Today, society as a whole is gradually transforming toward an intelligent, interconnected model, and Amazon's smart home layout meets the current basic needs of smart homes and home insurance. People increasingly like this kind of closely interactive service relationship, which the traditional annually settled insurance process cannot replace.
As a digital retailer, Amazon's success in the UK market is beyond reproach. Many insurance companies also regard Amazon as a model of innovation and service. However, some of Amazon's recent moves may not be good news for these companies.
According to public market information, Amazon is recruiting insurance professionals for its London office in preparation for entering the insurance markets of the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
Specifically, Amazon has first-mover advantages in the following areas:
Always putting user needs at the core of its service. Amazon has long been committed to providing users with transparent, high-quality services covering package tracking, next-day delivery, item returns, product reviews and many other areas, letting users clearly understand every step of the purchase process. This kind of trust and transparency is exactly the goal the insurance industry has long sought but failed to achieve. According to the GlobalData 2017 global insurance industry survey, 18% of consumers said they would be willing to buy car or home insurance from Amazon—indirect evidence of the internet giant's enormous potential to shake up the insurance market.
Successfully establishing itself as a core household supplier. Through its premium membership system, next-day delivery and other models, Amazon's subscription model has gradually taken shape. More and more people are abandoning the old annual service format and switching to the monthly subscription model championed by Amazon.
Through innovation and technology investment, it has released home voice-controlled devices such as Echo and Dot, laying a solid foundation for meeting everyday household artificial intelligence service needs. Today, society as a whole is gradually transforming toward an intelligent, interconnected model, and Amazon's smart home layout can give it a first-mover edge. In other words, these devices meet the current basic needs of smart homes and home insurance. People increasingly like this kind of closely interactive service relationship, which the traditional annually settled insurance process cannot replace.
Although UK insurers are also gradually increasing their investment in technology and digital services, compared with Amazon that is a drop in the bucket. If traditional insurers do not pay attention, they may well lose forever the opportunity to communicate directly with users and instead become mere price-risk bearers hidden behind the back end—because Amazon does not want to bear these risks. Either way, the UK insurance market is destined to undergo a transformation.
Source: Eastmoney.com 2017-10-20