Line Shopping lines up new tools to help e-commerce players cope with competition
Line Shopping Thailand is introducing more new features next year to help entrepreneurs in the fiercely competitive online marketplace.
All social commerce players will face a new level of competition next year, with more funding and investment for marketing no longer guaranteeing revenue and profit success, said Lertad Supadhiloke, director of e-commerce, Line Thailand, in an exclusive interview with The Nation.
He explained that almost all players, particularly the major ones, have realised that price strategy cannot win buyers' loyalty. Hence, they must devise new strategies. Some of them have already done so this year. Despite losing market share, some of the big players are increasing their profits.
"The competition in social commerce next year would be fun because business owners, large and small, would have to creatively innovate their own marketing strategy for their specific target group," Lertad said.
He added that some players will pay closer attention to budget management with specific target audiences.
In view of this situation, Line Shopping will provide more tools and features to assist business owners, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, in competing on the platform on an equal footing, he said.
He demonstrated a new tool — Live features — which will be available in the first quarter of 2023. This new feature will allow business owners to connect with their customers in real time while also enabling them to discover new potential customers.
Users will notice differences between the platform and other live features platforms, he said.
"Our main objective is to be the tool that enables business owners to run their operations smoothly online. Our priority is their company's success. According to a recent Line Shopping study, owners who use our tools can increase their sales by at least 20 per cent. We will maintain and even improve on that figure," he stated.
He also predicted that with online technology allowing businesses to achieve their targets with a small budget, small business owners would have an equal opportunity to grow and compete with large corporations.
Therefore, small owners will have a chance to roar in 2023.
Aside from new features, he revealed that Line Shopping will expand collaboration with new partners in order to provide their customers, both business owners and shoppers, with unique experiences.
His announcement came just a few days after the company launched two new features called "Send Gift" and "Share&Earn" under the "RelationShop" concept. The two features will enable business clients to have more enjoyable shopping experiences with their friends or community members via Line platform.
He emphasised that Line Shopping is a social commerce platform that has always prioritised the relationship between merchants and customers. Therefore, the development of new features must take into account the importance of maintaining positive relationships with the goal of creating enjoyable shopping experiences.
"We will continue to be a space that provides businesses with the tools to increase their competitiveness while also providing more fun experiences for shoppers to shop with their friends," Lertad promised.
Line Shopping currently has over 450,000 social shops on its platform, covering all product categories, and has over 12 million active users.
Thailand's e-commerce market is expected to grow from 817 billion baht today to over 4 trillion baht in 2025, according to the Thai e-Commerce Association. Online shopping is the most important driver of the Thai e-commerce market, which is expected to grow by more than 128 per cent to 120 billion baht by 2025.
