John Lewis Insurance, Pet Created by host on 1/9/2011 2:24:58 PM John Lewis Pet Insurance launched in September 2010 to complement the existing insurance products – Home, Car, Travel and Wedding. The bespoke John Lewis Insurance product is underwritten by AXA Insurance UK plc, whilst sales, servicing and claims handling is managed by BDML Connect Ltd.
Approximately 70% of policies are for dogs, with an average premium of c. £220. An average cat policy costs c. £130. Although the majority of the book is made up of dogs, cat policies provide a real growth opportunity for John Lewis Insurance. Our core target market is the John Lewis and Waitrose customer (and look-a-likes) – Waitrose sells significantly more cat food than dog food, signalling an opportunity to attract more cat policies from our ‘heartland’ customers.
The ‘heartland’ customer for Pet Insurance:
• Aged between 35-66
• 50:50 Male & female
• Social grade: ABC1
• In terms of life stage profile: older families/singles, mature families/singles, elderly family/singles
• MOSAIC groups: Symbols of Success, Suburban Comfort, Happy Families
• FSS groups: Mid-life Affluence, Wealthy Retirement, Gilt-Edges Lifestyles, Flourishing Families and Advancing Status
Our aim is to be able to quote for as many customers as possible – we insure pets from aged 8 weeks and have no upper age limit. Just under 30% of all sales are for kittens and puppies aged under 1 year. We have a wide range of breeds insured with us. The most popular single category breed for dogs is a crossbreed dog – c. 18% of total dog sales. Pedigree dogs make up the large remainder with varieties of retrievers, spaniels, terriers also being common breeds of dog owned by our customers. A large majority of cats owned by our customers are Moggies with popular pedigree breeds including Persian and Burmese.
As with all of John Lewis Insurance products, Pet Insurance is comprehensive and includes features and benefits that do not always come as standard with other policies, for example providing up to £1,000 for advertising if the pet is lost or stolen and up to an additional £1,000 as a reward to ensure pet and owner are reunited as quickly as possible. We provide up to a maximum of £10,000 for vets fees, per year and also include cover for dental treatment, physiotherapy and any behavioural problems. For dogs, we also cover up to £2 million of third party liability in case a customer’s dog causes an accident. As with all John Lewis Insurance products, high levels of service can be expected - wherever possible we try to pay the vet directly so the customer is not out of pocket.
The Internet is a key channel for Pet Insurance, with between 70 – 80% of all quotes online and between 40-50% of sales online. Conversion rates continue to strengthen as we enhance our customer journey, both online and offline.
