Thorough Utilization of LINE for Shopping Districts: Design Methods That Go Beyond Account Creation to Connect to Circulation, Re-visits, and Point Programs
If you are going to use LINE in a shopping district, simple notification delivery is not enough. The key is to create a single point of contact for the entire shopping district and design a continuous flow that covers information exposure before visiting, circulation during the visit, and promotion of repeat visits after the visit. The LINE Official Account is suitable for basic measures such as information delivery, coupons, shop cards, and fixed menus. Furthermore, by combining it with LINE Mini Apps and linkage tools, you can also consider digitizing shopping district-style events such as stamp rallies, common membership cards, and year-end lottery events. This article provides a simple overview of how to use it to achieve results and points to note, assuming a shopping district with multiple stores.
Why LINE utilization is effective for shopping districts
Promotions in a shopping district can convey the appeal of the entire street or area, rather than just individual stores.
Instead of thinking about which store to go to today, if you can make people feel that "if I go to this shopping district, there will be food, shopping, and events," you can create a reason for visiting itself.
A LINE Official Account is a foundation that is easy to use as a point of contact for the entire shopping district because it allows you to send information directly to users who have added you as a friend, and you can consolidate coupons, shop cards, rich menus, and chats into a single touchpoint.
Also, since it runs on LINE, which is widely used in Japan, it is suitable for shopping districts because there is no need to ask people to install a new dedicated app.
In particular, shopping districts have a wide age range of visitors, and participation rates drop the moment digital measures are perceived as "difficult."
In that respect, the fact that it can be completed within the LINE app that people use daily is a major advantage for introduction.
Designing the point of contact for the entire shopping district first
The form that is most likely to produce results is not one where each store operates as it likes from the beginning.
It is to first create an account for the shopping district association or secretariat and make that the entrance. If you branch out from the overall account to event information, store introductions, street-specific features, dining features, features for parents and children, and weekday-only plans, it becomes easier to show the shopping district as a single marketplace.
The idea is to collect friend additions at each touchpoint within the facility and make the overall account the hub of information.
Furthermore, LINE Official Accounts are easy to manage by multiple people, and since you can add up to 100 members with authority to one account, it is easy to divide roles such as secretariat, promotion manager, event manager, and each store manager.
What is important in a shopping district is not that "anyone can touch it," but that "it is decided who will put out what and operate it." The more you keep the point of contact unified, the easier it is to maintain the quality of delivery.
Basic measures that are effective before visiting
There are three that are easy to implement initially and are also effective in shopping districts.
Rich Menu
Because it can be displayed fixed at the bottom of the talk screen, you can organize entrances such as "Event Information," "Store List," "Today's Recommendations," "Coupons," "Access," and "Points."
Shopping districts have a large amount of information, and first-time visitors are often confused about what to look at, so just organizing this fixed menu can change the circulation rate.
Coupon Measures
If you issue benefits that can be used throughout the shopping district, such as rainy day specials, weekday evening specials, or event-linked offers, it becomes a trigger for visiting rather than just a discount at a single store.
While the basic form is to present and use it when visiting, lottery-style coupons and friend referral coupons are also available.
The former is easy to give an event-like feel, and the latter is suitable for expanding friend additions.
Shop Cards
It is a feature that is easy to start as a small mechanism to promote repeat visits because it requires less effort to distribute and collect than paper point cards, and points can be granted via QR code.
Before creating a large-scale common point system in a shopping district, it is a very compatible measure as a stage to show an experience that is "easy to participate in" and "easy to use."
Strengthening circulation promotion with digital flow
What is really important in a shopping district is not to end with one store, but to make people visit multiple stores.
To do this, you need to change the way information is arranged on LINE from a "list of stores" to "suggestions on how to go around."
For example, planning flows such as "3 stores you want to stop by after lunch," "5 stores that are easy to go around with children," "street-specific features that you can enjoy even on rainy days," and "features on stores that are easy to stop by after evening."
The strength of a shopping district is the large number of choices, but having many choices alone will not make people move.
It is necessary to edit and show the reasons for going around.
At this time, a design that connects from the rich menu to project-specific pages or store introductions is effective.
Furthermore, instead of showing coupons or shop cards individually,
✅ Benefits for using 2 stores
✅ Benefits that can be used next time after visiting 3 target stores
✅ Lottery participation for combined use of dining + product sales
If you show them with conditions like this, it becomes a motivation for circulation.
You should use it as a means to promote circulation, not just by delivering on LINE.
Turning stamp rallies into LINE Mini Apps
If you want to strengthen circulation promotion measures one step further, making stamp rallies into LINE is very powerful.
What is important here is to design including LINE Mini Apps and linkage tools.
