Carrot ("Carrot" or the "Company"), a digital insurance platform of South Korea, is pleased to announce that it has entered into an Exclusive Promotion and Distribution Agreement with platform giant Naver Financial Corp. (Naver), whereby Carrot has been appointed to exclusively supply shipment return insurance for the merchants of Naver's online shopping platform (Smart Store). Smart Store is the nation's largest ecommerce marketplace in terms of transaction volume as of current.
Compensating for the cost of return shipping and handling of goods, the proposed insurance is a non-traditional product designed to meet the needs of the marketplace sellers, as well as the shoppers. Sellers who purchase the cover are expected to boost their revenue through added marketing advantage, as the online shoppers are provided with extra layer of peace of mind in case they want to return or exchange the purchased items.
Likewise, resounding success has been recorded from the pilot test co-conducted by two parties for the duration of four months during the second half of previous year, affirming that Carrot's business model works. Thousands of vendors who implemented the coverage reported 15% jump in sales volume while achieving 31% growth in revenue on average. In addition to the users' overwhelmingly positive responses, a surge in demand for the insurance to cover more shopping categories has been observed.
We are excited to be working alongside with Naver, We share Naver's vision of innovating on behalf of clients, and the launch of this service is one way how we address customers' pressing needs. We are distinctively positioned to develop and deliver digital insurance solution to Naver that will broaden access to small online business owners and help them grow and protect their businesses. We look forward to continually introduce series of platform integrated solutions through our long-lasting partnership."
Speaking of the recent partnership announcement, Paul Jung CEO of Carrot.
Carrot anticipates that the concept of integration of insurance services into e-commerce transaction will expand to other "ecosystem partners". 11th Street, the 2nd largest shopping and open-market platform of Korea has started distributing Carrot's shipping return cover since 2020 and has plan to promote for wider adoption by the vendors to bolster their profitability, according to the firm. Not to mention that Amazon last year has inked exclusive partnership with 11th Street to enter the lucrative Korean e-commerce market.
About Carrot General Insurance Corp.
Based in Seoul Korea the company was established through a JV partnership with some of the big-name investors, including Hanwha, SK Telecom, Hyundai Motor Group, Altos Ventures, and Stic Investments. Being the nation's first fully-licensed 100% digital insurance carrier, Carrot has been disrupting the market with innovative products and has outpaced its global peers in terms of the speed of acquiring customers to its usage-based insurance program. The company's successful footprint owes itself to strong customer value propositions, including easy and accessible insurance, transparent premiums, AI automated accident registration and prompt dispatch of help services all made possible via proprietary technology. The company is also pursuing business in Pay-As-How-You-Drive auto insurance, which assesses the premiums as per customer's driving patterns and behavior through sensor data analytics. In line with the company's open innovation strategy, Carrot has 100+ national & international partnerships, including South Korean government unit that oversees national highways and traffic controls.