Hua Tang Yokado Commercial stores, since FY2020, we have poured our energies into reducing the volume of plastic being used. The stores jointly switched over to using shopping bags that are made of degradable plastic. In addition, to eliminate the use of store-supplied shopping bags, we are also focusing on the sales of eco-bags.

Furthermore, since FY2022, Chengdu Ito-Yokado has been participating in activities to promote SDGs. We offered a proposal on green consumption for the average consumer with the Chengdu City Retailers Association at a forum on sustainable development at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. We forthrightly proposed environmental protection activities to undertake together with our customers. This was done as a way to get more average consumers to partake in green consumption and carry out initiatives based on the principles of sustainable development even in the slightest of ways in their daily lives.

Chengdu Ito-Yokado has been developing a workplace environment where our employees can thrive, rooted in the basic principles of “fairness, justice, competition, and selecting for excellence,” so that our employees can grow further.

In FY2015, Chengdu Ito-Yokado began operating a Self-Recommendation Program as a show of respect for the autonomy of employees in order to provide an outlet for their motivation. The program is for employees who have worked for the company for at least one year and allows them to put themselves forward as candidates for the jobs they seek. Applicants who pass assessments are assigned to their desired workplace after a training period.

We have also been proactively engaged in human resource development, and in FY2022, launched our “Internal Competitive Recruitment System.” We are regularly recruiting supervisors and assistant supervisors who will be in charge at stores; both persons who recommend themselves and are recommended by others can apply. Applicants describe the work that they are doing, and we appoint those applicants who received the most votes from among those employees who received positive evaluations from 51% or more of our in-house examiners. We also recruit department managers and more senior staff on an irregular basis. They explain and discuss their work, and we select those applicants who were graded the highest by our job recruitment committee. The employees selected perform their duties on an interim basis for six months. At the end of this, their work is reevaluated based on internal standards and, if they have passed the evaluation, they are officially appointed to their position.

Six recruitment drives took place in FY2022, and 109 persons applied. Of that number, 26 were promoted, six passed their exams, and five appointed candidates for executive training.

Chengdu Ito-Yokado and Hua Tang Yokado Commercial are endeavoring to enhance their training programs to bring out the latent abilities of employees and enable them to fully display their strengths.

In March 2022 Chengdu Ito-Yokado established the Human Resource Development Center with the aims of nurturing human resources, passing on the corporate culture and philosophy, helping employees to acquire highly original expert skills, and training product development teams. This center, which proclaims a target of contributing to the company, the industry, and society, is striving to build a growth-oriented organization by consolidating the basics, providing in-house training, and acquiring the cooperation of outside experts.

In FY2022, Hua Tang Yokado Commercial reviewed its educational content relating to the corporate creed and management philosophy, on-site employee support, and customer service and is endeavoring to supply top-quality products and services to customers. By commending staff (meaning not only regular employees but all store staff, including partner company employees, tenant employees, cleaners, and security guards) who receive words of praise from customers in plenary meetings, it seeks to elevate the feeling of togetherness and engagement among staff.

Chengdu Ito-Yokado is promoting the building of a growth-oriented organization and a motivational workplace environment. In FY2022, it implemented 18 courses of in-house training on the three principal themes of corporate culture, management capability, and work capability. These courses were attended by an aggregate total of 11,405 employees.

To pass on and instill the company’s basic philosophy, Chengdu Ito-Yokado, in tune with changes in the times, has introduced training methods that are easier for a new generation of employees to accept. It continued e-learning again in FY2022, offering a variety of courses on such topics as corporate culture, corporate strategy, and specialized knowledge by job category. The format of the courses was varied too, including short movies, videos, and animation. An aggregate total of 34,857 persons, including both Head Office and store staff, took the courses.

Chengdu Ito-Yokado has been advocating an environmental philosophy of “respect for nature, adaptation to nature, and protection of nature” since FY2020, and it is continuing to separate resource garbage, improve the environmental infrastructure, collect recyclable waste, and so on. In FY2022, at a cost of 100 million yen, it switched to LED equipment for store lighting. In addition, the whole company is endeavoring to reduce carbon emissions by, among other initiatives, curbing food waste and collecting recyclable garbage. Nevertheless, gas usage is increasing, which is a problem in terms of reducing carbon emissions. The increased gas usage resulted from a switch, in consideration of the environment, in the boiler fuel used for winter heating from coal to natural gas. Going forward, the company will implement the control of gas usage.

Hua Tang Yokado Commercial is making efforts to properly operate the air-conditioning system that manages store temperature. By adjusting operating times and air-conditioned areas as necessary in response to weather and temperature changes, it reduces gas and electricity usage. In addition, it requests the facility administrator to carry out the detailed measurement of in-store temperature and, in response to temperature changes, adjusts the operating patterns of the air-conditioning equipment. Furthermore, Hua Tang Yokado Commercial is striving to curtail electricity usage. Among other things, it has introduced energy-saving lighting equipment at all store sales floor and has reduced backroom lighting usage by 50%. Nevertheless, because of increased construction work in the tenant part during store renovation, in FY2022, there was a rise in electricity and gas usage in the section unrelated to independent business, as a result of which energy usage in the store as a whole increased. Going forward, with the cooperation of in-store tenants, efforts will be made to reduce energy usage in the entire store.