Taobao sells 'moon insurance'

Anticipating the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival, China's largest online shopping platform Taobao launched a new "moon insurance" plan for customers, offering compensation if they cannot see the moon due to bad weather, reported the Shanghai Evening Post on August 27.

The Mid-autumn Festival, which lands on September 19 this year, is a traditional holiday of reunion for Chinese families, marked with gazing at the full moon and eating piles of sweet moon cakes.

Residents of major cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou can pay a 20 yuan premium for a 50 yuan "A" policy to make up a lunar letdown. Those in 41 other cities can buy a 188 yuan "B" policy for 99 yuan.

As of August 27, the company sold 101 "A" plans in Shanghai, with 133 left for sale. "B" plans have not sold well, said the report.

Claims will be determined on the official weather report published on weather.com.cn for September 19 evening conditions. Moon insurance is only available during the week of August 26 to 31 to prevent customers from checking weather forecasts before the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The moon package was jointly launched with Allianz China General Insurance Company Ltd, which seeks to expand its market through e-commerce.

Jiang Xing, a manager with Taobao Insurance, explained this is just one of many creative marketing campaigns to generate interest in other insurance packages.