It looks like e-commerce giant Amazon is at it again… rattling an industry often described as conservative, with news of its own insurance comparison website supposedly in the works in the UK.
Last year talk of the online retailer’s swoop for London’s insurance executives made the rounds and begged the question ‘should insurers worry?’ – this time around it’s the likes of GoCompare, Confused.com, MoneySuperMarket, and comparethemarket.com that could be running for cover. However, an insurance analyst suggests incumbents shouldn’t be trembling so much at the mention of the firm founded by Jeff Bezos.
“Amazon has so far been seen as a threat and source of competition by UK insurers, but this move would see the company become a distribution business partner to the sector,” commented Danielle Cripps of data and analytics firm GlobalData. “The aggregator market has lacked innovation over recent years to which Amazon could bring something new.
“Some insurers could seek to build their relationship further, adding insurance skills to Amazon Alexa or using Amazon’s marketplace of products such as smart home devices or wearables to further their product offerings.”
Cripps also cited the timing, which could prove beneficial.
“Google launched a similar product in 2016 with limited success,” she said in a statement sent to Insurance Business. “Google and Amazon have similar profiles as giant tech players and there is not an obvious factor as to why Amazon would fare better, but its entry into the insurance industry is certainly more timely.
“Insurance was relatively unaffected by the fintech wave in 2016, with few outside players having established themselves. However, insurtech has progressed significantly since then, with even Amazon itself having created relationships with Aviva through its Alexa device.”
Meanwhile shares of British price comparison websites took a hit on Thursday following the reports, which Amazon hasn’t confirmed. Imagine what happens when things become official, if at all.
“Amazon has a history of being very successful,” The Telegraph quoted Forrester analyst Olivia Berdak as saying. “Often it takes only an announcement from Amazon for stocks to fall and boards to start sweating.”
