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The value of the insurance industry as a whole has been on an epic rise, largely contributing to the growth of the world’s economy.
In Nigeria, the insurance industry is valued at around N300 billion, with over 50 insurance companies presently registered.
Retail insurance is one of the strong arms of insurance, as it caters to the needs of businesses. Currently, it is largely under-tapped and has the ability to capture a significant aspect of the insurance market in the future.
Table of contents
What is retail insurance?
Retail insurance is a policy that is specially designed to provide protection for businesses from potential risks.
Basically, it ensures that your business is protected against potential risk according to your line of operation. Also, insurers can tailor retail insurance to suit your specific needs, covering a wide array of possibilities and needs of your business.
What does retail insurance cover?
The coverage details of retail insurance could vary from one policy to another. This means that you could place several retail insurance sides by side and they wouldn’t look exactly the same because they cover different businesses.
However, there are five main things that a retail insurance policy should include. They are:
1. Liability
Liability should be one of the first things to consider when drawing up a retail insurance policy. Basically, it includes employer, public, and product liability.
These three aspects come together to provide the best protection for you.
Public liability insurance covers your business against claims made by members of the public, due to damages caused by your business.
Employer’s liability protects against claims from employees, while product liability covers any resulting damages from your product or services.
2. Premises
Retail insurance should primarily cover structural damages to your business premises and therefore pays for repairs. A number of factors could cause this damage.
This includes theft, fire, flood, vandalism, and more, which should be all indicated in your contract. In addition, premises coverage ensures that they carry out repairs quickly, allowing your business to return to functioning ASAP.
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3. Stock and contents
Stocks and contents take into account the asset in your business environment. It could be as little as the furniture to as expensive as machine equipment, which if something happens to them, the business process slows down or stopps completely.
Therefore, retail insurance covers stock and contents. It ensures this doesn’t happen by replacing those assets as soon as possible.
4. Business interruption
The business world comes with unexpected events, which could suddenly halt business processes.
For example, what if you wake up to a suddenly flooded environment or fire, or riot that restricts normal business operation?
In such a situation, your business interruption cover kicks in, providing compensation for income lost on that day. Also, this could as well be the difference between your business’s survival and closure.
5. Legal protection
Lastly, businesses come with all sorts of legal implications and lawsuits from outsides looking to get a chunk of your money.
More so, for whatever reason it is, retail insurance containing legal protection ensures that your business doesn’t bleed directly when you lose lawsuits.
Also, it covers legal fees as well as other proceedings, therefore, giving you little to worry about financially.
Bottom Line
Retail insurance is very important and a must-have for businesses looking to protect their best interest. Although it may appear expensive, it actually saves you more considering the value that it provides in return.