Fully Fledged Start of Regular Sunday Closures at Housing Sales Centers
Creating Environments where Diverse Human Resources Can Thrive while Maintaining Customer Satisfaction

March 21, 2024
Mitsui Fudosan Residential Co., Ltd.

Tokyo, Japan, March 21, 2024 – Mitsui Fudosan Residential Co., Ltd., a leading housing company headquartered in Tokyo, hereby announces that it will make a full-fledged introduction of regular Sunday closures for some properties in housing sales centers in the Tokyo metropolitan area from fiscal 2024.

In recent years, the rapid progress of digitization has enabled instant access to a variety of information and other changes such as the common purchase of online products and services have significantly changed the social environment. Taking these changes into account, Mitsui Fudosan Residential has newly established the Sales Innovation Department and, by providing information and value utilizing digital technology, the Company is moving ed ahead from the conventional sales style centered around customers visiting housing sales centers on weekends to considering new housing sales methods.

Moreover, just as there are an increasing number of dual-income households in society, so there is a tendency for an increase of working couples among Mitsui Fudosan Residential employees. Meanwhile, a growing number of employees working at housing sales centers where many customers visit on weekends and holidays have voiced concerns about the difficulties of finding nursery care centers open on Sundays or expressed a desire to spend Sundays devoting time to themselves or their families, thus there is a need to create environments directed toward diverse working styles for employees.

Against that backdrop, Mitsui Fudosan Residential has been carrying out regular Sunday closures at housing sales centers on a trial basis since fiscal 2021 and examined whether the breaks had an impact on customer satisfaction. As a result, it was confirmed that customer satisfaction can be maintained by advancing digitization in the sales workplace and taking into consideration the timing of the implementation of the regular Sunday holiday.

Consequently, Mitsui Fudosan Residential will make a full-fledged introduction of regular Sunday closures at housing sales centers, selected properties regardless of business size or product type, and will carry this out at housing sales centers for seven properties in the Tokyo metropolitan area in fiscal 2024.

Based on the Mitsui Fudosan Residential brand concept for its entire housing business of “Life -styling x improving with age,” Mitsui Fudosan Residential will continue to deliver products and services that fulfill the needs of diversifying lifestyles, while working to build a sustainable society and contribute significantly toward achieving the SDGs by promoting the creation of safe, secure, and pleasant neighborhoods.

Key Points of this Release

  1. A new style of housing sales method taking into account the changing circumstances surrounding society and the Company
  2. Based on verification of customer satisfaction through a trial, further promote digitization of sales workplaces to enhance customer convenience
  3. Regular Sunday closures to start at housing sales centers for seven properties in the Tokyo metropolitan area in fiscal 2024

1. A new style of housing sales method taking into account the changing circumstances surrounding society and the Company

(1) Changes in customers’ views of how to go about house hunting

In recent years, digitization of society has rapidly progressed and more efficient ways of providing information for house hunting are also required in housing sales. Taking these social changes into account, Mitsui Fudosan Residential has newly established the Sales Innovation Department and formed a dedicated team to respond to online sales meetings. By providing information and value utilizing digital technology, Mitsui Fudosan Residential is moving ahead from the conventional sales style centered around customers visiting housing sales centers on weekends to considering new housing sales methods that allow maintenance of customer satisfaction even while reducing the time and opportunities for visits to housing sales centers. And by introducing new technologies such as AI-equipped websites, the Company is seeking to further enhance convenience for customers in the future.

(2) Need to create environments for employees’ diverse working styles, taking into account the increasing number of dual-income households

The number of dual-income households among Mitsui Fudosan Residential employees is tending to rise, and the trend is even more pronounced among those in their 20s and 30s. Weekends and holidays provide the most opportunities for housing sales centers to come into contact with customers, but for child-raising employees who have to work on Sundays, their options are to have nearby relatives look after the children, find a nursery care centers that operates on Sundays or something else. The number of nursery care centers that operate on Sundays is limited, which means requests among employees for Sundays to be a standard day off have increased. There is a growing need to create environments for the diverse working styles of employees where both men and women can be active in their duties while spending more time in the home, especially for childcare. We believe that to respond to customers’ needs as they diversify, Mitsui Fudosan Residential and our employees must also be diverse.

