In September of last year, the former UK CEO of Simply Business, Alan Thomas (pictured) was announced as CEO of Ripe Insurance, expressing his confidence and excitement in what the next chapter will bring for the ultra-specialist insurance provider.
It’s a segment bursting with opportunities, Thomas highlighted in a recent interview with Insurance Business where he shared some of the trends he’s seeing in the market. The premise of Ripe is that it covers people’s passions, he said, whether that’s via insuring hobbies or interest-led small businesses. “Our goal is to make it easy for people to find a tailored, high-quality insurance policy for their passion,” he said. “That could be a leisure craft, or somebody’s DJ equipment, or jewellery and watches – right the way through to small businesses where somebody has turned their passion into a way of living.”
It took a bit of time, he said, but post-COVID there was a distinct spike in people making the call to pursue their passions, leading to Ripe becoming a market leader in personal trainer insurance. “That ramped up and though it then dwindled a bit, five years on, there has been a steady overall increase. Whereas on some of our other products, where people did initially want to spend more time outside pursuing their hobbies, we saw an initial bounce and then it slowed down.
“As a cyclist myself, the really interesting one has been cycle insurance. There was a really big bounce through 2021 which then tailed off, but happily, we’re now seeing a bit more of an increase through e-bikes. So, the trends really depend on the nature of the product and the type of customer we’re targeting, but one way or another, they’ve all had a quite material impact from post-COVID conditions.”
Reflecting on why it was a great time to join Ripe, Thomas noted that the firm is in a uniquely strong position of being able to provide a unique product for clients that tend to fly under the radar of the larger insurance companies. It’s harder for those larger firms to get the speed and agility required to pivot quickly and create and market a bespoke product for these small markets, he said, whereas the technology platform underpinning Ripe positions it strongly to build and digitally serve those products.
“The background of a lot of these markets is where someone has realised they’ve got something a bit unique. Music instruments are a good example, people know they need insurance, but they don't quite know where to go. They might have searched online and not found anything or ended up speaking to someone which can be quite an expensive solution for what is ultimately not a very big premium.” Success in this specialist space is not just about being able to tailor products for a select customer group, he said, but also about making it easy for customers to find and access these solutions.
As to where he sees the specialist insurance market going next, Thomas said he believes this coverage is going to play an increasingly important role going forward. “Because I think what you’ll find is that as the big insurers go after the most standard risks and all compete quite heavily there, anyone who’s off to the side – and for us, it’s usually because they’ve got something a bit different that needs insuring that just isn’t a mainstream need – is a bit awkward for the machines to cope with.
“Solving that problem is about being relevant with a high-quality product served up at the right time at the right price,” he said. “I can just see that becoming more and more relevant. Take boats as an example, we insure leisure craft and today we might have customers who come to us with ‘just’ a paddle-board but because they have purchased other products, they understand they might have some liabilities or exposures from being on the water, so they’ll choose to come to us for cover.”
Specialist insurance providers have the opportunity to tap into new and emerging coverage areas, he said, and to empower consumers to have deeper conversations about insurance – going beyond more standardised motor and home covers to include the things that are of interest to them personally. Identifying some key areas where he sees opportunity in the specialised insurance space, he noted that there’s definitely more that can be done in the self-employed micro-business space.
In the hair and beauty market, for instance, he said, there’s coverage available for technicians who are operating from the houses of their clients, as well as for smaller salons. “Multiplying that offering across lots of different niches is a really obvious area for us to get into,” he said. “In the UK, we've got somewhere between 5.5 to 6.5 million small business owners. And we know loads of those don't necessarily buy cover, even though they would definitely benefit.
“For us, it’s about spreading the message that it’s actually really easy to get covered and get that peace of mind, and not at an extortionate cost.” Another opportunity he sees in the market is in the periphery of larger more standard coverages including home insurance, for instance where somebody has a second property or an overseas property.
“There are certain niches around that we’d probably find it easier than some of the others to recognise as interesting and put together a product to access that part of the market. There are a few of those that we’re exploring. Pet is a good example of where we’ve been working, not to try and go for the whole market, but to take an element of that market which is a bit different, a bit niche – that’s what looks really interesting to us.”
