Line gets into food delivery

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Photo credit: piyato / 123RF.

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Line, Japan’s US$8 billion social media giant, today launched a food delivery service.

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Called Delima, it allows users of Line’s messaging app to order and pay for food deliveries from 14,000 restaurants across Japan.

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Line isn’t hiring riders or runners for this – instead, the app “provides the platform” for any restaurant that wants to tap into it, a Line Corp spokesperson tells Tech in Asia this afternoon. The food establishment itself has to do the delivery.

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The new service is up against UberEats in Tokyo, as well as a number of local foodie startups.

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It’s actually Line’s second attempt at food. The firm launched Line Wow, a premium meal delivery service, in Tokyo in October 2014, but it was shut down just over a year later. “The potential for the smartphone food delivery business stays strong,” says a Line Corp spokesperson today, alluding to the new effort being very different and much more accessible.

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Line earlier today revealed that it’s once again losing users on its messaging app, with 207 million people active each month versus 220 million at the same point in 2016.