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Here are five bad habits in insurance according to HK’s insurance regulator
REPORT: INSURANCE Here are five bad habits in insurance according to HK’s insurance regulator
These habits drag down Hong Kongers’ insurance literacy rate.
For a market ranking first globally in insurance penetration according to professionals. IA identified this as the first behavioural bias—over-reliance on informal information sources. research firm Swiss Re Institute, it is surprising that Hong Kong’s insurance literacy rate stood only at 52%.
In the 2022 Report on Insurance Literacy Tracking Survey (ILTS) in Hong Kong 2021 by the Insurance Authority (IA), it was found that most, Hong Kongers are moderately literate when it comes to insurance.
“There was a general understanding about policyholders’ rights, insurance principles and product features, but limited knowledge of risk exposure and protection needs,” the IA said.
Bad insurance behaviours
Respondents of the ILTS were analysed based on the three dimensions of insurance literacy— knowledge and skills, attitude, and behaviour. The results revealed that bad insurance behaviours exhibited by Hong Kong citizens is the culprit dragging down the insurance literacy rate of the city.
For example, the survey revealed that when it comes to buying insurance, 72% of respondents relied on the advice and experience drawn from family members or friends instead of insurance or financial Consumers who are overly reliant on their family or friends for information and advice is a sign of bandwagon effect. “People often want to be on the winning side when they make a decision. As a result, they look towards their family or friends to see what is right and then jump on the bandwagon,” the IA explained. The second behavioural bias is too much focus on promotions. Promotions offered by insurance companies affect consumers’ decisions via price complexity and misdirected attention. The former means consumers find it challenging to calculate true prices when they face multiple prices, such as discounts and add-ons, leading to confusion and increased possibility of errors. The latter means promotions reduce consumers’ motivation for mental effort, resulting in choices becoming less deliberate but driven by emotions and feelings. Most consumers also seldom shop around for better insurance deals when purchasing or renewing insurance. Nearly half of the policyholding respondents were influenced
by promotion campaigns such as premium discounts, complimentary movie tickets, and healthcare services offered by insurers. On the other hand, a mere 15% of general insurance policy-holding respondents reviewed renewal terms carefully and shopped around when they renewed their policies. Danny Lee Next is passiveness and inertia. The complexity of terms and conditions makes policy comparison very time-consuming. Moreover, policyholders often renew their policies with their current insurers due to a perception that switching is risky and with preference for the familiar rather than the best deal. Lastly, most consumers do not take the time to read the terms and conditions of their policies as many find this too long and timeconsuming in addition to being written in complex legal languages. The perception most consumers think is that no one reads T&Cs or that they have no choice but to accept them thus there is no point in reading them. Only 32% of policy-holding respondents read and study T&Cs People often before committing to acquire insurance coverage. 20% read want to be on neither policy details nor brochures. the winning side The rest simply focused on brochure when they make information and relied on verbal a decision advice from agents, brokers, family members, or friends.
Similar results
Talking to Hong Kong Business, Danny Lee, Chief Product Officer at Manulife Hong Kong and Macau said the key findings of the IA’s study mirror a study they done in February which revealed that most Hong Kong taxpayers do not still do not fully understand the characteristics and benefits of tax-deductible products. Manulife’s survey asked Hong Kong taxpayers about their knowledge of a trio of tax-deductible solutions: Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS), Qualifying Deferred Annuity Policies (QDAP), and Tax Deductible Voluntary Contributions (TVC) under Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) schemes.
Insurance Literacy Scores
Microsoft created an incubation programme in partnership with the government, corporate venture capitalists, and key stakeholders.
Even with an already vibrant and healthy startup ecosystem in Hong Kong—housing 3,750 We plan to Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub. enhance Hong “We joined hands with key Kong’s status as stakeholders like the Hong Kong startups, of which, 18 are unicorns— the industry is not without challenges. Microsoft Hong Kong pin-pointed three pain points for these newly formed local businesses.
According to Kelvin Tse, Director for Global Partner Solutions at Microsoft Hong Kong, startups are challenged by the lack of technological stacks to support and build their businesses; a marketing strategy that will introduce them to their target customers and promote their products; and escalation for them to expand their reach internationally.
Despite these, Microsoft believes that Hong Kong is the heart of information technology. With the push from the government to nurture the space, Microsoft developed an incubation programme—an interconnected system called an international Science and Technology Parks IT hub Corporation (HKSTP), Cyberport, universities, and corporate venture capitalists to strengthen the startup ecosystem. Together, we plan to enhance Hong Kong’s status as an international IT hub,” Kelvin said.
