Adding value to insurance products: the AXA Irish experience
|
Post By: Insurance Top Stories
|
While competition within car and home insurance increases through more players and also unfamiliar entrants to the market (supermarkets), the purpose of this paper is to report on a study of one large insurer in Ireland which attempts to differentiate itself from its peers.
1. Introduction
Like any service brand, insurance companies are adopting techniques that have traditionally been employed for fast moving consumer goods to differentiate themselves in a homogeneous market (McDonaldet al., 2001). Simplicity of insurance products (Devlin, 2001) and technology improving the quality of the sales process (de Chernatony and SegalHorn, 2003; Yanget al., 2004) are patterns that have revolutionised the industry.
Improvements in technology and communications are also changing distribution channels, allowing underwriters to bypass traditional intermediaries like insurance brokers (Debling, 1998). Alongside this, new entrants, like strong brands from different industries, are entering unfamiliar markets, like insurance. For example, supermarkets are offering financial services (Hatch and Schultz, 2003). New technologies and distribution channels are creating an environment in which branding becomes more important while, at the same time, consumers are becoming increasingly sophisticated about the relationship between brand promise and performance (Schreuer, 2000). Hellieret al.(2003) found that customer loyalty may not be an important intervening factor between customer satisfaction and brand preference.
