What is shop insurance?
There is no single type of shop insurance. Rather, the term shop insurance is the name for a range of policies that can help cover you from a claim if something happens in your shop. This can range from someone being injured on your premises, or stock, fixtures and fittings getting lost, stolen, or damaged.
Your business could be held legally responsible if a customer is injured or their property is damaged in your shop. That’s why public liability insurance is often the foundation of a shop insurance policy. Most policies offer coverage of between £1 million and £10 million.
But the risk doesn’t stop once the customer has left the building. If a product purchased at your shop injures them or damages their property, you could also be liable, which is where product liability insurance comes in handy.
Employers’ liability insurance of at least £5 million is a legal requirement for any business with employees. If you have even one member of retail staff, who is not a family member and who doesn’t live abroad, this needs to be in place.
Contents cover, meanwhile, will help to replace anything from products broken by a clumsy customer on the shop floor to an employee’s misplaced phone.
And that’s not all. Commercial buildings insurance, business interruption insurance, and specific stock insurance can all be important considerations as a shopkeeper. You can shape your shop insurance policy around the exact needs of your retail business.