RETAIL BUSINESS INSURANCE
Retail Business Insurance is all about serving the residents within your marketplace with products and services. You do it well and are passionate about your business and products. Your reputation for quality and value are what set you apart from competing businesses. Retailing has become a very challenging business and the businesses surviving and thriving deliver a high level of service and personal attention among constant pressure to provide high quality, great value, and the lowest cost. These same things are important in insurance too.
Our Retail Business Insurance protection is comprehensive coverage built onto the back of our business owner policy (BOP) foundation and it provides a lot of coverage at the least possible cost. Most retail stores are eligible for coverage in our Business Owner policy program when the business is properly protected and managed. When we can use the BOP for Retail Business Insurance clients you will get our most efficient and cost effective policy option. This aids your bottom line without compromising on the wide scope of coverage and protection today’s businesses need. We are also able to offer the more extensive enterprises our commercial package policy program (CPP) with similar pricing and policy construction.
Here are some of the types of Retail Business Insurance clients we can easily assist. This list is representative but not necessarily complete. If you can’t find your business, check with us:
- Appliance Stores
- Army-Navy Stores
- Auto Parts Stores
- Beverage Stores – Beer, Win, Soft drinks
- Boat and Marine Goods Stores
- Book Stores
- Bridal Shops
- Camping Stores
- Candle Stores
- Candy or Sweets Stores
- Carpet & Floor Covering Stores
- Catalog Sales Stores
- Cheese Shops
- China Shops
- Clothing Stores
- Computer and Software Stores
- Cutlery Shops
- Drapery and Window Covering Stores
- Fruit and Vegetable Markets
- Gardening and Nursery Stores
- Gift Stores
- Gourmet Food Stores
- Greeting Card Stores
- Grocery Stores Less Than 40,000 SF
- Hardware Stores
- Furniture Stores
- Home Improvement Stores
- Household Goods Stores
- Housewares Stores
- Lighting Fixtures and Fans
- Linen and Bath Shops
- Lingerie Stores
- Liquor, Wine & Package Stores
- Meat and Poultry Stores
- Musical Instruments Stores
- Optical Goods Stores
- Paint and Wall paper stores
- Paper Goods And Stationers
- Party Goods Stores
- Pet Products Stores
- Pottery and Glassware Stores
- Saddlery and Tack Stores
- Sewing and Fabric Stores
- Shoes Stores
- Sporting Goods Stores
- TV and Radio Retailers
- Toy Stores
- Trophy and Awards Stores
- Variety Stores
The Retail Business Insurance policy language has been carefully written to provide comprehensive insurance for most retail business owners and much of your exposure is the slip and fall exposures of your premises and operations. We know that our Retail Business Insurance policy will be an excellent policy choice for your business needs but all retailers are not the same so we can tailor coverage to your specific needs with coverage endorsements.
Retail Business Insurance needs are similar to many other retail businesses. In our BOP we include comprehensive general liability and business property coverage as a start and can add the other various coverage parts that you need for your business operations. Our BOP coverage is thorough and protecting you with solid protection is what you are after. We can write Retail Business Insurance on either a single locations or multiple location basis but this policy is designed for small to medium operations. Most retail classes are freely written but the typical points of emphasis from underwriter are the maintenance and condition of facilities, cleanliness and housekeeping, along with prior loss history and respectable financial success.
The Retail Business Insurance policy is rated based upon area for most situations. Typically we include many of the following coverage and options but these are your choices to make. Basic general liability and property insurance is included automatically:
Liability – Retail Business Insurance Package
- Bodily Injury and Property Damage, Premises Liability
- Limits available up to $2,000,000/$4,000,000
- Personal Injury and Advertising Liability Coverage
- Coverage on your premises or wherever you do your work
- Employment Practices Liability Insurance
- Fellow Employee Coverage
- Host Liquor Liability
- Non-owned Watercraft
- Hired and Non-Owned Auto Liability
- Products and Completed Operations Liability
- Employee Benefits Liability
- Ohio Stop Gap Liability Insurance
- Cyber Insurance – Data Breach, Cyber Extortion
- Electronic Data Liability Coverage
- Liquor Liability (When required)
Liability insurance protects against the tort of negligence in the Retail Business Insurance policy. The tort of negligence is a breach of duty that is derived from common law principles that have evolved through decades and even centuries of recorded decisions about our relationships with one another including situations involving Retail Business Insurance clients. Your primary exposure is the premises and slip and fall injuries. As a retail business it is inherent in your business to avoid these kinds of losses. This requires you to maintain constant vigilance on the housekeeping, floor upkeep, and making sure the establishment is orderly.
While slip, trip and fall events are among the most common losses for retail businesses, the product you sell are less likely to bring the most expensive loss. When someone is injured or their property is damaged because of a defective product, you could be held responsible. Your duty in the case of product liability is to use all possible caution in product management, rotation, and the instruction on the proper use of the products sold. Consequently, a duty is an obligation we owe to someone else when our product causes injury. In essence, we owe each other the duty to protect them from the consequences of our actions and when someone is hurt or suffers harm to either body, property, or reputation, we may be negligent. Premises liability is based on standard liability principles. Product liability is a stricter responsibility for your Retail Business Insurance to deal with after a loss occurs.
