Businessmodel of Progressive Insurance

Customer Segments

Progressive offers a wide range of insurance products and solutions, designed for customers across multiple segments. The Company’s clients primarily comprise general consumers – notably including owners and renters of residential properties – and small commercial business customers with exposure to automotive operations. The Company’s commercial customers operate across the following markets:

• Business Auto, concerning automobiles, vans, and pick-up trucks used by small businesses, such as retailing, farming, services, and private trucking;
• For-Hire Transportation, including tractors, trailers, and straight trucks primarily used by regional general freight and expeditor-type businesses and non-fleet long-haul operators;
• Contractor, including vans, pick-up trucks, and dump trucks used by small businesses, such as artisans, heavy construction, and landscapers/snowplowers;
• For-Hire Specialty, including dump trucks, log trucks, and garbage trucks used by dirt, sand and gravel, logging, and coal-type businesses;
• Tow, including tow trucks and wreckers used in towing services and service station businesses; and
• For-Hire Livery, including non-fleet taxi, black-car service, and airport taxi operators. Progressive provides personal lines insurance products to customers across all 50 US states, and commercial lines products to customers across 49 US States. The Company does not currently write commercial lines products in Hawaii or the District of Columbia. The Company also serves customers in Australia.

Value Propositions

Progressive provides value to its customers in the following ways:

• Its affordable products, with the Company offering insurance products at reasonable process, having been the first US company to introduced reduced rates for low-risk drivers, and one of the first to offer online comparison rates, ensuring that its customers always receive the best price;
• The accessibility of its services, with the Company offering products and services through multiple channels, including an online service channel, a network of local agents, and dedicated in-house sales and service personnel;
• Its broad domestic reach, with the Company providing personal lines insurance products to customers across the entirety of the US, and commercial lines products to customers in all US states but Hawaii and the District of Columbia;
• Its use of technology, with the Company implementing effective data gathering and analysis systems that enable it to segment markets and price its products accurately according to risk potential; and
• Its industry expertise and experience, with the Company employing specialist personnel across its operating segments, led by a team of experienced industry executives. ### Channels

Progressive operates a website at www.progressive.com, through which it provides information on its various products, services, and markets. While the Company does not make sales through its website, it does provide an online tool that enables customers to get a personalised online insurance quote. The Company also operates an online customer portal, through which customers can manage their coverage and accounts, make claims, and access resources, as well as a mobile app.

Progressive primarily makes its sales through a direct sales force, which is organised regionally across the US. The Company’s dedicated sales personnel sell products and services to customers directly, primarily over the phone. Progressive also serves customers in person through its broad network of service centres and claims offices located across the US. The Company has significant operations in Colorado Springs, Colorado; St. Petersburg, Florida; Tampa, Florida; and Tempe, Arizona. Progressive serves customers in Australia through a single location.

Progressive also provides products and services to customers via an extensive network of third parties. This includes more than 38,000 independent agents and insurance brokers located across local agencies across the US.

Customer Relationships

Progressive provides a range of services and tools to customers on a self-service basis via its online customer portal and website. This includes the Company’s online quote tool, as well as tools that allow customers to manage their accounts, make claims, and monitor their coverage without interacting with members of the Company’s sales and service teams.

Progressive makes its sales to customers directly, consulting with them personally in order to provide coverage that is tailored to their specific needs and circumstances. The Company’s insurance products often span multiple years, with the Company seeking to establish long-term, recurring business by providing high-quality customer service and reasonable prices.

Progressive has a dedicated team of service staff that operate out of the Company’s broad network of service centres and claims offices across the US, the members of which are available to handle customer queries, claims, and complaints in-person. Customers can also contact customer support personnel over the phone or by email, with existing customers able to receive personalised assistance via an online chat service.

Progressive additionally provides a range of online resources to customers through its website, including information on the claims process. Customers are also able to follow the Company’s operations and interact with its personnel directly through its social media accounts, including with Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Key Activities

Progressive operates as an insurance holding company. Through its insurance subsidiaries and affiliates, the Company offers a range of personal and commercial automobile and property insurance, as well as other specialty property-casualty insurance and related services.

The Company aligns its operations into three reportable business segments: Personal Lines, which writes insurance for personal autos, and recreational and other vehicles; Commercial Lines, which primarily writes liability, physical damage and other auto-related insurance for automobiles and trucks owned and or operated by small businesses as part of the commercial auto market; and Property, which writes homeowners and renters insurance across most of the US. The Company serves a broad range of consumer and commercial customers across the US, as well as in Australia.

Key Partners

Progressive works closely with a broad network of partners, that support the Company’s various operations. These partners can be organised broadly into the following categories:

• Supplier and Vendor Partners, including suppliers of services, technologies, and equipment that is utilised by the Company across its segments in support of its core operations, as well as companies to which certain functions can be outsourced;
• Auto Repair Partners, comprising the Company’s network of authorised independent auto repair shops that provide services and repairs to the Company’s customers in the event of an accident or damage;
• Channel and Distribution Partners, comprising the Company’s extensive network of independent agents and insurance brokers across the US, who provide products and services to customers on the Company’s behalf; and
• Strategic and Alliance Partners, including a number of market leading companies across multiple business sectors, with which the Company collaborates on various joint marketing, branding, and other projects. Progressive has launched a number of partnerships in recent years. This includes a tie-up with insurer Vertafore, a partnership with General Motors’s hands-free communication and vehicle safety service OnStar, and a partnership with Mitek Systems.

Key Resources

Progressive’s key resources are its intellectual properties and technologies, its IT and communications infrastructure, its online portals, its sales and distribution infrastructure- including its service centres and claims offices, its network of agents and brokers, its partnerships, and its personnel.

Progressive relies heavily on its technology and data gathering and analysis systems, with its risk measurement and price segmentation capabilities key to its operations. The Company also owns a number of US patents relating to various aspects of its operations.

Progressive also owns and or leases a number of physical properties across the US, notably its network of offices, service centres, and claims offices.

Cost Structure

Progressive incurs costs in relation to the development of its technologies, the maintenance of its It and communications infrastructure, the development and maintenance of its online portals, the procurement of third party services, the operation of its sales and distribution channels, the settlement of claims, the implementation of advertising and marketing campaigns, the management of its partnerships, and the retention of its personnel.

In 2015 Progressive recorded total expenses of $18.94 billion, including policy acquisition costs of $1.65 billion, investment expenses of $22.80 million, and service expenses of 77.50 million. The majority of the Company’s costs related to losses and loss adjustment expenses, which totaled $14.34 billion for the year.

Revenue Streams

Progressive generates revenue through the provision and sale of various auto, life and, speciality insurance products to consumers and commercial customers. The Company principally derives revenue in the form of premiums paid by its clients, as well through certain service fees, such as those collected from policyholders relating to installment charges.

In 2015 Progressive recorded total revenue for the year of $20.85 billion, up on the 19.39 billion recorded by the Company in 2014. The Company’s Personal Lines segment accounted for the bulk of the Company’s revenue, alone recording $17.29 billion in annual revenue.