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 2022, is 41,284 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.” Notably, Ito-Yokado had in excess of 12,000 such supporters in fiscal year ending February 28, 2022.

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

According to the Cabinet Office, as of October 1, 2021, the percentage of the total population of persons aged 65 years old and over (elderly ratio) was 36.21 million, accounting for 28.9% percent of Japan’s population. In addition, it is forecast that this percentage will reach 35.3% by 2040. 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 96 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 2022). 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 2022).

In addition, Ito-Yokado is working to develop products in response to customer opinions and comments. Products such as the “Petite Size One-Touch Tape 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.

Sogo & Seibu has teamed up with the Caring Design Association to establish a permanent “Living Design Salon” at the Seibu Ikebukuro Store for supporting living and home design for customers aged in their 50s and above. The facility proposes appealing homes that casually incorporate care and support features for the physical changes that occur with age, aiming to enable people to live in their own way even as they grow older.

Seven Bank provides the “Overseas Remittance App” available in nine languages for customers who make use of overseas remittance services. In 2016, it started concluding agreements such as agreements for promoting multicultural coexistence with local governments in areas with high concentrations of foreign residents. The agreements are mainly intended to disseminate local information through the app. Information about living in these areas, disaster information, and so forth is disseminated in multiple languages through the app to residents to help customers live safely and conveniently in Japan. As of the end of March 2022, we have concluded agreements with 13 local government organizations.

In addition, Seven Global Remit, a subsidiary of Seven Bank, offers an overseas remittance service to Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines via the “Sendy” smartphone application to meet the needs of customers who want to send money easily, conveniently, and with affordable fees. This allows cash to be charged (deposited) at more than 26,000 Seven Bank ATMs throughout Japan, to easily remit money overseas from a “Sendy” application account.

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. 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. Furthermore, ATMs in 7-Eleven stores are installed with cane and drink holders to make them easy for anyone to use.