Insurance premiums now in ‘sachet’ rates

In its desperate move to reach out to the Filipino mainstream market to avail of the much needed insurance protection, the Pioneer Insurance Group is going to adopt a sachet marketing concept in the Philippines.

Providing bite-size-chunk insurance premiums to Filipinos is one of the best options in order to draw more Filipinos to consider insurance as part of their basic needs, said Pioneer Life president and chief executive officer (CEO) Lorenzo O. Chan in a press conference held recently.

Following the success of the mobile industry, which revolutionized the sachet concept on mobile products, Chan said the Pioneer Insurance is positioned to do the same in the next six months.

Excluding the insurance premiums offered by state-owned insurance agencies like Social Security System (SSS) and Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), only single-digit percentage or six percent of the over 80 million Filipinos are insured.

This insurance sachet-concept to be introduced by Pioneer Insurance is expected to break new grounds in the Philippine insurance industry, making insurance products more affordable to the grassroots market.

Hand in hand with the introduction of sachet insurance offer, Lorenzo said Pioneer will make an extremely aggressive move to educate Filipinos on the importance of insurance, as protection, in both life and non-life insurance products.

The mobile industry for instance, he said would not reach this level of success, if it were not because of the double-time efforts made by the industry players, to make majority of Filipinos embrace the mobile telecommunication, and make it part of their daily budget.

“We are now re-designing and re-packaging our insurance products,” Chan said making insurance premium an easy-reach product to Filipinos.

According to Chan, Pioneer Insurance is trying to understand well in the needs and financial lifestyle of Filipino masses, and that the company is going to offer insurance products that would be customized to the different needs of various market segments.

In the past, sachet concept was only adopted largely by commodity products manufacturers, such as Shampoos, foods, and other basic commodities. Now, the concept is adopted by other industries, like telecommunication’s mobile and Internet products, cable TV operators, and others.

However, Chan refused to expound on the sachet insurance concept, saying it will be properly introduced in the next six months.

To indicate its commitment to expand market reach in the Philippines, the Group has recently opened its P2.3 million eight-story building at the Cebu Business Park (CBM).

Chan said there is a huge market awaiting to be tapped in the Philippines, especially in the regional areas, like Cebu.

For its non-life insurance products, the company is positioned to work closely with cooperatives, and smaller scale businesses in order to penetrate strongly in the grassroots level.