Wesfarmers Insurance says it is converting 40-50% of people asking about insurance through the call centre of giant retailer Coles.

CEO Affinity and Direct Stuart Blake told insuranceNEWS.com.au the business has so far acquired more than 100,000 customers.

“We see Coles Insurance as a market-changer,” he said. “The majors [insurers] don’t want customers to shop around, but people are telling us they are paying too much for their insurance.

“There are valid reasons for increasing house premiums, but there is no justification for that applying to car insurance.”

Mr Blake says now that the business has obtained scale, the focus will be on pricing and boosting sales through Coles’ recently relaunched Flybuys loyalty scheme.

“We will be promoting the benefits of having Flybuys when buying insurance, as with every extra policy customers will get more points,” he said. “This could lead customers to saving hundreds of dollars on their premiums.”

Mr Blake says Wesfarmers has kept costs down by relying on the Coles brand for marketing.

“We are also seeing more than 50% of customers taking their policies out online and that is cutting overheads,” he said.

A recent campaign targeting Sydney’s North Shore with offers of cheaper car insurance has worked and will be used in other areas, Mr Blake says.

Wesfarmers Insurance has centralised several back-office claims operations with its other insurance brands, and he says there is now a sound operational platform to handle further expansion of the Coles business.

“We are not in a consolidation phase,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “Coles is a mass-market proposition and we are accelerating our growth in this area.”