Insurers Struggle with Internet Strategies

(Beijing) – Dozens of Chinese insurance companies are cultivating clients and selling policies through the Internet, 12 years after the nation's second-largest life underwriter, Ping An Insurance Group, and rival Taikang Life Insurance Corp. pioneered domestic website services.

On the surface, the profit potential seems huge based on the nation's vast and growing population of regular Internet users – some 538 million at last count, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Nearly 40 percent of these Net users, or some 210 million, regularly shop online.