(Yicai Global) June 15 -- Responding to rumors that Line Friends will withdraw from China, the cartoon brand today insisted that it will continue to develop its Chinese market.

Regarding the closure of its flagship outlet in Shanghai, the Seoul-based company said in a press release that the adjustment was part of its strategic plan.

On offline outlets, Line Friends said it will focus on new retailing, pop-up store campaigns, and theme authorization to increase touch points with consumers through a lighter offline model and close collaboration with local brands.

Despite the pandemic’s impact, Line Friends’ intellectual property-related business reached CNY1.7 billion (USD266 million) in China last year, an almost 40-fold increase from the start of its IP character business in 2015. Sales rose 4 percent from 2019.

Besides traditional store shelving, the vending machine Line Friends Lucky Box can now be found in major shopping malls in 14 cities, including Shanghai, and 100 are expected to be distributed in 20 first- and second-tier cities in China by the year’s end, the statement said.

Play Line Friends, a lightweight bricks-and-mortar outlet that differs from the existing directly operated and flagship store models, is also scheduled to open with retail partners this year.

In addition, Line Friends has entered into a strategic partnership with Tencent Weishi to develop its China content market via short videos. It introduced Line Friends-themed red envelopes on both WeChat and Weishi platforms during the Lunar New Year, and plans to further expand cooperation with Tencent in terms of content.

Line Friends began with the introduction of cartoon sticker characters Brown & Friends for mobile messenger app Line with more than 200 million users worldwide. The company specializes in creating derivative products of daily life cartoons. Its product portfolio covers stationery, travel and lifestyle goods of more than 6,400 kinds.

Since Line Friends officially became an independent subsidiary in 2015, it has opened a total of 160 physical stores and 12 online stores in 19 countries and regions in five years.

Editor: Peter Thomas