Compare the Market
 | |
| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | E-commerce |
| Founded | 2006 |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | Peterborough London United Kingdom |
| Key people | Mark Bailie (CEO) |
| Parent | BGL Group |
| Website | www |
Compare the Market (stylised as comparethemarket) is a UK price comparison website, founded in 2006, that is part of the BGL Group. The website also offers other online companies the ability to provide their customers with a co-branded or white labelled comparison service.[4]
In 2009, the company launched an advertising campaign featuring a series of meerkat characters (tied in with the supposed pronunciation of the word "market" in a Russian accent), after which it became one of the "Big Four" price comparison website in the UK.[5]
History
[edit]The website was set up by Budget Group (now BGL Group) in early 2006,[6] following a decision to sell its high street business to Swinton.[7]
In 2012, an Australian division of the company was launched, with its television advertisements also featuring the meerkat characters Aleksandr and Sergei. The ads themselves, however, differ from their British counterparts, with one such storyline revealing the meerkats had purchased the Australian site.
Comparison products
[edit]Comparethemarket allows customers to compare prices on a number of insurance products including car, home, van, life, pet, travel and over 50s insurance. It has also expanded into the comparison of other products that can be switched such as energy/utilities, broadband and digital TV, as well as a range of financial products such as loans, credit cards, current accounts and mortgages.
Compare the Meerkat campaign
[edit]
On 5 January 2009, the company launched an advertising campaign featuring a CGI meerkat character named "Aleksandr Orlov"[8] who pleads with viewers looking for cheap car insurance to stop confusing his meerkat comparison website comparethemeerkat.com with comparethemarket.com, due to the similarity between the words meerkat and market. As part of the campaign, Comparethemeerkat.com was created which did indeed allow visitors to compare meerkats.[9]
On 26 November 2012, the website started sponsoring the long-running soap opera Coronation Street on ITV in a three-year deal, costing around £30 million.[10]
Other adverts
[edit]In December 2012 another advert was launched this time featuring Maurice Wigglethorpe-Throom (played by Robert Webb) the founder of Compare the Market and his assistant Spencer who find out about Aleksandr (who makes a cameo appearance in a photograph) and Compare the Meerkat.[11]
Competition law investigation
[edit]In September 2017 the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened an investigation into Comparethemarket's use of wide most favoured nation (MFN) clauses in its contracts with home insurance providers, which prevented those insurers from offering lower prices on rival price comparison websites.[12][13][14][15] The CMA issued a statement of objections on 2 November 2018; its chief executive, Andrea Coscelli, said that the authority had "provisionally found that Comparethemarket has broken the law by preventing home insurers from offering lower prices elsewhere".[16][17]
On 19 November 2020 the CMA found that BGL (Holdings) Limited, BGL Group Limited, BISL Limited and Compare The Market Limited had infringed the Chapter I prohibition of the Competition Act 1998 and Article 101(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union between December 2015 and December 2017, and imposed a penalty of £17,910,062.[18][19][20]
The companies appealed to the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) in February 2021.[12] On 8 August 2022 the tribunal unanimously allowed the appeal and set aside the decision, and with it the penalty.[21][22] The CAT held that the CMA's definition of a single two-sided market for home insurance price comparison was "materially wrong", and that the CMA had "failed to establish that wMFNs had the anti-competitive effects articulated in its Decision", much of its analysis being pitched "at the level of theory or bare assertion, with no significant reference to quantitative evidence".[21][23] Compare the Market said it was "happy with the outcome", while the CMA said it was "disappointed with the judgment" and was considering its next steps.[24][25] The decision had been the CMA's first infringement finding on wide MFN clauses; legal commentators noted that the judgment came shortly after the Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Order, in force since June 2022, classified wide retail MFN clauses as hardcore restrictions under UK competition law.[25][23]
TV show sponsorship
[edit]| TV show | Duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Coronation Street | 2012–2020 |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Cowen, James (26 May 2023). "Motor insurtech appoints Compare the Market founder as chairman". Insurance Times. Archived from the original on 30 March 2025. Retrieved 30 March 2025.
- ↑ "Nocookies". The Australian. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
- ↑ Armitage, Jim (26 January 2025). "Simples! How Compare the Market left its rivals for dust". The Times. Archived from the original on 30 March 2025. Retrieved 30 March 2025.
- ↑ "Compare The Market". BGL Group. Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
- ↑ RS Consulting (4 July 2017). Price comparison websites: consumer perceptions and experiences (PDF) (Report). Consumer Futures. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2024. p. 11:
The four price comparison websites with the greatest market share. They are moneysupermarket.com, gocompare.com, comparethemarket.com and confused.com.
{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ Newman, Andrew (1 May 2006). "Another good year for Budget". Insurance Brokers' Monthly. Archived from the original on 1 March 2016 – via HighBeam Research.
- ↑ "What's New?". Insurance Brokers' Monthly. 1 September 2006. Archived from the original on 1 March 2016 – via HighBeam Research.
- ↑ "How Passion created Aleks the billionaire meerkat". Digitalartsonline.co.uk. Archived from the original on 25 June 2009. Retrieved 1 August 2009.
- ↑ Hickman, Martin (29 October 2010). "The 'Simples!' idea that became a £10m empire". The Independent. London.
- ↑ O'Reilly, Lara (12 July 2012). "Comparethemarket to sponsor Corrie". Marketing Week. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
- ↑ "Comparethemarket updates Robert Webb campaign". www.campaignlive.co.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
- 1 2 "Price comparison website: use of most favoured nation clauses". Competition and Markets Authority. Retrieved 20 August 2026.
- ↑ Miles Brignall (26 September 2017). "Comparethemarket.com investigated over alleged deals with insurers". The Guardian.
- ↑ Ben Chapman (26 September 2017). "Comparethemarket.com reportedly under investigation over deals with insurers to push up policy prices". Independent.
- ↑ Katie Morley (26 September 2017). "Comparethemarket.com under investigation by competition watchdogs over insurance pricing". The Telegraph.
- ↑ "ComparetheMarket home insurance deals could deny people better prices" (Press release). Competition and Markets Authority. 2 November 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2026.
- ↑ "Comparethemarket may have broken competition law, regulator says". TheGuardian.com. 2 November 2018.
- ↑ "CMA fines ComparetheMarket £17.9m for competition law breach" (Press release). Competition and Markets Authority. 19 November 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2026.
- ↑ Clarfelt, Harriet (19 November 2020). "Compare the Market fined £17.9m for breach of competition law". Financial Times.
- ↑ "Comparethemarket fined £17.9m by competition watchdog". TheGuardian.com. 19 November 2020.
- 1 2 "BGL (Holdings) Limited and Others v Competition and Markets Authority: Judgment". Competition Appeal Tribunal. 8 August 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2026.
Case No. 1380/1/12/21, [2022] CAT 36
- ↑ Barton, Siân (9 August 2022). "Tribunal overturns CMA most favoured nation clauses ruling". Insurance Age. Retrieved 20 August 2026.
- 1 2 "CAT sets aside CMA infringement decision on wide MFNs". Herbert Smith Freehills. 22 August 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2026.
- ↑ "Tribunal reverses £17.9m Compare the Market anti-competition fine". Insurance Times. August 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2026.
- 1 2 "Compare The Market ruling 'not green light' for price restriction clauses". Out-Law. Pinsent Masons. 11 August 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2026.