LY Communications

LINE Fukuoka Corporation (Head Office Location: Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. Representative Director/President: Noritaka Ochiai) is working together with FJ. Entertainment Works of the Fukuoka Jisho Group (Head Office Location: Hakata-ku, Fukuoka. Representative Director: Yasunori Toyama), ANA Holdings Inc. (Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo. Representative Director/President: Shinya Katanozaka), and Fukuoka City (Mayor: Soichiro Takashima) to bring 2 proofs of concept to Fukuoka City.

Based on our Comprehensive Partnership Agreement with Fukuoka City, the LINE group seeks to use LINE technologies to make Fukuoka City a Smart City. Moving forward, we plan to do more collaborative work with private companies, making good use of the experience and data we have gained from our collaboration with Fukuoka City thus far. In this way, we aim to promote lifestyle innovation in Fukuoka City and realize the "Life on LINE" vision that is held by LINE Group, making Fukuoka City's citizens' day-to-day lives more convenient and pleasant.

The two proofs of concept that we are conducting are based around the "Sit, Order & Pay" feature. This feature lets users order, pay, and get notification of when an order is ready via LINE chat. This allows the user to enjoy meals without waiting in a line to order or pay, and it should improve efficiency for restaurants as well. This is one of the measures (Cashless Payment & Communication) that we previously determined to be effective toward the goal of realizing a cashless society in previous proofs of concept run by LINE Group.

First, at the food court of the large shopping mall Konoha Mall Hashimoto operated by FJ. Entertainment Works of the Fukuoka Jisho Group, we will commence a proof of concept of this feature. This will be the first time this feature will have been implemented on an ongoing basis in a private facility. (Proof of Concept ①)
Then, with the cooperation of ANA Holdings Inc. and the Fukuoka City government, we will conduct a proof of concept that combines the same feature with drone delivery in Nishi-ku of Fukuoka City. People will be able to order ingredients via LINE at a barbecue area and then have fresh abalone and sea snails delivered by drone from a neighboring island. (Proof of Concept ②)
With these two proofs of concept, we hope to test the private use of the "Sit, Order & Pay" feature, and examine the possibilities for evolving the value that we can provide through working together with other companies and organizations.

It is a feature that lets you place orders, make payments, and receive notifications when your orders are complete, all within a LINE chat! This lets users enjoy eating out simply by placing orders via LINE and paying via LINE Pay from places of their choosing, and then going to pick up their order when they receive a notification that it's ready. This should provide such benefits as a "reduction in waiting time," an "increase in productivity for stores via a reduction in work related to taking orders and working the register," and an "enhanced capability to accommodate tourists." In the 1-day event that we previously held, we found that the amount of time taken to get a seat, receive an order, and then return to one's seat was cut in half compared to the usual way of ordering.

This will be the first proof of concept based on the ongoing use of the "Sit, Order & Pay" feature in a private facility.
Konoha Mall Hashitomo is a large shopping mall that is visited by around 6,120,000 people yearly. It is popular with people of all ages, and lines often form at many of the restaurants in the food court on weekends and holidays. By introducing this feature to "Konoha Mall Hashimoto," we expect to see a "reduction in the waiting time of customers" and an "increase in takeout orders and in customers who previously stayed away due to the crowds."
In this proof of concept, we will first offer the service to employees, starting with 2 restaurants. We will then gradually increase the number of eligible employees from around 100 people up to a final number of around 1,500, and examine any topics that arise toward a goal of a public start in fall.

- Schedule: Early August until the end of October (subject to change)
- Place: The Konoha Mall Hashimoto food court (2-27-2, Hashimoto, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka)
- Participating restaurants: Kentucky Fried Chicken, Subway
- Participants: Employees (approximately 1,500 people)

How to use the feature

- The above images may differ from the final version.

With this proof of concept, we hope to test the possibilities for creating an innovative user experience by combining the "Sit, Order & Pay" feature with the technology and know-how of other companies and organizations.
We will be working together with ANA Holdings Inc. to provide a service that will let users order ingredients, pay, and request delivery by drone entirely within a LINE chat. LINE will connect "users," "stores," and "producers on another island" to provide the new experience of "enjoying a barbecue with abalone, sea snails and so on that are delivered by drone from where they're produced when you place an order."
We will also be using this proof of concept to examine how the "Sit, Order & Pay" feature can offer improved work efficiency to individual stores and small-scale stores, as opposed to places with many stores clustered together as in a food court.

Schedule: Thursday, August 1
Drone takeoff locations and participating stores:
  Genkaijima, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka to Oda 79-6, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka Fishing Restaurant ZAUO Main Branch
  Genkaijima, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka to Nokonoshima, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka Nokonoshima Island Park
Participants: Proof of concept volunteers

- The above images may differ from the final version.

With these two proofs of concept, we hope to test the private use of the "Sit, Order & Pay" feature and examine possibilities for evolving the value that we can provide through working together with other companies and organizations. Additionally, we would like to proactively work together with companies and organizations that want to provide good experiences for users to come up with other joint projects that make use of this feature and LINE technology.

The LINE group seeks to use cutting-edge LINE technologies including AI and Fintech to promote Fukuoka City's metamorphosis into a Smart City. In this way, we aim to realize our vision of a "Life on LINE," in which "we aim to use lifestyle innovation to create a life infrastructure to support users 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, something that we feel will make our users stop and say 'WOW.'"