Product focus endorses “Comparison 2.0” evolution
Date: 12/09/2007 08:00:00
Leading insurance comparison site Gocompare.com has welcomed the arrival of Tesco to market and christened the revolution, being led by a new wave of product-focused comparison sites, as Comparison 2.0.
The approach taken by Tesco firmly positions the supermarket brand alongside Gocompare.com as one of the websites introducing innovation into the market by switching the focus onto product quality as well as price competitiveness, while letting the customer steer and tailor the search process.
Gocompare.com founder Hayley Parsons said: “Tesco has obviously looked at the early insurance aggregator sites and learned from their mistakes. They want to be seen as part of the new wave of comparison sites that is shaping the future of this channel as it enters its second wave. It is particularly good to see them also taking a product-led approach.
“The revolution taking place in the online comparison world is worthy of the tag Comparison 2.0. While the ‘Aggregator Old Guard’ continues to focus on listing prices rather than comparing products, Tesco, like ourselves, has had the luxury of developing a green field site and their entry and approach should help to grow the market for online insurance comparisons.”
However, Hayley Parsons warned that with just 30 products available the site is less comprehensive than the existing Big Three comparison services and the addition of the RBS brands may not be of huge significance to customers.
Parsons continued: “Until now it was almost impossible for consumers to compare the RBS family against the rest of the market. It is a bit like the Berlin Wall coming down in insurance terms – the RBS brands haven’t been under the comparison site spotlight until now. And you still have to ask yourself why RBS Insurance is choosing to protect its flagship brand Direct Line from the full glare of online comparison? With the greater transparency of comparison sites; price, cover levels and value for money are all fully exposed. It is going to be interesting to see how they stack up against the dozens of brands that have been competing on comparison sites for a number of years.”
Ends
Further information:
Lynsey Walden at Gocompare.com on 01633 654 055
Gordon or Liz at Maw Communications on 01603 505 845
Notes to editors:
Gocompare.com’s uses a special five star rating system to help customers
compare product benefits and find the right policy:
The number of stars displayed against each policy relates to how well it matches a customer’s requirements. Policies which include all the requested features receive five stars. Policies missing level(s) of cover requested are docked stars. For example, if personal accident cover is required, policies that don't include it will be docked a star, giving customers the ability to make a more informed choice when choosing insurance.
Established in June 2006, Gocompare.com is an independent insurance comparison website offering consumers the right insurance at the most competitive price. Gocompare.com went live in November 2006.
Gocompare.com is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.