In our culture we boil down our grievances to a money damages settlement in most cases. In the case of the liability coverage provided in our Retail Business Insurance policy, we will pay for the benefit of a legal defense against the claims of injury or damage and we will also pay the amounts that become due to another because a finding of your negligence has been agreed upon. Agreements occur through legal proceedings or an agreement accomplished through the negotiations of your insurance carrier and the other people involved in the claim. This includes bodily injury and property damage as a result of events on the premises, through acts on and away from the work facilities, injuries caused by products, advertising injury, personal injuries other than bodily injury, hired and non-owned auto liability, and injury or damage caused due to computer intrusion and compromise when coverage is chosen. The benefit of a defense of claims can be the best benefit of the well endorsed Retail Business Insurance policy.
Retail Business Insurance – Property Coverage
- Owned Buildings including multiple locations
- Business Personal Property, Fixtures, Stock, Inventory
- Computers and Electronic Records including media
- Building Limit Automatic Increase at the Time of Loss
- Valuable Papers and Records
- Accounts Receivable Coverage
- Computer Coverage and Cyber Crime
- Outdoor Signs—Attached and Detached
- Building Ordinance and Law Coverage
- Off-Premises Coverage for Business Personal Property
- Property in Transit when properly endorsed
- Earthquake Coverage (Some carriers)
- Loss of Rents, Business Income, including Extra Expense Coverage
- Coverage For Water & Sewer Back-up – Not Flood
- Equipment Breakdown & Electrical Disturbance
Our Retail Business Insurance package policies are a combination of property and liability coverage. You do not need to own the building but at the least we must include the business personal property in the coverage including stock and fixtures along with liability coverage. If you own the building the BOP policy expects this to be included in policy coverage too. The Retail Business Insurance policy provides a lot of coverage in a tidy package and it is flexible enough to handle several locations and variety of situations for building, business personal property, computer and cyber-crime needs, signs, coverage on or off premises, loss of business income and break down of critical building mechanical systems that may alter your ability to operate your business.
Inland Marine and Special Property
(See IM Section for more Details)
Inland Marine coverage is especially designed for mobile equipment and property that leaves the insured premises/location. A Retail Business Insurance policy should consider the value of merchandise that is in transit and add coverage for items in transit. Also, IM is needed if you take property to a client location for demonstration purposes. A laptop or other devices you use in the field could also be covered by the Inland Marine property endorsement.
Umbrellas for Retail Business Insurance
Retail Business Insurance often includes an Umbrella liability policy as an additional limit of liability protection because of the potential for large liability claims can occur. Even if you are meticulous in your facilities management, you are still exposed to claims from slip and fall and product failure and it is wise to layer up your liability coverage for the ultimate protection.
Think of an Umbrella policy as an extension of the underlying liability policy limits. What isn’t covered in the primary policies may still be picked up in the Umbrella policy when the cause of loss is not specifically excluded. Most carriers writing the primary Retail Business Insurance policy will also write an Umbrella over their underlying policies. It is good to know what is and isn’t covered by the Umbrella so make sure to ask.
Crime, Surety & Fidelity Bonds
- Employee Theft
- Crime Inside
- Crime Outside
- Surety & Fidelity Bonds
While you are busy operating and managing your business, your Retail Business Insurance can be on guard for the loss of money and property through theft, robbery or burglary, or the dishonesty of an employee. These are losses that can cripple a business of any type and tailoring your protection needs for crime, surety and fidelity coverage can be done within the Business Owner Policy but may be better handled on a separate coverage forms. Crime coverage doesn’t provide defense against inventory shrinkage regardless of the cause.
Business Auto
(See business Auto Section for Details)
Most retail stores do not maintain business vehicles for their business delivery and operational needs and even if that is not true for your business there are auto liability exposures to make sure get covered even when you don’t own business vehicles.
If you maintain and operate your own business autos, trucks and trailers, you will need a separate business auto insurance policy that can be coordinated with your Retail Business Insurance policy and which can enjoy maximum discounts on premium. One of the biggest driver of pricing for business autos are driving records, claims experience, radius of distribution and the types of equipment you use.
It is more likely that the bigger exposures for your business comes from employee autos. If you rely on the vehicles owned by your employees for occasional delivery or business errands, you will need employer’s non-ownership coverage since their accidents could become your obligation to pay and defend under some circumstances. You should purchase liability protection in limits similar to those you carry on premises and operations coverage. We cover non-owned auto liability with an endorsement to your Retail Business Insurance policy when you don’t otherwise own or operate business vehicles.
The business auto coverage is dealt with in general detail in the business auto section. Follow the link to this section for my information.
Professional Advice and Agency Service
Quality coverage begins with understanding your needs and the extent of the risks in your operation. Our claims and underwriter resources have plenty of experience in insuring and providing risk control and management benefits to businesses and their owners. Moreover, I have 37 years of experience working with business owners and have insured hundreds of millions of dollars of property through the years along for hundreds and thousands of businesses. I have worked with fleets of over 100 vehicles. Retail Business Insurance is a relatively common coverage policy product and while our policies are competitive and priced right, the real value might be found in working with an agent who has enough relevant experience so you get the best coverage and best rates and coverage advice that helps avoid coverage holes. I have considerable experience working with small business owners and retail store owners and am available to help you.
This agency represents quality carriers that have the ability to provide the coverage your business needs whether or not it is ultimately provided inside of our Business Owner Policy or our more flexible Commercial Package Policy (CPP) option. Call and ask for Terry McCarthy at (513) 779-7920, 9-5 Monday – Friday most days. We’re available to meet at most any time with an appointment in advance.
