Tokyo, March 28, 2024 - Rakuten Group, Inc. today announced the launch of "Service Inclusion," an initiative that aims to promote the development of inclusive services designed for a diverse range of customer needs. As the first step in this initiative, Rakuten’s beauty salon reservation site, Rakuten Beauty, has unveiled its Inclusive Salon Project, offering LGBTQ+ friendly*1 customer service guidance for beauty salons starting from today.
The Inclusive Salon Project aims to help businesses offer an inclusive experience for LGBTQ+ customers. It provides video content tailored towards beauty salon owners and employees to deepen their understanding of LGBTQ+ friendly customer service and diverse customer needs relating to sexual orientation and gender identity. The videos, which were produced under the guidance of third-party experts, were based on the findings from a Rakuten Beauty survey on beauty salon use*2. According to the survey, customers reported unpleasant experiences at beauty salons, including staff comments exhibiting bias towards heterosexual relationships and staff making assumptions about customers’ wishes based on appearance alone. In addition, survey respondents offered many suggestions for improvements to the beauty salon customer experience.
Service Inclusion aims to incorporate the concept of diversity, equity and inclusion into Rakuten’s services in Japan and internationally so that everyone, regardless of their identity, background or circumstances, can access Rakuten services with peace of mind. The initiative reflects Rakuten Group’s ongoing dedication to a more inclusive society. Previous notable milestones for Rakuten services include enabling same-sex partners*3 as insurance beneficiaries for Rakuten Life Insurance products, providing family cards for same-sex partners with Rakuten Card, offering LGBTQ+ customers mortgage loans through Rakuten Bank, and releasing rainbow-colored Edy-Rakuten Point Cards to show support for the LGBTQ+ community.
Under the banner of Service Inclusion, Rakuten will continue to promote diversity, equity and inclusion so that everyone feels welcomed, respected and empowered when enjoying Rakuten’s services.
Notes
*1 LGBTQ+: An acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (or questioning). The term is used here to acknowledge and respect a broad range of sexual orientations and gender identities, not limited to LGBTQ+.
*2 Survey conducted by Rakuten among 740 people from April 22-23, 2023. Participants were asked what factors they consider when choosing a beauty salon, things they take notice of when making a reservation at a beauty salon, actual experiences at a beauty salon, etc.
*3 Same-sex partner: Partners who have the same sex on their IDs including family registers, residence cards, or other ID.