2019.01.15 Services for Business
● Utilizes the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's standard specifications in collecting and reporting purchase data
● Kicks off today at all Lawson convenience stores within Fukuoka City
TOKYO – January 15, 2019 – LINE Corporation has commenced a proof of concept for an in-store promotional campaign that is the first to utilize the LINE Wallet service. Running under the LINE Sales Promotion solution, the campaign kicked off today at all Lawson convenience stores within Fukuoka City.
As a solution dedicated to promoting in-store sales by leveraging LINE and related services, LINE Sales Promotion was launched with the goal of helping clients reduce in-store operations and point-of-purchase (POP) advertising, encouraging customers to enter promotional campaigns, gaining insights into consumer buying behavior, and resolving other pain-points related to driving in-store sales.
Today, by employing LINE Wallet for the first time in a sales promotion campaign, LINE is embarking on a new initiative.
Campaign sees LINE Wallet function as a platform – opening participation up to all LINE users
Introduced into the LINE messaging app in March 2018, LINE Wallet will enable any of the messaging app's 78 million MAU user base to participate in the campaign. After users have entered the promotional campaign by accessing the campaign screen through Lawson's LINE Official Account or upon receiving LINE Beacon signals in a Lawson store, they can then bring one of the campaign products to the counter of any Fukuoka City Lawson store and show the My Card screen in their LINE Wallet to receive the discount. LINE Wallet itself has already become part of the bedrock for a cashless and walletless society, surpassing 56 million monthly users in December 2018. Incidentally, along with LINE wallet, the proof of concept also marks the first time that LINE Beacon has been used in in-store promotions.
Compared to traditional store campaigns in which users, retailers, and manufacturers spent time and money to participate via serial codes, receipts or app downloads, LINE's campaign leverages the already widely used LINE messaging app, making it easier than ever for businesses to collect purchase data through their promotional campaigns.
METI's "Standard Specifications for Digital Shopping Receipts" utilized as LINE aims for an all-purpose data collection solution
By utilizing the standard specifications for digital shopping receipts* created by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to collect data on campaign participation, the proof of concept also aims to assess the value that utilizing purchase data could have for consumers, manufacturers, retailers, and platform providers, as well as explore data utilization policies for the retail and distribution industries, and identify possible issues that could arise when rolling out the solution nationwide. On METI's side, the ministry has been working to promote standardized data linkage and data formats within the retail and distribution industries as part of efforts to achieve its "Connected Industries" vision. It has also taken part in the current proof of concept, acting as an adviser on its standard specifications.
Following the ministry's standard specifications, purchase data will be collected from the campaign's entrants and shared in report form with participating companies: Asahi Soft Drinks, Kirin Beverage, Suntory Foods, and Coca-Cola (Japan). Through this, LINE will provide support in building a system for companies to explore ways to collect in-store purchase data and its potential uses.
In addition to this campaign, LINE and Fukuoka City have been working together in seven other areas. Among these include a partnership agreement concluded in 2016 for improving information transmission, the LINE Group's (including LINE Corporation and LINE Fukuoka) selection by the city in June 2018 to conduct trials for a cashless project under the "Fukuoka City Proof-of-Concept Full Support Business" Program, and the conclusion of a "Comprehensive Partnership Agreement on Community Collaboration Projects" in August 2018.
Related press release: https://linefukuoka.co.jp/ja/pr/news/2018/0823 (Japanese only)
By offering a variety of ad options and making constant improvements to its platform, LINE will continuously provide valuable information touchpoints for both businesses and users, and explore new and diverse ways to serve as communication infrastructure.
*About the "Standard Specifications for Digital Shopping Receipts"
In June 2018, METI created these specifications in order to define a basic format for distributing purchase history data. Under the format, the data items which can be shown on receipts are comprehensively identified and those with the same meanings are stored under the same data tags. As the format utilizes the JSON data description language, users are given the flexibility to decide which data items they wish to exclude (except for the TOP tag and structure tags).
Campaign Overview
During the campaign period, users who enter into the campaign and show the Lawson barcode (accessed from the My Card screen in LINE Wallet) when buying any of the campaign drinks at a Lawson convenience store will receive 30 yen off their purchase. Additionally, 50 people will be drawn from the pool of entrants and awarded 1,000 LINE Points (expected to be given out in mid-February, 2019).
The maximum discount is 30 yen per transaction. No further discounts are given even if several campaign drinks are bought at the same time.
Users may only enter into the draw once. LINE Point winners will receive a notification on LINE.
Campaign period: January 15 to January 31, 2019
Location: Fukuoka City
Participating stores: Lawson (around 200 stores)
Participating manufacturers: Asahi Soft Drinks, Kirin Beverage, Suntory Foods, Coca-Cola (Japan)
Target products:
・Mitsuya Cider 500ml PET bottle
・Kirin Fire Hikitate Bitou Coffee 185g can
・Boss Torokeru Cafe Au Lait 500ml PET bottle
・Coca-Cola Zero 500ml PET bottle