Co-Creation ofCreditability

Diverse Touchpoints
with Customers

The co-creation of creditability is a concept based on the belief of MARUI GROUP’s founder that creditability should
be built together with customers, rather than assigned to them. One principle encapsulated in our founding spirit isour focus on building trust over long-term relationships, rather than focusing on relationships that end with a single
transaction. This is our unique core value, the value that differs from all other companies, the value that defines
MARUI GROUP and that, if removed, would cause the Company to cease to be itself.

Our greatest strength from the perspective of retailing is our physical stores, which see visits from an aggregate totalof 210 million customers a year, positioned in major cities and other locations across Japan that see large amountsof people traffic. Other touchpoints include the EPOS card application centers positioned within MARUI GROUP
facilities, other commercial facilities, and partner companies as well as our directly operated Internet shopping sites
and the external sites with which we have allied. Our diverse range of touchpoints with customers is growing witheach coming year.

P32 Business Model Built on Co-Creation of Creditability

MARUI GROUP’s founder also advocated a pioneer spirit of creating
opportunities. This spirit is indicativeof the Company’s commitment toinnovation and evolution, which
drives it to evolve how it does business to create new demand or markets should there be changes in thehappiness sought by customers or insociety. In the face of our past management crisis, we responded bybreaking away from past successes
to build a new business model.
However, we remained true to ourcore value as we undertook thistransformation. We firmly believethat it is innovation that evolves
a company.
P28 Innovation and Evolution of Business Model30Strengths
Fostered over 88 Years
The core strength of MARUI GROUP, its competitive edge over othercompanies, is its ability to generate synergies through a philosophy ofdifferentiating itself from rivals by fostering a corporate culture forenacting its founding spirit.

Among MARUI GROUP’s strengths are its diverse touchpoints withcustomers and its credit expertise, both of which were born out ofsynergies between retailing and finance. Although external stakeholders often attempt to evaluate us by viewing our retailing andfinance operations separately, MARUI GROUP’s business is actually a fusion of retailing and finance that entails generating uniquesynergies by maximizing the intersection between these twoareas. It is thus impossible to speak of MARUI GROUP without
touching on both of these areas.
P44 IT Capabilities Generating Synergies

Synergies
between
Retailing andFinancesince FoundingCredit
Expertise
MARUI GROUP’s credit standards are a clear pointof differentiation as they have produced the industry’s lowest ratio of delinquent debt. These standards are an extension of the credit philosophy
espoused by the principle of the co-creation ofcreditability that we have embraced since ourfounding. Based on these standards, credit card
applications are not judged on the basis of a customer’s age, profession, or income. Rather, we initially set low credit limits to make it possible toissue cards to as many customers as possible.
We then proceed to build trusting relations withcustomers as we raise their credit limit based on
their usage frequencies and payment histories.
This is the reason that there are many cardholders
for which the EPOS card was their first credit cardor is currently their main credit card.
P40 Co-Creation Credit Expertise

Undertaking a new endeavor or creating something
completely new can place a great burden on
employees. However, employees are able to growwhen they can overcome these challenges. The
motivation to prevail is much stronger when an
employee has chosen to tackle such a challengeof their own volition. MARUI GROUP therefore
emphasizes the importance of motivating andempowering its employees, fostering a corporate
culture in which employees are invited to voluntarily join hands with us to participate in ourinitiatives.
P60 Translation of Individual Strengths into Organizational
Capabilities via Understanding and Interaction

Corporate
Culture ofVoluntary
Participation

Pioneer Spiritof Creating
Opportunities

P36 Diverse Touchpoints with Customers

31