Rakuten Insight continues to monitor and is taking necessary countermeasures on the unprecedented coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. The health and safety of our panel members, customers, suppliers and employees are of the utmost importance.

Rakuten Insight is working closely with other Rakuten Group companies to follow the recommendations of the World Health Organization and national government institutions across all our offices.

Rakuten Insight has implemented several measures to minimize any risk, which allows us to maintain usual operational levels :

• We shared guidelines for employees to help educate them about the viral infection, but also about ways to avoid it (alcohol-based hand sanitizers, washing hands etc.).
• We have implemented a Work from Home policy which allows our staff to access all project tools remotely and will not affect the day to day running of our business. In addition, we operate globally across 12 different locations and all locations have access to the same tools and platforms allowing us to shift coverage seamlessly to ensure there is no disruption in service for our clients.

In terms of response rates, currently we are seeing no impact on response or participation rates in any market.

Regionally, especially in China, Japan and Korea the impact of the virus on people’s day to day lives has already been quite significant. Many people have been working from home in China for over a month, there is now an active work from home push in Japan. Many events, both sporting and general have either been cancelled or are being held behind closed doors – these kinds of happenings will naturally influence people’s purchasing mindset.

Research results will also reflect this, but on the positive side, being online research focused, we can continue to measure things like purchase intent regardless of ongoing issues present. We have a variety of online research solutions readily available to help our clients understand the shifts across their industries during this challenging period.

We love talking to and hearing from our clients, in many cases face to face meetings will not be possible for the foreseeable future. We have access to an industry leading virtual conferencing system to ensure that our communication with clients remains essentially unaffected.

We will continue to monitor developments as they arise and take any necessary steps in a timely manner. In the meantime, with all the precautions in place, we will continue with our operations as “Business as Usual”.

If you have any additional questions regarding our COVID-19 countermeasures or if you need any support on your business, please feel free to reach out to your local Rakuten Insight branch, or e-mail us at rig-info@mail.rakuten.com