Unlike many cartoon characters that look happy and lovable, Brown Bear always looks unhappy and very aloof. However, this cartoon character has become very popular in the past ten years.
However, in the past year or two, the LINE FRIENDS family where Brown Bear belongs seems to be in trouble. In December last year, the LINE FRIENDS Nanjing store closed. At 10 pm on February 10 this year, the LINE FRIENDS Chengdu store closed. This was also the closure of the last offline physical store in the mainland Chinese market. Whether the "cute economy" deduced by traffic in the past can lead to a new chapter still needs time to test.
NO.1
Business empire built on emoticons
LINE FRIENDS originated from emoticons of the mobile communication tool Line. They were first born in Korea as sticker characters, including the well-known Brown Bear, Coni Rabbit, Mantou Man, and Sally Duck. Composed of 11 initial members. Among them, the most famous is the Brown Bear.
Although LINE as a chat software has failed to open up the mainland Chinese market, LINE FRIENDS as an online emoticon package has still won attention based on the lack of cultural support and emotions with mainland fans. In 2017 alone, LINE's global business revenue, led by LINE FRIENDS, reached RMB 1.24 billion.
Dolls, fashion, bags, headphones, drinking glasses, tableware, mobile phone cases, hairpins... LINE FRIENDS are almost everywhere around you. But even so, there may still be many people who can’t call them all “top-tier” names👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻.
In July 2014, after the operation of LINE in China was suspended, LINE FRIENDS began to develop offline store business. LINE FRIENDS has developed into an independent brand, mainly operating character IP, and the original members have also been renamed BROWNFRIENDS. According to
data, LINE FRIENDS has opened a total of 160 offline stores and 12 online stores in 19 countries and regions around the world in only 5 years. At its peak, LINE FRIENDS had 12 stores in mainland China. Wherever he went, he attracted huge attention and was enthusiastically pursued by fans everywhere.
LINE FRIENDS Since entering the Chinese market in 2015, it has successively opened stores in popular business districts where landmark projects such as Huaihai Road in Shanghai, Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li in Chengdu, Hangzhou Hubin Intime, and Nanjing Plaza Catherine Plaza are located.
’s LINE FRIENDS store located in Nanjing’s Catherine Square opened in August 2016. On the opening day, many media used "Finally Opened" in their titles to express the recognition and expectations of young people in Nanjing for this "Internet celebrity" store.
This store was once a popular check-in spot for internet celebrities among young people in Nanjing, and there was a long queue at the door. In particular, the Love Clock Tower composed of Brown Bear and Coni Rabbit on the square has become a unique "landmark". The store is mainly divided into a peripheral product retail area and a dining area. Peripheral products include keychains, cups, mouse pads, dolls and clothing, etc. The dining area mainly sells coffee and desserts.
In the first year or two after Nanjing LINE FRIENDS opened, it was almost normal to queue up to enter the store. In some exaggerated cases, the queue time could even last up to 2 hours. So much so that if you search for the keyword "LINE FRIENDS Nanjing" in Baidu , you can still see guide articles such as "Teach you how to go to LINE FRIENDS Nanjing store without queuing".
NO.2
The last physical store in mainland China has closed.
In May last year, news spread on the Internet that Nanjing LINE FRIENDS would close at the end of the year. Many netizens expressed regret: "Brown Bear, Coni Rabbit, and Sally Duck are leaving. I am very reluctant to leave." "These little cuties only appeared on the Internet at first. Later, we could queue up to take photos offline, and now they are back again." But some netizens said, "Brand products are too expensive, and mobile phone cases can be sold for 198 yuan. If it wasn't for taking pictures, I probably wouldn't go to the store."
In fact, LINE FRIENDS has not closed its offline stores. It's not sudden, it has happened one after another in the past two years. At the beginning of 2020, LINE FRIENDS in Hubin Yintai, Hangzhou, closed its store. In May last year, LINE FRIENDS’s largest flagship store in Shanghai, the Huaihai flagship store, officially closed.Mr. No. 1 even discovered that when a Korean video blogger was filming Myeongdong, Seoul, South Korea, he found that the LINE FRIENDS store in Myeongdong was also closed.
