RELEASED: 9am - 17th April 2008
Quotes2Me partners with Open GI to provide
online price comparison access to its entire
broker base
Quotes2Me, the new online insurance portal for
consumers and SME’s, have today announced an
agreement with Open GI to provide access to the
Quotes2Me platform to the Open GI brokers enabling
them to compete more effectively in the online
insurance market.
Whilst
the Quotes2Me service is available to all
intermediaries the new agreement will allow Open GI
brokers to automatically download online quote
requests or “Quote Opportunities” directly into
their broker back-office for quoting against even if
they don’t have a website.
The
service opens up the online market for specialist
intermediaries that are looking to focus on niche
risks or the ones that wish to use their local
office as a key differentiator.
Simon
Hughes, Sales and Marketing Director, Open GI, said:
“We decided to work with
Quotes2Me because we see it as an opportunity to
further enable our whole user base to take advantage
of changing consumer behaviour. We recognised that
the majority of our brokers needed a platform to be
able to compete more effectively and generate leads,
particularly as more and more insurance is being
sourced online.
Quotes2Me gives us a unique
opportunity to give our brokers an additional
competitive edge. By developing an interactive
service that allows brokers to segment quote
opportunities within their back-office using Open
GI’s InStream technology, they can tap into new
leads without the high costs of online marketing.”
Manjit
Rana, CEO, Quotes2Me, said:
“We are very excited about the
new dynamics that this will introduce into the
insurance distribution domain and are looking
forward to helping provide Open GI brokers with an
additional competitive edge in the new online
focussed world of insurance distribution.”
There are now
around 15 million plus consumers and SME’s that are
using the internet to source insurance quotes each
month. The new service will offer access to the
broadest range of quote providers in the market.
Research shows that consumers are using between 2
and 3 price comparison sites now in a bid to find
the best product from the widest range of providers
because they do not believe any single aggregator
covers a sufficient proportion of the market.
With some
aggregators claiming to cover over 90% of the market
with around only 60 quote providers – the new
Quotes2Me service that is accessible to over 1,500
quote providers is certainly going to stir up the
market.
“While the larger, high volume
intermediaries are investing
heavily to get a
seat on the online bandwagon – the smaller, local,
specialist brokers often can not afford the expense
of the technology or the marketing spend to create
an online presence – with the Quotes2Me platform
they don’t even need a website to participate in the
online market – by creating a “reverse eBay” type
model we effectively join together the online and
offline worlds – something that the major search
engines have been trying to do for the last few
years.
Whereas in eBay the products
sit in the centre and the consumer comes looking for
what he can buy, in the Quotes2Me model the
consumers requirements effectively sit in the centre
and the suppliers come in looking to see who they
can sell their products or services to. It’s a very
simple idea but one that requires a very
sophisticated technology platform, which we have
invested heavily in creating. We believe this could
be more cost effective than Pay per Click which is
the fastest growing marketing channel for companies
looking to sell products or services.”
Manjit Rana.
“The Quotes2Me platform is
extremely flexible – because we based the underlying
infrastructure on proven UniRisX technology we can
create and launch a new product within a matter of
days. We do not have to worry about complex
integration into automated comparative rating
engines which are still only available for a very
small proportion of insurance products nor do we
need to wait for the industry to agree data
standards for products which can often take many
years.” Andrew Philpott – Operations Director UniRisX Limited
Quote Providers
can choose to “Pay on Success” – the model typically
employed by the existing aggregators – or on a Pay
per Quote basis. Brokers are also able to provide a
branded version of the Quotes2Me service to their
clients and prospects enabling them to maintain
their brand in front of the consumer regardless of
who they insure their various policies with, as well
as receiving a share of the revenue generated by the
“accounts” that they have introduced into the
service. This effectively means that brokers can now
generate revenue even if their client purchases a
policy from Direct Line or one of the other
aggregator sites.
The Quotes2Me
service is more cost effective than advertising in
directories such as Yellow pages or using Pay per
Click services because the broker decides which
quote opportunities he wants to target rather than
paying for traffic which he may or may not be able
to competitively quote for.
Industry
commentators are stating that SME commercial will go
the same way as motor but as yet none of the
mainstream aggregators have been able to provide a
similar service for commercial products. The
Quotes2Me service gives the SME the ability to
source quotes online whilst allowing the full
spectrum of quote providers from the high profile
brands to the local brokers to respond to their
quote requests.
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Contacts:
Quotes2Me
Manjit Rana
CEO
manjit.rana@quotes2me.com
Open
GI
Caroline Hardiman
Marketing & PR Manager
caroline.hardiman@opengi.co.uk
About online
insurance:
Relevant
statistics
i.
over
a million consumers use aggregators to source quotes
for their motor insurance each month
ii.
According to the telecommunications regulator Ofcom,
broadband has
become one of the fastest growing new consumer
technologies. Developments in technology and
reducing costs have seen broadband reaching the
majority of households and businesses in the UK and
this has been reflected in widespread take-up (there
are now more than 14.5 million broadband connections
in the UK)
iii.
Online advertising has grown from being the smallest
market sector in 2003 to the third largest in 2007,
with a new high of £2,812.6 millions. This
represents a 38% year-on-year like-for-like
increase, taking the medium to a market share of
15.3% (up from 11.4% in 2006). Internet advertising
spend in 2007 exceeded the most generous forecasts
and is now larger than press classifieds and
regional newspapers. In just three years online
advertising spend has increased by £2 billion. In a
relatively buoyant UK advertising market the
internet was the biggest driver of growth –
accelerating nine times faster than the entire
advertising sector, which experienced 4.3%
growth to reach £18.4 billion. (IAB)
iv.
With
over 5,000 Quote Providers able to provide the
consumer with a quote for his or her motor policy
less than 100 are typically providing quotes to the
mainstream aggregators.
About Quotes2Me
Ltd
Quotes2Me Limited
was formed as a joint venture between Polly-C Ltd
and UniRisX Limited last year to create a next
generation marketing utility that would take price
comparison and online marketing services into the
next generation. The underlying platform has had
over £10m of investment and utilises the same
operating infrastructure as some of the largest
online brands in the world. The service enables the
user to create a single, secure online account which
he uses to manage his whole portfolio of policies –
regardless of who they are insured with. The patent
pending “e-wallet” technology and processes allows a
consumer or SME to anonymously “publish” their
specific requirements and sit back as potential
suppliers provide the best solution that meets those
specific requirements – like eBay in reverse.
The core
management team at Quotes2Me have extensive
experience of the insurance distribution market both
in the UK and internationally working with insurers,
intermediaries and technology providers in the
industry over the past 20 years.
About
Open GI
Open International
provides market-leading solutions for insurance
brokers. It incorporates Open GI, one of the
UK and Ireland’s largest broker systems specialists,
the Countrywide network and London market
technology provider MI Limited.
Open
International
was acquired by Towergate, Europe’s largest
independently owned insurance intermediary, on 24th
September 2007 for £276m from Montagu Private
Equity, with the Open management team retaining an
equity holding. With a workforce of over 300
people in Worcester and London, and a 28-year
heritage, the company enjoys a strong financial
performance. For the year ended 31st May
2007 it reported revenues of £35 million and an
operating profit of £18.6 million.
Open GI supplies IT systems to 2,000 broking sites in
the UK and Ireland and enjoys partnerships with all
major insurers. Open GI technology enables personal
and commercial lines brokers trading in standard and
niche markets to streamline business activity and
become more profitable. There are currently 27,000
users of the system across a range of companies from
single site businesses to major call centre
operations.
www.quotes2me.com
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