Line Thailand forecasts that the value of chat commerce will reach 1.14 trillion baht in 2028, up from 462 billion baht in 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of 19.2%.
"Thailand is one of the world's largest markets in terms of the potential for social commerce which suits Thai people's behaviour regarding chat and shopping," said Jirat Watanakarin, head of e-commerce growth and strategy at Line Thailand.
As of 2023, Line Thailand had 54 million users, accounting for 77% of mobile internet users. Line users spend an average of 67 minutes per day on its platform of the average 216 minutes per day they spend on their smartphones.
Shopping is one of their top four activities along with reading the news, using the Line Voom social networking service, and downloading themes and stickers.
Mr Jirat said the Line Shopping platform enables online sellers to have their own sales channel and to gain customer insights while building customer relationship management as they can maintain customer enagement and experience through direct communication.
"Our platform enables human-based e-commerce for sellers," he said.
Moreover, Line also offers flexibility for online sellers by allowing them to choose their preferred logistics companies for product delivery and they can also use 21 application programming interfaces to handle orders, inventory and sales management.
He added that Line Shopping helps sellers achieve an average order value 35% higher than other platforms and with an order completion rate of 97% as the platform is able to issue chat invoices.
Line also has a Live Shopping feature that increases sellers' engagement with followers. It has also added a new feature to reduce the risk of sellers facing fake payment slips, Mr Jirat added.
The company has also joined hands with Line Man Wongnai to offer a messenger service to sellers for on demand delivery. Mr Jirat said the service helps increase the value of orders.
The company has also educated sellers to issue e-receipts to buyers, so sellers can take part in the government's Easy E-Receipt scheme.
The scheme runs from Jan 1 to Feb 15, offering a tax rebate for spending at eligible businesses that issue e-tax invoices and e-receipts under certain conditions. It offers tax rebates of up to 50,000 baht to Thais who are not eligible for the digital handout.