Tech-based solutions
Currently, Microsoft has allotted around US$300k ($2.35m) worth of benefits for all stages of startups that have scaled and need to develop a robust business model. In the hub, startups can access Microsoft products for free and build their own products using Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing service for application management. Other accessible technology in the hub include Microsoft 365, Teams, Power Platform, and Power Automate Dynamics 365, GitHub Enterprise, LinkedIn, OpenAI, Ansarada, and Drata.
“Startups can build their infrastructure or run their solutions on an integrated secure Cloud solution powered by Microsoft. Our education and training resources also help to upskill founders and their staff,” Kelvin said.
There is also an open AI platform in the hub for most tech startups or those creating AI-powered products. This platform gives them a pre-built data model they can take and recreate.
Additionally, through the hub’s technological platform, startups can automate their business processes, automation thus making sure that they become part of the ecosystem where technologies are stacked to support each other’s businesses.
“Accessing our ecosystem is more than a marketing strategy to enhance their market exposure, startups can explore business opportunities with Microsoft and our sizable corporate customers. Startups will also have a chance to expand into the international market with Microsoft’s support when they have demonstrated customer success,” Kelvin said.
An example of a successful startup from Microsoft for Startups Founders
Microsoft joined with key stakeholders like HKSTP, Cyberport, and more to strengthen Hong Kong’s startup ecosystem (Photo courtesy of Web Summit via Flickr)
Hong Kong startups have a big ambition to do some social good and create a positive impact
Through the Founders Hub, Microsoft HK is committed to supporting the startup community to grow and learn together and become an improved ecosystem
Hub is Clearbot, a company that makes AI-powered self-driving boats that collects trash from the ocean, which recently won a contract with Hong Kong property firm Sino Group.
Open to all
For the startup accelerator program, Kelvin said they are not targeting any specific segment.
“Anyone with an idea can just use their LinkedIn profile to apply online and within five to seven days, [they] will get feedback from us,” Kelvin explained.
Microsoft uses a back-end engine that verifies each application and determines at which stage the startup is currently. Then they identify the type of funding or support the startup is eligible for.
“Our Founders Hub is built for founders at every stage. Our technical experts are prepared to help startups and offer guidance at any development stage. For founders’ backgrounds, we see both fresh graduates and mature professionals are eager to develop their entrepreneurship,” Kelvin said.
Currently, Microsoft has 100 startup founders enrolled in the program in Hong Kong, most of them in the fintech or retail sector. They are eligible for a global mentorship program, where they can get the advice of Azure technical experts at any stage of their business implementation. Also available are the curated learning and content from the Microsoft for Startups Founders School, which aims to help founders understand how to reach their business goals and sharpen their technical development ability.
Startups participating in the hub can also forge connections with a broad customer base, Microsoft said.
Why Hong Kong
“We can see the government continues to allocate funding and resources to nurture local startups to grow. The Hong Kong government is committed to increasing research and development (R&D) spending from less than 1% of the gross domestic product (GDP) to more than 1.5% this business year. We can still expect massive funding resources injected into different universities, incubators, or corporate ventures,” Kelvin said.
Kelvin also observed that startups in Hong Kong are not just focused on making money, but on making a difference as well.
“[Hong Kong startups] have a big ambition to do some social good and create a positive impact in terms of ESG and sustainability,” Kelvin explained.
One example is a fintech startup called Know Your Customer, which, as the name implies, is a company focused on solving pain points in KYC and providing anti-money laundering process automation. The startup runs its entire platform using Microsoft Azure with AI and machine learning.
Microsoft managed to connect Know Your Customer with KPMG, one of the big four accounting firms in Asia. The two managed to go to market together by providing an end-to-end solution that lets financial firms comply with market regulations.
Aside from fintech, e-commerce, professional services, and logistics, Microsoft said they are seeing more growth for startups in terms of property tech, education tech, health tech, and sustainability tech.
Kelvin reiterated that through the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub, Microsoft Hong Kong is committed to investing and supporting the startup community to grow and learn together and become a better, improved ecosystem.
Kelvin Tse
More than 40 HK startups participated in the “Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub” programme (Photo courtesy of News.Microsoft.com)
STARTUP SleekFlow allows online sellers to offer checkout on social media chat boxes
Through the platform’s One Click Checkout feature, online buyers do not need to visit or be redirected to a third-party website to complete their purchase.
When sellers receive orders through social messaging apps, they typically redirect buyers to a website or another platform to check out their orders. But with e-commerce platform SleekFlow, these steps become unnecessary as online sellers can directly collect payments through chat, which, in turn, allows businesses to easily convert their prospective customers into paying customers.
“We have a feature called One Click Checkout. The buyers can just DM (direct message) the agent, and they will be given a payment link. Without even logging in, they can receive an OTP (One Time Password) and checkout directly on the social media platform and have the goods delivered to the home,” CEO of SleekFlow, Henson Tsai, told Hong Kong Business in an exclusive interview.
