A new competitor is jumping directly into the insurance market – IKEA Group, the Swedish maker of stylish and affordable furniture.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the company began selling child and pregnancy insurance on Oct. 1, under the brand name Omifall. It’s a small rollout, at select IKEA stores in Sweden, with home-insurance products to come.

IKEA isn’t selling the insurance product directly. Rather, they’re being sold through Ikano Group, a division of IKEA owned by three sons of its founder, according to the story. This is the first time that IKEA has sold insurance directly at its stores, but it has offered policies separate from the main company in the past, according to the article.

What began on Oct. 1 is essentially a soft launch, a source told the Wall Street Journal, with an initial marketing audience of 2.5 million people in Sweden who are part of IKEA’s loyalty club. If insurance sales go global, loyalty club membership around the world hits 59 million people, according to the story.

Source: WSJ