Conducted jointly by The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) and ERGO Turkey, “Survey of the Perspective of Turkish SMEs on Insurance” was finalized. Yıldırım Türe, CEO of ERGO Turkey, shared survey results with the public as first of its kind in Turkey in terms of its extensive scope.

Stating that they prepared this research in order to emphasize the contribution of insurance to the sustainability of the activities of SMEs -which account for 99.8 percent of businesses in Turkey- and create insurance awareness, Türe said: “This research will also act as an extensive guideline for the insurance habits of SMEs operating in Turkey.”

SMEs mostly prefer agents as their favorite sales channel

62.7 percent of the SMEs that participated in the survey stated they preferred the agency channel, while 23.2 percent of them said they preferred to work with banks. 8.3 percent of agents buy their insurance online, while 5.8 percent work with brokers. Their capacity to provide satisfactory information to SMEs about claims and compensation processes makes agents the most preferred channel among others. 67.8 percent of agents believe that agency representatives offer satisfactory, accurate and reliable information.

According to the survey results, 24.2 percent of the SMEs that are in business for 1 year or less own a Business Package Insurance Policy; but the rate goes higher as the duration of business activity increases. Insurance rate goes up to 35.4 percent for agents that are in business for 6 to 10 years, and 43.7 percent for those in business for 16 to 20 years.

Stating that several other parameters also improve positively as the duration of activity increases, Yıldırım Türe said: “SMEs that have managed to survive profitably for years under different economic circumstances get a chance to experience the contributions of insurance to their business journeys. They can easily comprehend the connection between insurance and the growth of their businesses.  At this point, we especially recommend young SMEs to regard insurance as a guarantee for their businesses and properties, not an item of cost.”

96.4 percent of SMEs that own Business Package Insurance find it beneficial
96.4 percent of the SMEs owning a Business Package Insurance policy that offers coverage for many potential risks which may occur at offices and workplaces, find the product beneficial for their activities. This rate is also directly proportional to the duration of an SME’s years of activities. For SMEs that are in business for 11 to 15 years, this rate goes up to 100 percent.