Online Insurance Sales in Europe

The European insurance market is heterogeneous, and distribution channels vary considerably from one country to another. The development of direct insurance sales and their perception differ significantly based on region.

In a new report, : The Consumer Experience of Car Insurance Websites, Celent examines insurers providing the best online insurance purchase experience in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy and identifies which aspects, of those that influence the online purchasing experience, insurers could improve to gain long-term competitive advantage.

"Some online insurance brands that have experienced great success in their home market are not very well-leveraged by their parent company’s website," says Nicolas Michellod, senior analyst with Celent’s Insurance group and author of the report. "Even though insurers may have reasons to explain this lack of visibility, they should review their approach and identify actions aimed at leveraging their strong brand image for the benefit of their online insurance business."

This report compares the gaps among countries using Celent’s distribution development stage framework. This framework helps identify which markets tend to work more with high-cost distribution channels and provides a dynamic view on how Celent thinks insurance distribution models might develop following a migration to low-cost channels.

This 34-page report contains nine figures and five tables. A table of contents is available online.

Members of Celent's Property/Casualty Insurance research service can download the report electronically by clicking on the icon to the left. Non-members should contact info@celent.com for more information.