Currently, SleekFlow allows checkout on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram, Viber, and WeChat. It plans to add iMessage, and even TikTok, to its list of platforms in the future. “We’re seeing exponential growth [of e-commerce] in short videos or livestreaming in different countries,” said Tsai.
Data from Sprout Social showed TikTok, Instagram, and Whatsapp are the top social media platforms where most Millennials and Gen Z shoppers make their purchases.
Based on SleekFlow’s statistics, 20% of e-commerce journeys are completed solely on social media. The number is growing by 34% every year exponentially. According to Tsai, the market size will even reach three trillion in 2028.
Managing better conversations and conversions
SleekFlow also helps sellers, especially large ones, manage their conversations with customers by “segmentation and intelligent classification” of their concerns which can help companies in their workflows.
“Before, when companies try to
Currently, SleekFlow has services in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia (Photo: SleekFlow team)
Henson Tsai
We’re seeing exponential growth of e-commerce in short videos or livestreaming
collect data from social media, they put everything into an Excel sheet, and on the next day, they have to distribute manually to different kinds of agents to follow up with the leads,” Tsai shared.
Through SleekFlow’s namesake SaaS software, Tsai said brands can help manage conversations, orders, payments, and their products across different social channels.
Data from previous conversations with customers can also be used by sellers for their future campaigns. “They can send out automation, targeted messages, birthday promos, to actually convert the customers,” said Tsai.
Tsai said brands can subscribe to use SleekFlow’s solutions for as low as US$70, whilst multinational companies would usually just need to pay US$20,000.
“We charge our customers based on how many customer contacts they have, and how many agents, sales or support agents are using our software,” he said.
Future plans
To further improve its solutions, Tsai said SleekFlow is polishing and expanding its solutions like order management to include post checkout experience.
“We want to provide a full suite of features like payment and commerce, booking, inventory, and even logistics,” added Tsai.
The Alibaba-backed startup is also eyeing to expand its services in the United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, and Germany.
Currently, the customer experience platform has services in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia. Amongst its clients include Lalamove, foodpanda, and Bossini.
Tsai said SleekFlow will use its US$8m funding it recently bagged in a Series A round led by New York-based investment firm Tiger Global Partners in making its plans come to life.
Tsai said SleekFlow will continue to focus on conversions and stick to its goal of “driving revenue for brands on day one.”
STARTUP How AiR World drives more foot traffic to businesses with ‘metaverse-to-go’
Users visit their partner malls that serve as a gateway to the metaverse 3 to 5 times a month.
AiR metaverse’s concept is “lifestyle gaming”
Remember the phenomenon that was Pokemon Go, and how it boosted foot traffic in malls all around the world? This was what AiR World founder Gabriel Kwong has been doing for local businesses in Hong Kong, but he did it by incorporating the latest talk of the town - metaverse.
Kwong and his team created a metaverse-to-go gaming platform where real-life, physical locations act as a gateway to another dimension of AiR’s virtual world.
“AiR means ‘Adventure In Reality.’ So what I’m trying to do is, I want to add adventure elements in the form of gamification into real life. We’re placing this metaverse experience into the real world,” Kwong told Hong Kong Business.
“Let’s say you go to a fast food shop chain. On the tray, you will see a paper with a message ‘Why don’t you come to Burger Land?’ and a QR code. By scanning that QR code through the AiR metaverse mobile application, users can play some games, collect virtual items that can also win them a free burger from the restaurant.To the business that means conversion, and to the consumers it’s a fun way to earn a free burger” Kwong added.
The gameplay happens naturally throughout one’s life and everyday experience
Kwong said players can also collect virtual items in one location and use it in another gateway.
“For example, in the Burger Land, you might be able to collect some seeds which can be used in the Farm Land, located in another shopping mall. These seeds, when planted, might grow into a fruitbearing tree. The fruit you harvest from that tree has corresponding points which can help you redeem, let’s say a parking coupon.”
True to their claim of driving foot traffic, Kwong said a single user of their platform would visit their partner malls at least three to five times a month to access their metaverse gateways.
“People don’t visit shopping malls that often, and if they do, it’s likely just once every two to three months,” Kwong added.
As of August 2022, AiR metaverse has 10,000 active users and has recorded close to 100,000 QR code scans which according to Kwong means that users are really going to the physical gateways.
“That’s how gameplay and actual business conversion can work together. That’s how we use our metaverse ecosystem to bring two partners together,” Kwong said.
No danger
Whilst AiR requires players to go out and experience metaverse, Kwong assured that players are safe when they do so because all location gateways are places where a person would usually visit.
“The gameplay happens naturally throughout one’s life and everyday experience. We’re not really asking the players to go somewhere dangerous or in the woods. We’re basically just asking our players to live their lives and along the way, when they go to a shopping mall they might encounter some of our metaverse gateways in which they can easily access and enjoy with our mobile app,” Kwong said, adding that the AiR metaverse’s concept is “lifestyle gaming.”
