Holiday Readiness: Essential Insurance Tips for Retailers

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1. Review and Update Liability Insurance

Check your retail insurance policy and coverage limits, and update it if necessary. For example, you’re likely to see an increase in customers visiting your store, which raises the chances of a customer getting injured or causing accidental damage to your property.

Review your policy’s coverages and limits, including:

• General liability insurance covers third-party bodily injuries and third-party property damages that happen on your premises or due to your store’s normal operations.

• Commercial property insurance covers your business property, contents, and inventory for damages and losses caused by fire, water, natural disasters, theft, and vandalism.

• Business interruption insurance is frequently included with commercial property insurance, or you should add it to your policy. It kicks in following an insurable loss (like a fire) that forces your store’s temporary closure for repairs to cover lost income and your business’s overhead expenses.

• Product liability insurance covers any defective products you sell or items that injure customers or damage their property. You’re liable for any product (including food) you sell. Sometimes it’s included with general liability insurance.

• Cyber liability insurance covers cybersecurity risks affecting your technology and e-commerce systems and data, such as data breaches, cyber-attacks, and fraud involving a point-of-sale (POS) system.

2. More Inventory Equals More Risk

You’ve been stocking up on merchandise for the holiday shopping season. Holding more inventory than what you usually do poses more risk if that merchandise is damaged or stolen.

For that reason, it’s important to maintain an accurate contents inventory list that details all the physical assets and merchandise in your store and their estimated values. Doing so will help if you must file a claim with your insurer. 

3. Increase Security to Prevent Fraud and Theft

Retailers know shoplifting is an ever-present problem, and with more people visiting your store, that problem may be amplified. 

Train your employees to spot potential signs of shoplifting and to try to prevent it from happening. For example, ensure you have enough staff scheduled to work during peak shopping times, be attentive to customers, and have security cameras and mirrors installed inside your shop.

Fraud is another never-ending threat. You can take steps to thwart fraud involving your point-of-sale (POS) system, such as using complex passwords to sign in and change them regularly, keeping your POS system out of reach from visitors to your store, and physically securing it to a counter.

Get the Low-Cost Retail Insurance You Need Now

Every retailer should have some form of liability insurance. Interacting with the public, other companies, and suppliers could result in damages, injuries, or legal disputes. 

Zensurance provides hundreds of thousands of Canadian retailers, online sellers, and e-commerce businesses with the low-cost business insurance solutions they need.

Fill out our online application now for a free quote.

We can help ensure that your retail business is adequately protected so you can focus on increasing sales and growing your bottom line.