(Source: Inside Retail Philippines | September 11, 2017)
The SM group has opened up its shopping malls as a pioneering sales platform for insurance, starting with basic products like compulsory third-party liability (CTPL), travel and dengue insurance.
Eventually, the plan is to broaden the offer to cover pets, motorcycles and even insurance for cancelled weddings.
The group has teamed up with 63-year-old Filipino-owned insurer Pioneer to offer these products to the mass market in a program called “InsureME@SM” (short for “insurance made easy at The SM Store”).
The idea of selling insurance through the SM group’s chain – as part of its service where people pay their utility bills – comes from BDO Unibank chair and SM Investments vice-chair Teresita Sy-Coson, who says she has seen similar arrangements work well in overseas markets.
However, BDO Insurance Brokers GM/senior VP Tracy Tan says the challenge in the domestic market is that awareness about insurance products is much lower than in other markets.
“If we could make insurance more accessible, then it would create better awareness,” she says.
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