Messaging giant LINE Corp. is expanding its empire into yet another unexpected vertical: grocery shopping.

The service, named “Cheap Sure Sure” will offer a daily deals style mix of perishable and non-perishable goods in Thailand, LINE’s biggest market outside of Japan.

“Thailand is one of our top priority markets. We are continuously exploring ways to boost m-commerce in the region,” Sedong Nam, head of the service department of Line unit Line Plus Corp, said in a statement.

“This campaign is our first step towards moving into developing our channel exclusively for the emerging online groceries category. In the future, this platform would display all the region’s top food and FMCG brands in a digital food marketplace integrated with all the ease and convenience of mobile at the consumers’ fingertips.”

Cheap Sure Sure will offer products including water, coffee and instant noodles at up to a 50 percent discount and with free delivery, the company said.

In Thailand the service will be powered by Thai logistics and delivery company aCommerce, a Bangkok-based startup which raised $10.7 million from Docomo and others in 2014.

LINE will face stiff competition in Thailand from a range of providers who offer home delivery, including Tesco Lotus,  CP Fresh Mart and Tops Supermarket.

The move follows a number of interesting moves from LINE in recent times, including the introduction of an Uber-like taxi booking service in Japan December 2014, and a deal with LG that will see everything from washing machines through to air conditioners linked into LINE for operation.

In Thailand, LINE has a user base of 33 million (October 2014,) 49 percent of the population, and notably 3 million more users that Facebook has in the Kingdom.

The new service will launch February 4th.

photo credit: Plastic trolley. via photopin cc