Amazon Stock (NASDAQ:AMZN)
On Wednesday, e-commerce behemoth Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) announced the debut of the Amazon Insurance Store in the United Kingdom. Amazon stock fell after the company announced a new online shop that would sell house insurance.
It has formed strategic alliances with these four local insurance providers, beginning with Ageas UK (OTCPK:AGESF) (OTCPK:AGESY), Co-op, and LV=General Insurance. Amazon announced in a statement that it would expand its selection of insurers at the start of 2019.
On Wednesday, Amazon began rolling out its Insurance shop to a small group of consumers, with full availability on the Amazon UK website and mobile app scheduled for the end of the year. When an online retailer makes a foray into a new market, it tends to send stock prices tumbling. Two years ago, investors were worried about drugstore stocks because of their foray into the pharmacy market.
The shop lets users compare prices across similar products, has an easy-to-use questionnaire, and uses Amazon.co.uk for its checkout.
The Amazon Standard of Cover, which is included in all policies by default, is designed to cover most typical homeowner claims.
U.S. P&C insurers aren’t particularly affected by the announcement since the strategy relies on partnerships with existing companies, and the first deployment is small. In the early hours of Wednesday trade, shares of Progressive (PGR) are up 1.1%, Allstate (ALL) is down 0.6%, Travelers (TRV) is up 2.7% after reporting third-quarter earnings today, and Chubb (CB) is up 0.9%.
It was claimed in 2018 that Amazon was exploring entering the house insurance market because smart devices’ ability to monitor homes for threats may lead to reduced rates. A lot of the big guy’s attempts at starting businesses have failed. The Washington Post reported in August that Amazon will be closing its telehealth operations by the end of the year.
Featured Image- Megapixl @ Josefkubes
Author Shariq Khan 