Almost every LINE FRIENDS offline store is located in the most prosperous areas of first-tier or provincial capital cities. However, once the check-in craze has passed, the inexpensive store products and photo-taking scenes based solely on IP cannot produce more moving images. interactive.
Fortunately, LINE FRIENDS’s official mall, Tmall flagship store , etc. are still in normal operation, and the popularity is still good judging from the sales volume.
Looking through the public information on the Internet, Mr. No. 1 saw that LINE FRIENDS has stated that the store closing measure is an overall strategic need, and will continue to deeply explore the Chinese market, and the offline space will be adjusted to meet the needs of the overall strategic layout. In addition, at the 2021 China Authorizer Conference, Cheng Minwei, head of LINE FRIENDS’s China licensing business, said that LINE FRIENDS will not withdraw from China, but will station itself in the Chinese market with a more diversified offline experience space.
Industry insiders said that LINE FRIENDS’s focus has shifted to online retail and IP licensing. Because the profit margin of IP licensing is relatively high, LINE FRIENDS will reduce its operating cost pressure by cutting off asset-heavy businesses such as physical stores. Data provided by
LINE FRIENDS shows that in 2021, the company's overall business in the Chinese market achieved profitable growth, with official flagship store sales increasing by 30% year-on-year, and licensing business revenue increasing by 20% year-on-year.
NO.3
"Little Cutie" will launch a new story in Taicang
Recently, new news came out from LINE FRIENDS that it will create the first international cartoon IP cute camping village in Taicang around cartoon images and new story lines to create a theme A modern, immersive, young, international pastoral residence and vacation complex.
It is understood that the creative creative team of LINE FRIENDS has added all the classic characters such as Brown Bear, Coni Rabbit, and Sally to Xiangtang Camping Village in Shaxi Town to innovate the localized story line image and create more local characteristics and more Diverse offline experience. Construction of the camping village has started in September 2021, and a launch ceremony is expected to be held in the first half of this year.
It is not difficult for an Internet celebrity store to attract customers. The difficulty lies in how to maintain its popularity and continue to bring freshness to consumers. Only providing photo scenes, single products, slow update frequency, etc. will affect the innovation ability of the physical store and reduce the freshness. In fact, in recent years, LINE FRIENDS’ physical store business has been experiencing sluggish growth.
Industry insiders said that LINE FRIENDS has a single experience format. In many cases, it only provides IP cartoon image scenes to take photos and check in. The peripheral products are simple in style, slow in update frequency, and lack innovation, resulting in a weak repurchase rate. In particular, the overall price of the product is relatively high, and many consumers turn LINE FRIENDS into a mere photo-taking spot. In this way, it will be difficult to achieve profitability.
Although LINE FRIENDS will continue to update new images, the most popular ones are the classic images of Brown Bear. At the same time, LINE FRIENDS lacks long-term emotional resonance with consumers and has not explored deeper interactions. It is difficult to achieve long-term success by simply taking good-looking photos.
What's more, with the development of domestic IP in China in recent years, LINE FRIENDS is facing huge competitive pressure. Before LINE FRIENDS became popular in mainland China, there was still a lack of such novel Japanese and Korean IP images in the market. The well-known Japanese and Korean IPs were still in the era of Doraemon and Hello Kitty. But as time goes by, more and more new IPs appear. Moreover, in the era of social networks, people's preferences are changing rapidly. From Xingdailu , Lina Belle, to the recently "hard to find" Bingdundun , it seems that no image can remain popular forever.
Xinhua Daily · Junction reporter Zhu Xuan
Pictures: Zhu Xuan, LINE FRIENDS official website, Plaza Plaza public account
References: Lianshang.com, 21st Century Business Herald, China Business News, Jiemian News, Modern Express, Workers Daily, etc.
Produced by Xinhua Daily Omnimedia Economic News Department
