Online discount retailer Kogan is continuing its rapid expansion from delivery of electronic goods including mobile phones and mobile services, branching out into the health insurance market in a new partnership with Medibank through its wholly-owned subsidiary Australian Health Management Group.
Set to launch in the second half of the current financial year, Kogan says it’s on a path with a new brand — Kogan Health — to deliver “budget health policies” and bring healthy competition to the health insurance industry.
Kogan’s health insurance offerings will be administered via Medibank’s Australian Health Management Group in a deal to run for an initial period of three years, with underwriting provided by Medibank.
Touting the deal as another example of its brand offering value for money across its wide portfolio of businesses, Kogan executive director David Shafer says Kogan will earn commissions on sales of all insurance policies.
{loadposition peter}"Non-insurance and under-insurance is a growing problem in Australia, with millions of individuals and families not having the level of health cover they may need.
“Kogan Health will bring healthy competition to the health insurance industry, ultimately making it more affordable to take control of your health,” Shafer gushed effusively.
He says the partnership is “another important opportunity to delight Kogan’s large and growing community, by offering better value health insurance to the Australian public”.
“Kogan.com is delighted to be partnering with Medibank and ahm, which together represent one of Australia’s largest health insurers, providing private health insurance and health solutions to 3.7 million Australians. ahm is also Australia’s fastest growing health insurer.
“Having more than eight million Aussies as members of the Kogan community enables us to form strong commercial partnerships like this, which result in a win-win-win for Medibank, Kogan’s shareholders and, most importantly, Kogan’s customers.
Medibank group executive, chief customer officer David Koczkar said: “Kogan.com has been very good at creating a sharp, low-fuss online experience for value-conscious customers.
“So this partnership is a great match and we’ll be able to do something different and attractive for Kogan Health customers."
Kogan’s steady expansion from its roots as purely an aggressive e-retailer offering heavily discounted electronic goods is part of its strategy for developing a broad-based business portfolio with other offerings beyond the electronics products market.
In mid-year, Kogan flagged it was entering the broadband market, announcing it will offer fixed-line NBN services in 2018 in a deal with partner company Vodafone Hutchison Australia.
The deal with VHA will extend the Kogan/VHA partnership across both mobile and fixed-line services for an additional four years to 2022, with rolling two-year extensions after that.
Under the agreement, VHA will provide network and customer service support and marketing incentives for the launch of the Kogan fixed-line services.
"Our strategy to create a portfolio of businesses, all connected through the Kogan brand and all focussed on delivering more affordable goods and services by leveraging our digital expertise, is working,” says Shafer.
"Non-insurance and under-insurance is a growing problem in Australia, with millions of individuals and families not having the level of health cover they may need.
"We work hard to help serve our community of more than eight million subscribers. Kogan’s mission is to make in-demand products and services more affordable and accessible, and we think consumers of health insurance stand to benefit greatly from more competition."