The share of UK consumers that purchased contents insurance online via a smartphone or tablet increased from 2.5% in 2016 to 16.0% in 2018 according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. The increase was even larger for those purchasing buildings insurance with an increase from 3.0% in 2016 to 30.4% in 2018.

The company’s latest report ‘UK Household Insurance: Distribution and Marketing 2018’ reveals that more than 60% of home insurance purchases in 2018 were conducted online across all three household insurance products when PC and laptop sales are also included.

Yasha Kuruvilla, Associate Insurance Analyst for GlobalData comments: “Online sales are dominating the household insurance market, with every other method seeing a decline since 2016. Phone sales were hit the hardest, seeing a fall in popularity from 32.0% in 2016 to 18.6% in 2018.”

While buying household insurance directly from the provider is still the most popular purchasing channel in 2018, price comparison websites are likely to gain ground in the future. This is due to consumer demand for convenient and competitively priced purchases and the stark increase in online sales, where comparison sites have a strong presence.

Furthermore, the decline in the availability of affordable homes will result in the age of first-time home buyers rising in the UK. This will lead to a greater proportion of people in the UK renting until later on in their life.

Kuruvilla adds: “The rise of ‘Generation Rent’ will prompt an increase in the number of contents and buildings only policies in the household insurance market. These products are simpler than a combined policy, making online purchasing more accessible for the general public. Our data reflects this- while online sales increased for all three products, the increase was most pronounced for contents and buildings policies.”

 ‘*’ The survey data is taken from GlobalData’s General Insurance Consumer Survey 2018.