The insurance industry is one of the most mature and competitive markets globally, but it’s one often associated with legacy infrastructure, time-consuming paperwork and complex jargon that can easily deter customers from completing the purchasing process.
Over the years, an increasing number of InsurTechs and platforms have entered the space with the promise of digitizing and making the process more seamless for customers, including Alphabet, which tried to penetrate the U.K. market with its insurance and financial products comparison service tool, Google Compare.
But the company was forced to shut down the service in March 2016, unable to challenge the four major price comparison sites — Go Compare, Comparethemarket, Confused and Moneysupermarket — dominating the local market.
Since then, others have tried to grab a piece of the insurance pie, including artificial intelligence (AI) -powered insurance company Lemonade which launched in the U.K. in October and now offers contents insurance to residents across the country.
Read more: Lemonade Launches AI-Powered Contents Insurance in UK
U.S. eCommerce giant Amazon is now the latest to make its foray into the competitive U.K. market, launching this month an online insurance store for U.K. customers shopping for home property coverage.
Related news: Amazon Insurance Store Launches in UK Offering Home Property Coverage
In an interview with PYMNTS, Vassil Gedov, general manager of Financial Services at Amazon EU, shares how the eCommerce giant is looking to simplify online home and content insurance shopping, which remains a complex, time-consuming process for nonexpert buyers.
He pointed to the lack of price comparison tools as one of the major pain points for consumers, not to mention the lengthy questionnaires they are subjected to that may include questions “not [even] necessary to get you a quote.”
Customers also don’t have insights into an insurer’s performance, he added, which means that they are unable to properly determine without reviews if their customer base is satisfied with the price charged and the service provided.
Lastly, in an age of instant gratification, the lack of a friction-free online and payment experience can deter customers from completing a purchase and cause high shopping cart abandonment at checkout.
“Once you’re ready and [have] selected a policy to purchase, you will often be redirected to another website, where you need to fill in your payment details again, which adds up to the time to purchase for consumers,” Gedov explained.
That is all set to change with Amazon’s insurance store, which aims to make purchase easier and more convenient, giving customers the same seamless shopping experience and one-click checkout option they get on the main Amazon platform.
The company has so far partnered with three third-party insurers — Ageas, Co-op and LV — to streamline and reduce the length of questionnaires while maintaining high-level due diligence, he said. The platform also offers a side-by-side comparison tool with a clear description of the different coverage levels each policy provides to save customer’s time.
Innovating Insurance Industry
Moving forward, the eCommerce firm plans to increase the number of insurers on the platform and broaden the selection of home insurance options available to customers, Gedov said.
He also said that they are well positioned to meet the growing demand for a seamless experience in the insurance segment where customers “can go to one site, compare [reviews] and complete your purchase all in one place.”
That type of seamless experience, he added, gives time back to customers — a growing trend that is appreciated by today’s convenience-driven consumers across all industries.
Overall, Gedov said innovating the insurance industry will be tied to meeting new consumer needs and working with existing and future partners to transform the shopping experience.
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