An insurance cover protects your business by providing financial compensation for losses incurred that are covered under your chosen insurance policies. Get your retail outlet protected by the right insurance cover options, and maintain your peace of mind as you grow your business.
As a retailer, you need to protect your investments. Your retail business can go from excelling to having to shut down in a matter of days without the right insurance coverage. Unexpected events such as fire, natural disasters, accidents, theft, cyberattacks, and more can leave your business vulnerable without insurance. For your retail business, there are three main kinds of insurance policies you need to look at:
- Property insurance
- Liability insurance
- Workers’ compensation
Before you decide what kind of insurance suits your retail outlet’s needs, you need to thoroughly pore through what each insurance option provides.
What are the three main kinds of shop insurance you’ll need for your business?
The three broad categories that cover most of the insurance policies you’ll be hunting for your retail business include:
Property Insurance
Property insurance protects your brick and mortar building, as well as any products you may be selling. Damages to the building, either from an accident or a natural disaster, are covered under property insurance. Whether you own the building your business is in or have rented out the space, property insurance is a must.
Liability Insurance
If a customer or a third party faces any damage or injury due to your business operations or negligence, then they can sue you. For example, let’s say that you neglected to warn people that you had just gotten the floor of your shop polished. And as a result, someone trips and breaks their ankle. In this situation, they can sue you. Avoid paying for expensive Court costs, attorney fees, or settlement claims with liability insurance.
Workers’ Compensation
This kind of insurance protects your employees and your business by providing coverage for your employees in the event there is a disruption in their capacity to work.
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What are the insurance options available for retailers?
Now that you know what the three broad categories of insurance coverage that you should consider for your retail business are, let’s look at the different kinds of insurance options available to you. As a retailer you should check out these Shop Insurance packages.
1) Public Liability Insurance
Protects your business from being sued by a customer, a third party, or other people who have sued your business. This insurance covers incidents where the affected party suffered injury or property damage. The damage should be directly linked to negligence on your part while on duty or as a result of your business operations. The insurance covers the cost of employing an attorney, as well as compensation should you lose the Court case.
2) Product Liability Insurance
If your retail business sells any kind of product, then you need this insurance. It protects your business against claims by customers and third parties that using your products caused them harm. Please note that sometimes product liability insurance is grouped with public liability insurance as well, so always check with your insurance carrier.
3) Workers’ Compensation
Workers’ compensation is essential insurance coverage for anyone who has hired multiple employees to run their retail business. If something happens to your employee, such as he/she suffering from a personal injury due to work, then this insurance will cover their medical bills. The insurance also provides compensation if your employee sues you.
4) Machinery Breakdown Insurance
Technology is fallible, but that can invite huge financial losses for your retail business. If you run a grocery shop and your refrigerator breaks down, you could potentially lose a significant amount of your stock. Aside from your refrigerator, other essential electric equipment can also break down from time to time. Protect your machinery by getting machinery breakdown insurance. Then you’ll receive coverage should the insured machinery need to be repaired or replaced.
4) Business Interruption Insurance
A business interruption insurance lets you insure your retail business against a specific event ahead of time. This event can include events like fire, earthquake, or floods. If such an event interrupts your retail business, then you can receive compensation that helps you run your business operations.
You’ll also receive assistance as your business recovers. Additional coverages you can opt for to improve your chances of business recovery include stipulations that cover rent or wages until the business is back to normal.
5) Money and Theft Insurance
You never know what can happen to your money while you conduct your business. From theft to property damage, your money can be affected in various ways. But if you have money and theft insurance, you can protect your finances should the worst-case scenario happen.
It covers money that was stolen, damaged while in the shop, when being transported due to the business, or while the money was in professional custody.
Similar to money insurance, but not the same, is theft insurance. Theft Insurance protects your property, products, as well as your premises, should anything be stolen or damaged as a result of attempted theft.
5) Building Insurance and Glass Insurance
You need to protect the place where you run your business if you want to keep running your business there. Your building insurance can cover damages from various scenarios, such as fire, flood, earthquake, violence, storms, and other events. You can select the specific events you want your business to be safeguarded against.
Another policy that also protects your business premises is glass insurance. If your shop has large display cases, shopfront windows, glass signage, and more, then you’ll need to protect them in case they break. Glass insurance provides coverage in such situations, provided you’ve selected the appropriate policy.
6) Cyber Liability Insurance
In today’s world, your retail business is more at risk from cyber attacks than ever before. And some of the damages can lead to huge potential lawsuits, such as if a client’s personal information gets divulged. Viruses and malware can also be expensive to repair and cause you to lose substantial amounts of money.
Cyber liability insurance protects you from that by providing coverage for the costs associated with handling a cyber claim.
