Line app launches online grocery shopping in Thailand

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Line app launches online grocery shopping in Thailand

Line, one of Southeast Asia’s most popular chat apps with more than 180 million users, plans to launch an online grocery service in Thailand on February 4th.

The new app-based service will launch in Thailand first, and is said to offer discounts on everyday groceries such as coffee and water, plus there will be free delivery for Thai shoppers. Beginning in Thailand this week, Line will offer both perishable and non-perishable items which can be purchased using the messaging app. Line promises free, next-day delivery for everything purchased.

The Japanese-owned Line app is especially popular in Thailand, where there are more than 36 million active users and rising. Line’s online partner aCommerce announced the new service today, and will handle the supply and delivery side of things. aCommerce is a Bangkok-based startup which managed to raise $10.7 million from Docomo and others last year.

Read more: http://tech.thaivisa.com/line-grocery-sales-thailand/3671/

[Costas2008]

Well......it will suite some people......but I believe that the majority of people in Thailand, including me, would prefer to go to the talad or the supermarket to buy the groceries.

You can choose what you want and you can buy the quantities you want.

But again.....may be I should "line up" with the modern world and stop being of the old school.

[NCC1701A]

this concept failed big time in the USA...

But maybe with aging population in SEA...

but I want to pick my bananas out for myself.

[draftvader]

Home grocery shopping has worked well in England. However most people use it to buy their non-perishables. When it comes to fruit and veg you can't be sure what the picker's motivation is. Unless you are shopping at Waitrose (i.e. Villa or TOPS in Thailand) level then you could end up with some very poor quality goods. This is what has stopped me moving to online groceries here but if the competition becomes strong for it that might change.

[WhizBang]

Actually for buying large quantities of heavy items, like soft drinks or beer, I can see using it. But for fresh produce, such as meats and veggies, I will head to the grocery store and pick out the items myself.

[watcharacters]

this concept failed big time in the USA...

But maybe with aging population in SEA...

but I want to pick my bananas out for myself.

Yep, Webvan. 200,000,000. USD later it was only a memory.

But since that failure there've been a few successful smaller operations.

[Strangebrew]

Man this is old hat was done by e commerce in US failed cost of fuel done them in. How original.

[MaprangHolmes]

Man this is old hat was done by e commerce in US failed cost of fuel done them in. How original.

So because it failed in the US it means that it is going to fail everywhere does it? It is very popular in the UK, fuel prices are much higher in the UK than in the US but it is still a popular way for people to do there shopping.

I really do not understand why anyone cares if it works in the US, as it is not of very much relevance with this is being rolled out in Thailand. I mean you had 2 people in the US arguing if the moon was a planet or a star do people really have to wonder why online grocery shopping may not have worked in the US.

[RickBradford]

Line promises free, next-day delivery for everything purchased.

And everything will be delivered by a drone. Of one sort or another.

[WhamBam]

For those with m/c only, this can be a great idea. Especially for non-perishable goods that are bulky and heavy.

The fresh produce is much easier to carry on a m/c.

[dddave]

Labor cost in Thailand are very low and populations tend to be concentrated in distinct neighborhoods making delivery cheaper and more efficient. While the labor cost in the UK are probably as high as the US, the UK seems to also have very concentrated population areas such as villages and housing estates; again, making for more efficient delivery.

Suburban populations in the US are much more spread out, especially in the west and southwest making efficient delivery very difficult.

I owned a delivery/logistics business in Boston for 30 years. We were often approached by grocers and related businesses to do residential deliveries but the cost per delivery was always prohibitive: labor, vehicle cost per mile and the time factor. Another difficulty maybe unique to America is spouses both working in the majority of homes making it very difficult to catch people at home to accept deliveries during daytime business hours. You can't just leave perishables on the porch.

With today's much easier communication by app and SMS, that is probably not as much of a problem now as it was then. Even here in Thailand, delivery people usually call or text me to make sure I'll be there to accept a delivery before making the trip.