Line launches spin-off app to deliver stuff to your doorstep

Line Man promises 24-hour deliveries using scooters. Photo credit: Lalamove.

Popular messaging app Line is looking to expand its ecommerce lineup with a spin-off app called Line Man.

The new service combines takeaway meals, deliveries from local 7-11s, and a courier – all done by green-jacketed guys on scooters.

Line’s first foray into local, on-demand services is limited for now to Bangkok in Thailand, which is one of the chat app’s top markets.

Line has 218.4 million monthly active users at the last count, with 69.4 percent of those people based in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia. The app is struggling to grow in the face of the dominant WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, adding a meagre 13 million new users in the past year – while Facebook’s two apps have added hundreds of millions of new fans.

Line Man is limited to Bangkok. That’s because Thailand is a top market for Line, the company says. Photo credit: Lalamove.

The new Line Man app has partnered with two startups for its Bangkok launch. Wongnai, Thailand’s top restaurant review app, provides the food listings for over 10,000 restaurants and street food hawkers across the bustling capital. For all the deliveries, Line Corp has signed up Lalamove, a Hong Kong-based startup that’s a sort of Uber for motorbike couriers and truck drivers.

“Line Man is the first service that is fully implemented by our local team for Thai consumers,” says Ariya Banomyong, managing director of Line Thailand. Line Corp is based in Japan.

Ariya describes such online-to-offline (O2O) services as “the next big trend, given the mobile internet user growth and the transformation of user behavior in Thailand.” Line Man will get other local services added in later.

Recent Line news:

• Line CEO Takeshi Idezawa gives a rare look into the messaging app’s strategy
• Line wants businesses of all sizes to open stores in its messaging app
• Bots invade Line