Line’s first mobile grocery app in Thailand is part of an aggressive push into m-commerce across the wider Southeast Asian region, opening up new opportunities for brands in the process.
Korean instant messaging app Line has launched a mobile grocery service in Thailand, paving the way for greater m-commerce opportunities for brands in Southeast Asia.
The new feature allows Line’s 33 million users in Thailand to access Line Shop’s daily grocery deals by adding existing Line accounts – Line Hot Deal, Line Hot Brand, and Hot Deal: Living – to their contacts or by installing the Line Shop app. Users will then receive a number of weekly discounted deals and promotions in their notifications.
“The advantage for brands working with Line is the elimination of online product lists,” says Peter Kopitz, group chief operating officer at aCommerce, Line’s partner in managing its end-to-end m-commerce services. “It is just a daily push of deals, so if you don’t like today’s promotion, you wait for the next one. It makes it a very user-friendly experience and sets people up for getting used to buying online, seeing how m-commerce works, and using credit cards – it is a very streamlined process and is a great intro for emerging markets into m-commerce.”
As with many markets in the region, smartphone use in Thailand continues to grow, with 80 percent of Thais using mobile phones to access the Internet. But m-commerce in these regions is often hampered by poor mobile payment options, unfriendly user interfaces, and lack of infrastructure and logistics for delivery.
“This campaign is our first step toward moving into developing our channel exclusively for the emerging online groceries category,” says Sedong Nam, head of service department at Line Plus Corporation. “We hope that this campaign will help shift customer behavior toward online groceries and enlighten grocery and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands and retailers in Thailand of the possibilities of this globally successful sales channel.”
Currently payment is made through Line’s Prompt Pay platform, which stores credit card and delivery details for each user. aCommerce is also working with Line for a cash on delivery (COD) service.
The service will also give brands access to Thai consumers beyond Bangkok, which make up 70 percent to 80 percent of aCommerce’s online sales in Thailand.
The success of Line Shop will be a testing point for future expansion across the region. The company’s next target could be Indonesia, which boasts Line’s third largest community after Japan and Thailand.