LINE Mini Apps can provide membership cards, points, and promotional campaigns on LINE, are easy to launch from QR codes, and can lead to continuous delivery through linkage with LINE Official Accounts.
Also, POPs with QR codes for LINE Mini Apps or LINE Touch can be used for presenting membership cards or point cards in addition to waiting in line at stores or mobile ordering.
In other words, it has a good affinity with participatory measures that start with QR reading at each store, and it is a structure that is easy to apply to digital circulation projects in shopping districts.
Practically speaking, it is easy to think of a form where QR codes or LINE Touch are placed at each store or location, and visitors can earn stamps when they read them.
Completion conditions can be designed according to the scale of the shopping district, such as:
✅ Participation prize for completing 3 stores
✅ Lottery participation for completing 5 stores
✅ Limited benefits for conquering all
At Fourglobe, we can also realize mission-clear-type game measures and promotional campaigns that leverage the knowledge and technical capabilities of our LINE Mini App division technology partners.
Year-end lottery events and special events can also be made into LINE
Year-end lottery events, raffles, receipt application projects, and visit campaigns that are common in shopping districts are also measures that have a good affinity with LINE.
For example, you can give scarcity and game-like elements to regular events where only users who win in a lottery format can acquire coupons.
Therefore, it can be fully utilized for small-scale winning measures and the production of participation benefits.
Furthermore, on LINE, it is possible to develop a form where winners are selected by lottery from among the applicants at a later date and prizes are granted from the company's own LINE Official Account.
This is an idea to change the year-end lottery event from just "spinning the rattle at the venue" to a measure that can leave data up to "visiting, purchasing, applying, and re-notifying."
For example, if you make it a form where people who shopped around at target stores during the period can apply, the lottery event itself becomes a circulation promotion device.
Also, not only for the year-end, but also for spring new life fairs, summer festivals, Tanabata, Halloween, and year-end and New Year shopping around projects, you can design with the same way of thinking.
While just distributing paper application tickets is easy to end on the spot, if you use LINE as a touchpoint, you can connect to information on the next event and introductions to target stores.
What is really important for a shopping district is not the lottery itself, but being able to continue the relationship even after the event.
Point business requires the design of common members
Regarding point programs, you should always have the perspective of "designing common membership."
Having each store issue points individually does not create a strength for the shopping district as a whole.
The ideal state is to have a membership card for the entire shopping district or an entry point for common points, where you can see which stores were visited in what order, whether customers returned after participating in events, and which initiatives led to circulation.
LINE Mini Apps allow for the clarification of members based on integration with POS and customer management systems, as well as the usage status of each function, making them highly compatible with creating common membership.
In other words, a point program is a project that creates "who you will connect with continuously," not just a system design of "how many points for how many yen."
It should be designed to be used for the next sales promotion by looking at visit frequency and circulation history, rather than just digitizing paper point cards.
Points to note where operations often fail
There are also points to be aware of.
Individual Chat
It is not a tool for free sales communication.
Since LINE chat can only start a conversation after a user sends a message first, if you use it as a consultation window, you must prepare an inquiry flow in advance.
Design of Distribution Volume
As the number of friends increases, cost management based on the number of messages becomes important.
A shopping district-wide account is convenient, but if you start sending everything, it is easy for the recipient to find it annoying, which actually lowers the response rate.
You should decide on the division of roles at the beginning, such as the overall account being for "information that creates reasons to visit the town" and individual store accounts being for "deep information about the store."
Handling of User Data
Care is required when expanding to common membership cards or point programs.
User consent is required for the acquisition and utilization of data linked to a LINE account.
Just because it is convenient does not mean you can take whatever you want.
To protect the credibility of the shopping district, the purpose of acquisition, scope of use, and person responsible for operation should be organized in advance.
How to proceed with implementation that leads to inquiries
Start small and expand to circulation measures and point programs
The recommended way to proceed is to divide it into stages.
✅STEP1
Open a LINE Official Account for the entire shopping district and collect friend additions through in-store POP, event reception, posters, receipts, bulletin boards, etc.
✅STEP2
Prepare rich menus, joint coupons, store lists, and event information.
✅STEP3
Try shop cards or simple participation projects to see the response.
✅STEP4
Proceed to stamp rallies using LINE Mini Apps or linkage tools, common membership cards, point programs, and digitization of year-end lotteries.
In this order, you can grow while identifying the design that suits the shopping district without taking on unreasonable investments first.
The essence of LINE measures for shopping districts is not creating an account.
It is about creating expectations before visiting, encouraging circulation, and leaving a reason to want to come again.
If you can design that far, LINE will become a sales promotion foundation for the entire shopping district, not just a notification means.
In particular, whether you can replace "shopping district-like scenery" such as stamp rallies, common points, and year-end lotteries with digital versions will make the difference in the future.
Thank you for reading to the end this time as well.
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