Sugi Holdings Co., Ltd. Introduces PeopleX's Conversational AI Interview Service 'PeopleX AI Interview'

PeopleX, Inc. (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and CEO: Daichi Tachibana), which solves HR issues using AI from recruitment to active participation support, announced that Sugi Holdings Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Obu City, Aichi Prefecture; Representative Director and President: Katsunori Sugiura) has introduced its conversational AI interview service "PeopleX AI Interview".

## Background and Aims of Introduction
Since its founding in 1976, Sugi Holdings has been a leading company in drugstores with dispensing pharmacies, operating a total of 2,300 stores across the group. They are focusing on creating stores and services that integrate real and digital elements to provide total support for people's health, including dispensing, product sales, nursing care, fitness, and prevention.

The company, which has valued "contribution to the local community" since its inception, has many specialized human resources such as pharmacists, registered salespeople, and registered dietitians, and has secured many talents even as various industries enter the dispensing business. They are also strengthening digital initiatives in their business, providing services that improve customer satisfaction, such as the Sugi Pharmacy App and medication via Sugi Smartphone.

Sugi Holdings, which boasts human capital and DX promotion as its strengths, has now introduced "PeopleX AI Interview" as part of its recruitment DX initiatives. Aiming to achieve kind, fair, and impartial recruitment for job seekers, they highly evaluated the following points in particular:

- No need for schedule adjustments, achieving 24/365 interview availability
- Stabilization of assessment through AI utilization
- Excellent candidate experience through smooth dialogue and reactions of AI avatars, and flexibility of deep-dive questions
- Global support enabled by multilingual capabilities and Japanese proficiency assessment functions

Initially, it will be utilized for career hiring at Sugi Pharmacy Co., Ltd., an operating company of Sugi Holdings, with an eye toward expanding the scope of utilization in the future.

## Comment from the Person in Charge at Sugi Holdings Co., Ltd.
**Mr. Shigeki Mori, Executive Officer, Head of Human Resources, Management and Risk, and CHRO, Sugi Holdings Co., Ltd.**

While valuing our founding spirit of "contribution to the local community," our group is currently expanding our business in multiple directions, including creating new stores that integrate real and digital elements, international business, and DX promotion.
In this period of transformation, we recognized the need for recruitment methods to evolve as well, leading to the introduction of "PeopleX AI Interview." In addition to the convenience of allowing applicants to interview 24 hours a day, 365 days a year according to their own schedules, we expect that multilingual support by AI and objective evaluation data through deep-dive questions will contribute to stabilizing recruitment accuracy.
Through fair and impartial screening, we hope to accurately understand the strengths of individuals from diverse backgrounds and realize a recruitment environment that stays close to the candidates.
We will continue to actively utilize technology and aim to maximize our human capital.

## Sugi Holdings Co., Ltd. Company Profile
Corporate Name: Sugi Holdings Co., Ltd.
Representative: Katsunori Sugiura, Representative Director and President
Capital: 15,434,588,000 yen
Location: 62-1 Shingo, Yokone-cho, Obu City, Aichi Prefecture
Business Overview: Management control of the entire Sugi Pharmacy Group