Dixons plans commercial comparison site

Electronics retail giant Dixons has plans to become the first aggregator website to offer commercial insurance.

Ipswich-based Call Connections will manage the venture and will initially launch a personal lines price comparison website in October.

Call Connections managing director Graeme Kalbraier said: “We have plans to extend to commercial SME business. We build our own technology and we are looking at ways to build an online platform for people wanting to insure their businesses. We want to be the first.”

Kalbraier said the company planned to offer the commercial product by early 2008.

He cited cost and resource as the reasons existing aggregators, such as Moneysupermarket.com and Confused.com, do not offer commercial insurance.

He said: “Everybody has a limited amount of resources and they direct those to where it suits them best. It is extremely expensive to build an aggregator site.”

By October, dixons.co.uk hopes to provide customers with home and motor insurance products online and over the phone, becoming the first retailer to confirm plans for an aggregator site.

Tesco is believed to be starting its own price comparison website in the autumn, but has remained tight-lipped on its plans.

Kalbraier said he welcomed the entry of Tesco into the market, and expected the well known brand to enhance competition and draw more customers to the various websites.

“Our site will be well-built and very competitive and will offer as good a product or better than any other site.”

Richard Mason, director of insurance at moneysupermarket.com, said that although there was room for many price comparison sites, only a few would succeed long-term.

“Those that focus on maximum choice and lowest prices stand the best chance. I very much doubt a high street electrical retailer can achieve this.”

Call Connection said it already handled about 3 million calls a year within the insurance industry.