TikTok officially transitions to powerful distribution channel for commercial insurance for ecommerce businesses through digital insurtech company Ergo Next Insurance partnership. Embedded insurance will be a game-changer for the distribution of insurance over the next few years as a broader range of platforms emerge as distribution partners, says GlobalData, a leading intelligence and productivity platform.
According to GlobalData’s 2025 SME Survey*, 39.1% of global SMEs claim to have been offered business insurance when purchasing another product or service through a marketplace platform. In fact, almost half (48.8%) of all SMEs offered embedded insurance through a marketplace bought it.
Beatriz Benito, Lead Insurance Analyst, GlobalData, comments: “A key competitive advantage of embedded insurance is that policies are integrated at the point of sale with a core product or service offered by a non-insurance business, meaning that the model allows insurers to reach customers who may not have actively sought to take out an insurance policy. Given its convenience, embedded insurance is also characterized by high conversion rates.
“ERGO NEXT’s partnership with TikTok reflects a massive industry push toward embedded commercial lines. While historically embedded insurance heavily focused on personal lines, the next wave will gravitate toward commercial lines as providers realize further potential despite the greater complexity of commercial products.”
TikTok Shop’s ecommerce businesses can now purchase general liability, professional liability, workers’ compensation, and cyber insurance entirely online when buying digital tools for their business through TikTok’s merchant onboarding and business management infrastructure. This creates a more streamlined experience for digital-first businesses as it removes the need to fill out long questionnaires, as this information can be leveraged from the merchant’s profile data that is already on the TikTok Shop platform.
Benito continues: “Beyond operational efficiency and seamless workflows, the embedded insurance concept can lead to cost savings as policies may be priced more favorably given that embedding eliminates marketing and brokerage costs. Furthermore, it will likely reduce underinsurance among SMEs as many may not have realized the relevance of such policies to their business.”
There will be hurdles to overcome for insurers to maximize the potential of embedded insurance in commercial lines. For instance, some businesses may hold off from purchasing insurance through a marketplace when buying another product or service because they anticipate difficulties with the claims process, while others may just want to receive advice.
Benito concludes: “The next generation of embedded insurance innovation will likely be limited to smaller businesses with less complex needs, while outreach to larger businesses will likely take longer.”
*GlobalData’s SME Survey examines businesses’ preferences when purchasing key insurance products and how they engage with providers. It also explores SMEs’ openness to new technologies, concepts and products. SMEs with fewer than 250 employees were recruited via an online panel. The survey was carried out in Q4 2025, with 2,054 SMEs surveyed across Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, the UAE, the UK, and the US.
