Thailand’s chat commerce predicted to hit 1.14 trillion baht by 2028

Chat commerce in Thailand is expected to reach a staggering 1.14 trillion baht by 2028, according to predictions by Line Thailand. This substantial increase, up from 462 billion baht in 2023, represents a compound annual growth rate of 19.2%.

Jirat Watanakarin, who heads e-commerce growth and strategy at Line Thailand, said 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.

As evidence of this, Line Thailand reported having 54 million users as of 2023, making up 77% of mobile internet users in the country. These users are reported to spend an average of 67 minutes per day on the Line platform, a significant chunk of the 216 minutes they spend on their smartphones daily.

Usage trends show shopping as one of the top four activities users engage in on the platform, along with reading the news, using the Line Voom social networking service, and downloading themes and stickers.

Line Shopping enables online sellers to have their own sales channel and to gain customer insights while building customer relationship management as they can maintain customer engagement and experience through direct communication, Jirat explained.

The platform offers flexibility for sellers, allowing them to choose their preferred logistics companies for product delivery. They can also use 21 application programming interfaces to handle orders, inventory, and sales management.

Line Shopping, Jirat added, helps sellers achieve an average order value 35% higher than other platforms with an order completion rate of 97% thanks to its ability to issue chat invoices.

To increase interaction between sellers and followers, Line has integrated a Live Shopping feature. They have also implemented a new feature to guard against the risk of sellers encountering counterfeit payment slips.

In a bid to enhance its service offering, Line has partnered with Line Man Wongnai to provide a messenger service for on-demand delivery, which Jirat says boosts the value of orders.

In addition to these measures, Line has been educating sellers on issuing e-receipts to buyers, thus enabling them to participate in the government’s Easy E-Receipt scheme. The scheme, which runs from January 1 to February 15, offers tax rebates of up to 50,000 baht to Thais who are ineligible for digital handouts, provided they spend at eligible businesses that issue e-tax invoices and e-receipts under specific conditions, reported Bangkok Post.