Page 13 - TurkInsurance Digital Magazine

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What do you see when you compare the online insurance prac- allow for an intuitive and user-friendly interface to maximize the
tices in Turkey to those in the rest of the world? Do you believe conversions throughout the sales journey. InsureTech endeavors
Turkey will be a successful country in the field of online insur- have been on the rise, and conferences like “Insure and Innovate”
ance? will create the environment for businesses to share best practices
and international benchmarks to allow for more rapid and innova-
Yes, Turkey will definitely be a successful online insurance country tive developments.
due to the strong driving force from consumers and their digital de-
mands. For instance, in the UK market, we have seen an evolution Could you tell us about the developments along Koalay.com’s
of an agent-dominated market to a direct sales market via insurer experience in Turkey since its foundation, and Koalay.com’s
call centers, and ultimately a migration to self-service purchasing priorities in Turkey?
through online comparison sites. In Turkey, due to e-commerce
enablement, and a high mobile and internet usage penetration; Koalay.com has been present in the Turkish market for just over 4
consumers will drive the migration directly towards self-service years and we have seen great increase in support from both con-
purchasing through online comparison sites, as they are beginning sumers and insurers, which has allowed us to grow aggressively.
to realize that traditional agent is not necessarily best placed to We have added more products to our offering, partnered with many
provide them with the cheapest quote. Consumers are beginning to non-insurance companies to widen the distribution, and seen a
take their insurance purchasing decisions into their own hands, and great increase in appetite for pure online sales from the direct con-
platforms like ourselves fulfill the need for a one-stop-shop for both sumer. Turkish insurance sector is at a tipping point and disrupters
online price comparison and purchasing. This behavior is going to like ourselves are becoming significant players in the market. Our
drive the migration in Turkey from agents directly to the online focus remains on fulfilling the consumer requirement of wanted
websites, bypassing the direct insurance sales model. transparency, control and the best deal for insurance as hassle free
as possible.
What are the characteristics of Koalay.com that stands out
and differentiates it, when you compare it to other online in- Turkey has experienced frequent regulatory changes especial-
surance intermediaries? ly in traffic insurance. Could you tell us about the impacts Ko-
alay.com has experienced due to regulatory amendments and
The characteristics that differentiate Koalay.com from its com- recent developments in traffic insurance?
petitors are Koalay.com’s superior user experience and user inter-
face, and online purchasing capabilities. The user is provided with Regulatory changes impact insurers’ appetites to sell regulated in-
real-time quotations, advanced customization options, easy quote surance products. By capping the price for products, it places the
comparison and the ability to purchase their desired policy at their insurance companies in a difficult position of fulfilling services at
own convenience. Our system does not rely on offline, call-center non-profitable premiums. This is not sustainable, and in the long
dependent processes; thus allowing the consumer the luxury of run, consumer will suffer.
shopping and purchasing at their leisure. This is what allows us
to partner with non-insurance related partners to enhance distri-
bution; and it is very rewarding to see that we are becoming the
online partner of choice, with companies approaching us to be their
technology partner.

What are Koalay.com’s targets in Turkish insurance market?
Could you inform us about your growth and development tar-
gets for 2018?

We continue our focus on increasing insurance penetration across
Turkey, by increasing the range of product offerings as well as of-
fering Koalay.com as a technology solution through non-traditional
white labelled partnerships. Currently, the distribution of insurance
is labor-intensive with many inefficiencies. To increase sales, extra
labor input is required at both an agency level and an insurance
marketing level. Through our focus on digitalization and ease of
scalability, we will allow insurers the ability to increase sales with-
out the increase in variable costs, meaning these costs can be re-
moved from the value-chain, making insurers more profitable.

What do you think about Turkish insurance market’s percep-
tion of technology and digitalization? Do you believe Insure-
Tech endeavors in Turkey are innovative?

Insurance remains a low engagement, grudge purchase. Therefore,
ease of transaction is critical for the consumer. Through innovative
technology, the user experience needs to be optimized in order to
Zeynep Tütüncü / zeynept@bestyayincilik.com