- A leading online retail store Amazon launch a home insurance comparison website in the United Kingdom.
- The site, known as Amazon Insurance Store, provides customers with quotes for insurance products from independent insurance companies including Ageas and Co-op.
- It’s the first time the business has opened an insurance-selling store.
(Infosette News) Britain: As part of the e-commerce giant’s continued push into financial services, Amazon launch house insurance in the U.K. through partnerships with three regional insurers.
Amazon Insurance Store, a new service that the business unveiled on Wednesday, will launch.
With each sale made by one of its partners, such as Ageas, Co-op, or LV+ General Insurance, Amazon will receive a commission. The product will display quotes for plans from insurance companies like these to customers. It resembles the products that are available on price comparison websites like Comparethemarket and Moneysupermarket.
Customers who want to apply for home insurance on Amazon can do so by answering questions about their needs in a questionnaire.
Then, along with reviews and star ratings from other customers, they are presented with a list of estimates from Amazon’s insurance partners.
An individual chooses a policy and then pays for it through Amazon’s own online checkout. The service is now being introduced to a small number of chosen users, but by the end of 2022, it will be accessible to all citizens of the UK.
As general manager of Amazon’s European Payment Products, Jonathan Feifs noted in a news statement on Wednesday, “Finding the correct house insurance policy can be a time-consuming and difficult endeavour, with estimates that frequently leave out vital coverage in order to lead with the lowest price.”
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When we set out to build the Amazon Insurance Store, we wanted to enhance the experience for customers looking to purchase house insurance so they could quickly evaluate choices and make an informed, deliberative choice—just like when they shop on Amazon.
Fiefs continued by saying the launch was “only the beginning,” implying Amazon would later diversify into other insurance subcategories. The business has never before opened an insurance-selling store.
Product warranty and third-party seller insurance are examples of past insurance offerings from Amazon.
This is Amazon’s newest venture into the financial sector. To merchants that sell goods on its marketplace, the corporation currently provides lines of credit.
Additionally, it provides buy now, pay later loans, which let customers pay for products over time in regular instalments, both in the U.S. through a collaboration with the fintech company Affirm and in the U.K. through a partnership with the massive banking institution Barclays.
In the UK, the business introduced insurance for customers with small and medium-sized businesses last year.
As we emerge from the epidemic and pressure increases on its usual activities, Ben Wood, an analyst at research firm CCS Insight, said the action demonstrated how Amazon is “reinvigorating its efforts to further diversify its business.”
Wood told CNBC that the company “has a plethora of consumer data that it can use as it ventures into other sectors.” Whether this is relevant to its entry into home insurance is debatable, but the value of this data can’t be understated as the company grows.
Covid Impact:
Following the 2020 Covid-19 outbreak, which prevented people from going outside, Amazon experienced a surge in online sales.
However, the company’s shares have lost nearly 30% of their value this year due to the impact of rising interest rates on IT stocks and investor concerns about a slowdown in e-commerce sales as a result of the cost of living problem.
To that, add the fact that Amazon is anticipating a dismal holiday shopping season, especially in the U.K., where officials have issued a warning about possible wintertime blackouts due to disruptions in gas supplies brought on by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Amazon raised the cost of its Prime subscription programme earlier this year in the United States from $119 to $139, underscoring the difficulties caused by supply chain interruptions, labour shortages, and high inflation.
Prime includes quicker delivery times as well as TV and movie streaming. Prime costs increased considerably as sharply in Europe. Higher subscription fees contributed to Amazon’s second-quarter revenue growth of 7% to $121.2 billion.
Later this month, Amazon is expected to report its third-quarter financial results. The business predicted between a 13% and 17% revenue increase for the third quarter in July.
As the excitement surrounding so-called insurance technology, or insurtech, has grown, Amazon has announced plans to enter the insurance business.
With the argument that the insurance industry is in desperate need of digitization, many firms have received large funding from investors.
Despite a bleak fintech investment environment, Wefox, a German insurtech startup, recently raised $400 million in a deal valued at $4.5 billion, for instance. This is a 50% increase over its prior funding round.