Kwong also said that one game section would take two to three minutes max.
“You can scan to play something while waiting for your food or waiting for your transportation at the Subway or the bus station,” he said.
The game also has no age restriction. “There’s no game that is not suitable for a younger audience. We actually have parents who told us that their kids enjoy playing simple games at different locations like farming and fishing, etc. There are also senior people who are into collecting benefits from shopping malls,” Kwong said.
He hopes that through the AiR metaverse, businesses and non-crypto savvy users can understand the metaverse better and see its benefits.
“Metaverse to average people or businesses is still more like a PR stint. When people want to know more about what metaverse can do for the general public or businesses, there’s still not a clear indication or a clear path,” he said.
“We wanted to make metaverse practical, meaning there is deliverable. What we’re trying to do here is to be able to lower the entry barrier, to make sure that [businesses see] metaverse as beneficial, more accessible, and approachable,” he added.
STARTUP On a day trip? This marketplace allows 2-hour hotel stay and anytime-check-in
With Flow, customers can cut 50% to 70% of the price they usually pay for an overnight stay.
Flow allows for flexible booking for short-haul travellers
Entrepreneur Eric Lai would often go on short business trips in his previous jobs, and what would always frustrate him is how he had to pay for a 12-hour stay, but only stay in the room for less than five hours. This frustration is what led him to create Flow, a booking platform which allows users to book with flexibility.
“I almost never check in at 2 pm, but instead late at night. I also had to check out early in the morning to catch a flight,” Lai told Hong Kong Business in an interview.
Apart from benefitting customers by paying less, Lai also thought that allowing flexible booking would allow hotels to “resell empty times during daytime after a guest checks out,” which, in turn, would help them increase revenue.
“You can think of us as the Booking.com for half-day hotels. You choose a hotel, choose a duration, and choose a check-in time,” Lai said.
“This will be suitable for business travellers, short-haul travellers. For example, people coming from the Mainland or Macau. Most of them do not stay overnight and actually just come and go within the same day for client meetings,” he added.
Data from the Hong Kong Tourism Board showed that in 2019, there were 32 million same-day
Eric Lai
You can think of us as the Booking.com for half-day hotels
travellers who visited Hong Kong coming from the Mainland.
As most of the bookings in Flow are “instant,” users can also book even a day or two before their desired stay, added Lai.
A traditional overnight stay at a four-star hotel would cost around $700 to $800. Rooms available in Flow usually cost $400 for four-star hotels for a four to five-hour stay.
Localised payment methods
Flow offers local payment gateways like Octopus for Hong Kong, GrabPay for Singapore, and ShopeePay for Malaysia.
“We support all kinds of local payment gateways because we see this as an important move. Localisation is our direction,” Lai said. adding that their payment methods are one of Flow’s advantages against other booking platforms.
Other payment methods that Flow provides include VISA, Mastercard, AMEX, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayMe.
Flow also does not charge customers extra fees for booking at their site, and only earns through commission from their 300 partner hotels, which include Travelodge Hotels, ibis Hotels, Holiday Inn Hotels, Novotel, Dorsett, Pullman, Intercontinental, and more.
“We charge commission out of every booking that we facilitate for the hotels and there will be no extra fee to be charged from the guests,” Lai explained.
“We provide a web-based portal for hoteliers to easily manage their timeslots and prices, which are then listed on our Flow Website and Flow App, in real-time. We usually advise hoteliers to offer four to eight hour sessions, for example 10 am to 5 pm or 3 pm to 10 pm session, but it can be fully adjustable catering to hotels’ operations,” he added.
Getting three to five-star hotels to partner with Flow was a challenge. For them, more booking during the day means more cleaning up.
“The way we dealt with it was we encouraged them to start with just a few rooms and test it out. After a while, they were okay with the setup. Eventually, the extra revenue that we generated for them was able to cover the extra cleaning costs they incurred,” said Lai.
“Most of our hotels price a session at least 30% lower than an traditional overnight price. Thus, if the room is being sold by two sessions in a day, that already results in 40% more revenue than selling by just one full night, since 70% plus 70% is equals to 140%,” he added.
To date, Lai said Flow has facilitated over 200,000 flexible room bookings and brought US$10M additional booking revenue to their hotel partners.
Not just hotels
Hotels are not the only spaces which locals can book through Flow. The marketplace also allows flexible booking of co-working spaces.
Lai said he wanted to add flexible co-working spaces in Flow given the the rise of hybrid work setup. According to Lai, most of their users are freelanders, or employees who often have client meetings outside. For more on this story, go to https://hongkongbusiness.hk/
