When Amazon launched an insurance price comparison website in the United Kingdom – called the Amazon Insurance Store – warning bells tolled loud and clear across the Atlantic Ocean in Canada.
“Oh my goodness, please don’t let that happen here,” was the first thought of Carol Jardine (pictured), president of Canadian P&C operations at Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company.
Her sentiments have been echoed by insurance professionals far and wide. Even Louis Gagnon, CEO of Canada at Intact Financial Corporation – which has a direct-to-consumer brand that could potentially benefit from price comparison sites in Canada – said he was “concerned”.
What’s so scary about the Amazon Insurance Store?
Jardine is worried about aggregators who are “basically tyring to commoditize insurance and make it all about price”. That is the opposite value proposition to what Wawanesa Insurance offers as a mutual.
She explained: “Every company has a strategy. The strategy that we decided to pursue was one of value. What can we give brokers to sell, which will enhance [their] value to the consumer?
“You’ll hear about us coming out with our sustainability products. We’re delivering prevention methods because consumers are saying they want more from an insurance company and broker than just their renewal; they want to know how they can not use their insurance policy [but still] protect their greatest assets.”
Addressing hundreds of brokers at the Insurance Brokers’ Association of Ontario (IBAO) Annual Convention, Jardine said brokers have a choice. Some may wish to commoditize the products they sell by using tools like price comparison sites, but she stressed that Wawanesa Insurance will not be going down that road.
“We do not want to commoditize insurance as a mutual. We want to maximize the dollars we return to customers when they have a claim; that’s our job. All we need is a break-even combined operating ratio,” she said. “That means we tell our people: ‘Maximize how much money you’re giving back to consumers when they need the insurance policy the most.’
“That’s a very different value proposition than the Amazon Insurance Store is going to offer, or that the UK aggregators, or even the aggregators here [in Canada] offer, which is really trying to commoditize [insurance].”
The Amazon Insurance Store was launched for select customers on October 19, and will be widely accessible nationwide across the UK by the end of 2022, when it will also be made available via the retailer’s UK mobile app.
For the initial rollout, the store will feature large UK home insurance brands, including Ageas UK, Co-op, and LV= General Insurance.
Jonathan Feifs, general manager for European payment products at Amazon, said on the launch day: “Shopping online for home insurance is a well-established experience, and our goal is to exceed customers’ expectations when it comes to the Amazon Insurance Store.
“When we set out to create the Amazon Insurance Store, we wanted to improve the experience for customers shopping for home insurance so they could easily compare options and make an informed, objective decision – just like shopping on Amazon.”
This is what tweaked Gagnon’s concerns – the changes to insurance distribution and shopping experiences.
“Amazon is a marketplace; it’s an ecosystem,” the Intact leader stated at the IBAO Annual Convention. “If you look at who is buying on Amazon – it’s everyone. We’re on it all the time, we look at it, we shop on it, and so I think this is a turning point […] where the distribution of financial products is becoming very different.
“It’s something we predicted 10 or 15-years-ago. We talked about Amazon [entering insurance] and now it’s happening. I’m a bit concerned on the distribution side because, in my opinion, Amazon is past what a digital player is. It’s a store where you go to buy things, including financial services.”
Some lines of insurance – especially personal lines like homeowners’ and auto – are more malleable to commoditization, and therefore, more suitable for price comparison sites and aggregated distribution.
But Jardine warned about making insurance all about price.
“Granted, [personal auto insurance] may be a commodity, but we [Wawanesa Insurance] didn’t chase our auto prices down during COVID. We kept our prices stable [to] not hit people with post-COVID inflation,” she said. “When the rates go up, we’re not going to follow them up. We’re going to be a stable mutual.
“But it’s up to each one of you [brokers] and your strategic decisions for your own group of customers and your own brokerage around maximizing the value of your advocacy and your trust, and choosing underwriters and methodologies of doing business that only enhance that value and enhance that trust. I think that’s going to be the biggest challenge.
“Please don’t let the UK distribution, aggregation, and pricing models come to Ontario. I don’t think it’s going to be good for customers; I don’t think it’s going to be good for us.”
