Line Corp has chosen Bangkok to house its first Line Village store as Southeast Asia's most popular messaging application continues its campaign to expand its foothold in the region.
Line has 217 million active users in 230 countries and regions, but more than half of them are in two countries: 90 million in Indonesia and 41 million in Thailand, where "Line me" is an instantly understood phrase. Ninety-four percent of Thais who use mobile internet are Line users. Of the average of 234 minutes spent on smartphones every day in Thailand, 70 minutes are spent on Line.
Japan-based Line, majority owned by the South Korean internet search company Naver, earned US$1.5 billion in revenue last year. It sees physical stores as a new revenue stream to capitalise on the success of its virtual products. Photo opportunities with Line characters, official merchandise and technological attractions are expected to draw some 12 million visitors to the Thailand store in its first year.
"Line Village is the first project of its kind in the world and it is an attraction where people can enjoy Line characters with the latest technology. It is basically a theme park concept for fans to interact and play with the characters they love," said Sungwoo Lee, country head for Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia of Line Friends, which operates the company's store businesses.
Line characters Brown the Bear and Cony the rabbit ride a tuk-tuk. Photo courtesy of So Good Consulting Company Limited
The 500-million-baht store occupies 1,500 square metres spread over three floors. Currently only the first floor with collectibles and a snack bar is open, while theme areas and virtual reality (VR) zones are expected to open before the end of this year.
Line has discovered that Southeast Asia is unique in Asia in terms of social media adoption, according to Mr Lee, because the vast majority of users have skipped computers and gone straight to mobile, especially in Thailand. The same is true in Vietnam and Myanmar.
"Thai people are very enthusiastic in terms of expressing their emotions in terms of emoji and sticker use. I strongly believe Thai people use them even more than Koreans," he told Asia Focus, referring to the offers on the application that bring in $270 million a year in revenue. Around 500 million stickers were downloaded in 2016 alone.
Once Line Village Bangkok is open for photo opportunities, 11 of the main Line characters will be on view, in both virtual-reality format and themed photo zones. Another highlight will be a virtual reality rollercoaster ride, developed with Samsung Electronics. There are also, of course, games involving all the mascots.
"I like the virtual rollercoaster ride as it actually feels like a real rollercoaster ride without the hassle of queueing up," said Mr Lee. "The mirror rooms with Line characters make you feel like you are in the same room with them and you cannot experience this anywhere else."
Given how Line has thrived in the social media world, is a physical store really needed? Mr Lee believes it adds a new dimension.
"The physical store allows our fans to interact directly with our characters in ways that they were unable to do within the application before," he said.
The company is also preparing to open Line Village and Line Café stores in Singapore and Indonesia.
Meanwhile, Line is continuing to woo business users of all sizes to open official accounts, which will also allow them to gain access to other markets besides their own country.
"Advertisements on mobile applications can be spam messages but our advertisements can only be delivered to the people who already accept friendships with certain companies and that is our strength," he said.
Mr Lee expects mobile messaging adoption to continue to grow in Asia because the region is young, with Thailand and Indonesia continuing to be hotspots.
"Line messenger in the Indonesian market is very strong because it allows people to stay connected. There are still many great opportunities there and there is good response from Indonesian companies," he said.
While any company doing business in highly diverse Southeast Asia is aware of the need to align with local tastes and cultures, Line does not expect to have to tweak its model very much, since its characters -- a bear, cat, rabbit, duck and frog -- were selected for their universal appeal.
Mr Lee recalls reading a study about one mobile messenger service that is now out of the market, "and one of the reasons was because one of the characters was a dog which is not popular among Muslim users".
Line messenger, however, was affected when the Indonesian government banned all same-sex emoticons from messaging apps following a social media backlash against LGBT-related stickers on Line. The company removed the material from its local online store, to the dismay of some human-rights campaigners who condemned the Indonesian government for curbing freedom of expression.
"We do not have to change our characters for the store business but for the cafe business we have to be careful with the food which has to be certificated halal food and we have to be selective with the ingredients, especially meat," said Mr Lee.
In Singapore, the company is planning to open its third flagship store, after South Korea and the United States. New York in August welcomed Line Friends' first official US store in Times Square as part of the company's global expansion efforts.
Line Friends in recent years has opened a variety of concept stores in 11 countries, in cities such as Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo, Bangkok and New York.
"We are preparing for a flagship store in Shibuya (Tokyo) and Singapore could be another place for a flagship store, while another Line Village could be opened in Indonesia but right now it is in a prototype stage," said Mr Lee.
"We have invited our Chinese partners to visit the store in Bangkok and once we have more sense of what Line Village should be, then Indonesia could be one of the places we will look into."
The ultimate goal of Line Village, Mr Lee said, is to use it as a platform to develop even more attractions.
"There are more than 45 Line Friends and Line Café stores worldwide and Line Village is the first example of the new pillar in Line's retail business, which I like to see as an indoor adventure park where the content is exclusive," Kampanart Wonghongkul, CEO of Line Village Bangkok, told Asia Focus.
Part of that exclusive content will be a Line Village Bangkok sticker set which will come with the 800-baht ticket once the rollercoaster ride and VR theme park are open. Also in the pipeline are benefits and promotions from partners including Advanced Info Service and the Association of Thai Travel Agents.
Line messenger, meanwhile, plans to introduce new characters such as DJ and Hiphop Brown the Bear and Jungle Brown to appeal to younger customers, which represent a growing segment apart from the main target of teenage, university students and office women.
There is also a project with the Running Man franchise and Line Friends to make a children's movie together, Mr Lee said.
