Amazon launches new insurance comparison site in the UK

Amazon launched an insurance comparison site today in the UK to sell home insurance. The ecommerce giant has partnered with three launch providers — Ageas UK, Co-op, and LV + General Insurance — with more coming next year.

The company said the store will be available to select customers starting today on the web and will roll out to the Amazon UK mobile app by the end of the year.

Customers can fill out a questionnaire about their requirements, the type of property, and available amenities to get a quote from insurance providers. Users can then compare different offerings with ratings by others to pick the best plan. Amazon provides a checkout experience for insurance on the portal —just like for other consumer goods. It will take a cut from these sales but it didn’t mention any information about the commission percentage.

With this new offering, the company will directly compete with other insurance comparison services such as Moneysupermarket, Uswitch, and GoCompare.

“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. This initial launch is just the beginning—we’ll continue to innovate and make refinements, all with the aim of delighting customers and providing the most convenient shopping experience possible,” Jonathan Feifs, general manager of Amazon’s European Payment Products said in a statement.

The ecommerce company sells auto insurance in India with its partner Acko. So it can expand into other insurance categories in the UK in the future. Amazon already has financial products such as credit cards and “Buy now, pay later” and installment plan payments with Barclays.

The news comes on the heels of New York-based insurance company Lemonde launching in the UK earlier this month. Investors in insurtech sector opine that while it might be tough to get a high valuation in current conditions the sector is “far from dead.”

Amazon registered a 7% year-on-year growth as it registered $121.2 billion in revenue in Q2 2022 — beating the Wall Street expectation of $113.1 billion. But since the company also booked a $2 billion loss, it will aim to reduce that with new offerings like insurance.