The logistics and transportation system is the key support for e-commerce as well as social commerce. Due to time and scope limitation, Line@ Social Commerce business model framework and analysis can be developed.
Previous study of E-Business Model
One of the latest buzzwords in the internet and e-business model world is "Business Model". There are many attempts to classify the business model to understand how e-companies are able to make money.
Customer to Business (C2B) Business Model
Thus, the C2C business model is a marketplace for exchanging products or services through social media channels such as selling concert tickets or hotel vouchers. However, the trending topic for Thai Business in the digital age in 2018 is the customer-to-business (C2B) business model.
New Social Commerce LINE@ Business Model Framework
In e-business, value creation goes beyond the value that can be realized through the configuration of the value chain (Porter & Millar, 1985). However, the Social Commerce LINE@ Business Model proposed primary activities in Michel Porter's value chain model.
The O2O Commerce Model start with LINE@
In this thematic paper, we will explore the key activities of Porter's value chain model in the Social Commerce LINE@ business model and see to what extent businesses are using them to increase their business performance by reviewing each function through selective in-depth interviews in the data analysis section and exploration between the food and retail industry in its application of how SMEs in Thailand use LINE@ to enhance their value proposition through the value chain model . The approach is a retail-specific application of two broader strategies, "Omni-Channel Marketing" and Multi-Channel Marketing (Orendorff, 2018).
Primary Data Collection Method
Interview Method
- Sample Selection
- Develop open-ended questions
- Develop Probing techniques
- Conduct the interview
Probing techniques in the interview will require the participant to clarify their answers during the interview. To conclude, the interview approach will be structured with open-ended interviews with a set of open-ended questions (Berry, 1999). In-depth interviewing can be divided into three approaches which start from informal conversational interview to explore interest or continuous observation in their field work, guided interview will help researcher and participant to extract information about specific topics.
The interview took place in a private one-on-one environment via phone and face-to-face communication.
Research Framework
DATA ANALYSIS
Social Commerce LINE@ Food Business Model
Some food companies open LINE@ to customers who want to order to order or customize their order. Thus, the food company aims to use LINE@ as a social customer service purpose where it can promote customer loyalty and satisfaction. For a LINE@ Food business operation, most admins are store staff, marketing team or relatable owners.
According to the interviews, food companies using LINE@ reward point can increase the repetition of store visits, and the level of collecting points is much more fun than paper-based ones. For food businesses in LINE@, it is a great opportunity to reach LINE instant messaging users in the area of the location-based services (LBS). However, some of the interviews in Food business LINE@ did not have the delivery services.
For LINE@ Food businesses, companies prefer to use freshly made or cooked food delivery through other food delivery application service such as Food Panda, Grab Food or LINE Man. Moreover, marketing will play an important role for LINE@ Food's business to create attractive promotion that would attract customers. In addition, the Food Business decided to invest in social media because it helps to expand the target group.
Social Commerce LINE@ Retail Business Model
This is because the amount of administrators that can add from 7-8 to 100 people depends on the scale of the business. The example from the LINE@ retail business interview is from 8-9am early to 1-2am. This is because LINE@ business operators can work anywhere and at any time, no offices or rented spaces are needed.
LINE@ sales and marketing is also the important part, especially retail stores operating on LINE@, push messages or broadcast messages are the most effective functions where brands or products can communicate campaign information with their direct target customers or followers. Based on the interviews, LINE@ Retail business will recommend using other customer relationship management software such as CHOCO CRM, where this third party will help to record customer profile and purchase data. However, LINE@ Retail must be prepared that the increasing number of people add LINE@ and often hail, it can cause disaster if the retail business is not able to respond to customers in time, customers can get complaints.
Retail business looking to train LINE@ admin staff to be able to sell products and including service minded. They believe the brick-and-mortar store would help create value for brands and be able to offer Omni shopping experiences. However, nowadays, the retail business in Thailand is still not able to allow customers to buy through the online channel and choose in-store, or buy in-store and take home.
Benefits and Drawbacks of LINE@
In conclusion, the research results of the Social Commerce LINE@ business model are effective when applied to B2B or C2B e-commerce models, where LINE@ helps to increase the value for brands and customers through their primary activities, such as the way to connect to customers, promotions and other interactions . Retail and food businesses that implement and use the LINE@ application and features promise to generate faster sales conversion, manage CRM and cost savings for the business owner. The return on investment on the LINE@ channel and marketing through LINE@ is cheap and has a high chance of reaching target customers more than any other social media channel.
While LINE@ in Food business can be improved through integrated marketing communications and activities such as offering discount coupons and broadcasts for promotion to drive traffic to the physical restaurants or cafes. It is the tool that allows companies to prevent customer retention by adding LINE@ to the store and collecting reward points. In the next three to five years, the rise of SMEs in Thailand will shape the economic future” (Limsamarnphunsom, 2016).
There were about 2.7 million SMEs and start-ups in this country, providing more than 10 million jobs nationwide. The right customer demand will be the answer to the business supply as the C2B business model will play a bigger role. Using LINE@ to personalize or customize will create a unique experience for each customer and value for the brand and products correctly.
Conclusion
Some in the company decided to invest in the LINE@ agency, paying administrators to answer customers 24 hours a day. It depends on the individual goals and objectives of the company or if the company wants to work with them, how many administrators or teams they need to prepare such online activities. These are the main activities of any company and it is also the heart of the company.
Start-ups that start with LINE@ have lower fixed operating costs than the old business model. Finally, the LINE@ package is seen as an attractive price with valuable features, as shown in Figure 10 (line@, n.d.). However, the most expensive package cannot meet the expectations of large and enterprise companies due to limitations in target reach, number of followers and administrators.
In order to improve LINE@ business account users, it is recommended that LINE@ set up LINE@ business service center or help center to train users, introduce functions and support functions. Furthermore, there are some limitations with this thematic paper due to time and scope constraints. Second, the scope of the study is focused only Social commerce business model activities, where LINE@ is the newest social applications with limited sources and knowledge due to its early stage of development.
Recommendations
It is the easiest way to communicate with customers (just in time) like another instant message that separates from personal accounts. It is the easiest way to communicate with our customers on their regular daily basis like WeChat instant messaging in China. The good thing about LINE@ is that we can reach our customers per person and it is a very effective online channel.
The reason I decided to use LINE@ is because it is the easiest way for the target customers to reach us. In LINE@, it is difficult for new customers to add us if they do not know us at all. Also, most Thai people use LINE, so it is quite convenient for them, and there are also broadcast functions where our target customer can reach directly.
Most of the features we use are one-on-one chat and the customer is the one who calls us first. It's bad that for new customers who don't know our LINE@ ID, they couldn't reach us. Having a channel makes it more official for the business and gives customers a sense of trust, but make sure you have people managing LINE@.
For the confectionery industry, it depends on our available materials to answer our customer's request at that time. If you want to open Facebook page and drive traffic, it is quite difficult these days.
Interviews Script
If you have LINE@ without communications or media to communicate with customers, there is no point in using it. In the future, we have no plans to become an online store or delivery service, but we do plan to expand the stores. In my experiences using LINE@, when I had a question about using the rewards card system, I sent an email to the LINE@ office and it took forever for them to respond to me.
This is the great social marketing tool to connect with Thai customers today. What is your company's online or offline strategy in the next three to five years. For offline strategy in terms of store development, we have no plan to expand the store in the future.
I will answer LINE@ twice a day in the morning and in the evening during the day the staff will help me. One to one chat is the main success factor of LINE@, I think it is perfect for online shopping. And it is reasonably priced compared to the LINE@ package when you compare with other social media marketing tools.