2. Based on verification of customer satisfaction through a trial, further promote digitization of sales workplaces to enhance customer convenience

(1) Using a trial to confirm the impact on customer satisfaction

Mitsui Fudosan Residential conducted trial experiments of regular Sunday closures at seven housing sales centers in the Tokyo metropolitan area from fiscal 2021. The results confirmed that by utilizing methods such as online sales meetings on weekdays or Saturdays and regular closing on Sundays outside of peak visitor periods in the first phase of sales maintained the same level of customer satisfaction as sales centers that did not have regular Sunday closures. In addition, feedback from employees who participated in the trial confirmed that a certain level of cooperation was achieved not only among employees raising children, but also among single-person households and employees not raising children. Taking the results of the trial into account, Mitsui Fudosan Residential decided to make the full-fledged introduction from fiscal 2024 of regular Sunday closures at centers for selected properties regardless of their size or product type.

(2) Raising customer convenience using digitization of sales workplaces

In going about the full-fledged introduction of regular Sunday closures, trial results also showed that leveraging such methods as online sales meetings raised customer satisfaction and convenience, thus guided by a dedicated team to respond to online sales meetings from the Sales Innovation Department newly established in 2023, it became possible for customers to acquire detailed property information from the home and other places through individual meetings online and webinars even during Sunday closures. In addition, customer convenience will be further enhanced by promoting the digitization of sales workplaces, for example, by storing and sharing meeting tools (cloud storage) so that customers can view meeting materials anytime, anywhere, and not just during regular Sunday closures.

3. Regular Sunday closures to start at housing sales centers for seven properties in the Tokyo metropolitan area in fiscal 2024

Regular Sunday closures are planned to begin at the following housing sales centers for seven properties in the Tokyo metropolitan area in fiscal 2024.

■Housing sales centers’ properties planned for regular Sunday closures from fiscal 2024 (* Shift work planned for implementation at some properties)


A computer generated image of the completed PARK HOMES Hamamatsucho

A computer generated image of FINE COURT Nerima Oizumi Gakuen and the surrounding neighborhood

■Mitsui Fudosan Group’s Initiatives for SDGs

https://www.mitsuifudosan.co.jp/english/esg_csr/
The Mitsui Fudosan Group aims for a society that enriches both people and the planet under the principles of coexist in harmony with society, link diverse values and achieve a sustainable society, and advances business with an awareness of the environment (E), society (S) and governance (G), thus promoting ESG management. By further accelerating its ESG management, the Group will realize Society 5.0, which the Japanese government has been advocating, and contribute significantly to achieving the SDGs. Additionally, the Group formulated the following Group guidelines related to “Realize a Decarbonized Society” and for “Diversity & Inclusion Promotion” in November 2021, and “The Mitsui Fudosan Group Biodiversity Policy” in March 2023. The Mitsui Fudosan Group will continue to work toward solving social issues through neighborhood creation.

[References]
・Group Action Plan to Realize a Decarbonized Society
https://www.mitsuifudosan.co.jp/english/corporate/news/2021/1124/
・Formulated Diversity and Inclusion Promotion Declaration and Initiatives Policy
https://www.mitsuifudosan.co.jp/english/corporate/news/2021/1129_02/
・Mitsui Fudosan Group Biodiversity Policy
https://www.mitsuifudosan.co.jp/english/corporate/news/2023/0413/

■About Mitsui Fudosan Residential’s Carbon Neutral Design Promotion Plan (Only in Japanese)

https://www.mfr.co.jp/content/dam/mfrcojp/company/news/2022/0315_01.pdf
Initiatives include saving energy by improving the performance and durability of homes and promoting the introduction of renewable energy as well as provision of services that enable tenants to enjoy contributing to the environment through energy conservation and other activities in their daily lives after moving in. In this way, Mitsui Fudosan Residential aims to realize carbon neutrality in both homes and living.

The initiatives covered in this press release are contributing to two of the UN’s SDGs.

Goal 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
Goal 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities