retail insurance

Clothing Store Insurance

How Clothing Stores Can Protect Themselves To The Fullest

When one thinks of a high-risk, they do not tend to think of the clothing industry as high-risk. Well, this would be a huge mistake. Just ask a Canadian clothing retail outlet and they will tell you that the industry comes with immense risks. Not only do you have the potential of someone slipping and falling in your retail store, but there is the potential that someone could develop rashes, itches hives, or breakouts due to your clothing material. Heck, this could even lead to severe allergic reactions that eventually lead to death. Think it sounds a bit far-fetched? It is very unlikely, but just the potential that it could happen should be enough to make you want to cover yourself and your business with a comprehensive retail business insurance policy.

You’ve worked so hard for your business and to let something ruin it and threaten the financial stability of your family, employees, and their families would just be simply irresponsible on your part. While death and skin sensitives might be far-fetched in the clothing industry, slip and falls are not. Along with this, there are other risks, which will be explored below.

 

Business Owner’s Policy And General Liability Insurance

Going back to the above scenarios, you have to consider that your customers are not the only ones that pose a risk. Along with customers. you’ll also have vendors, other retailers, partners, employees, and public servants in and out of your business all day long. Every time someone steps foot in and out of your business, there is the risk for a slip and fall or property damage. Even if a rock falls on someone’s vehicle in the parking lot, you could get sued for it. You might not be deemed liable by the Canadian court of law, but you’ll spend thousands in court costs. Is this something you want to pay out of pocket? Do you have the extra funds right now to cover such charges?

With a combination of business owner’s insurance and general liability insurance, you won’t have to. That’s exactly two of the things that these policies cover against. Business owner’s coverage against customer injuries, while general liability will cover against property damage and slip and falls. However, it should be known right now that these are not the only type of protection offered by these policies. Business owner’s insurance also covers business interruptions and stolen or damaged goods, whereas general liability offers protection against advertising slander and libel.

Given that approximately $13 million dollars worth of goods is stolen from Canadian retailers each year, it only makes sense to make sure that your goods are covered. That’s literally $35 million per day from local Canadian retailers. While this figure might come from a combination of the stores in the country, it doesn’t even begin to account for all the potential of damaged goods. Businesses probably suffer just as much losses in damaged property during transportation or everyday business. And, what about business interruptions. While you might be covered for fire damage, have you taken the time to think about the money that you’ll lose while you are closed? How long will you be closed?

Even the slightest interruption could impact some of the most successful clothing stores in negative ways. You won’t have to worry about any of this when you bundle business owner’s insurance with general liability insurance. Unfortunately, these are not the only areas where you’ll need protection.

 

Workers’ Compensation Insurance Is A Must

Being that you are located in Canada, workers’ comp will be necessary, There are no two ways about it. If you want to open a clothing store legally, you’ll be required by the law to cover every employee with this type of policy. Even if it wasn’t required, it wouldn’t make any logical sense to go into business without this type of coverage. Why? Because, you are not only at risk from customers and outside individuals, but you are at risk of your own employees. While employees are completely necessary, they do pose their own unique risks.

Once again, the clothing outlet industry might not seem high-risked, but it only takes a wrong turn, a missed step, or a simple random act to paralyze someone. People get paralyzed all the time from yawning the wrong. And, if it happens on the job, it can be blamed on you and your business. When these situations take place, the injured parties will come after you for compensation. Not only will they likely look for you to cover their lost wages, but they’ll likely also want rehab costs, mental anguish pay, and more.

The entire situation might turn into a lengthy, nasty, drawn-out lawsuit that could potentially threaten the name and operation of your business. While workers’ compensation cannot prevent someone from ruining your good name and the name of your business, it can cover employee’s medical expenses, rehab costs, and mental anguish. Not only this, but it’ll cover most of the court-related costs associated with a lawsuit. As was already mentioned, even if you are not deemed liable, a lawsuit could get tied up in the courts and end up wasting thousands of dollars, resources, and time. Workers’ comp will prevent this by not only covering the related costs, but the policy will pay for your lawyer.

 

Umbrella/Excess Liability Insurance

It doesn’t take an attorney or retail genius to see how the above policies are pertinent to any Canadian clothing retail outlet. However, nothing is ever as good as it seems, and this is the exact case with these policies. How and what exactly does this mean? It simply means that it doesn’t matter what provider you go through, there are going to be limits as to how much protection the insurance provider can offer. Even if you go with a well-known and highly reputable insurance provider like ProfessionalsCoverage, they’ll likely only be able to offer you a maximum coverage plan of $1 to $10 million. This might sound like a lot of money and it is, but imagine if you suffer two claims at the same time or two within the same year.

Given the risks, the numbers, and the types of scammers out there, it is not at all unfathomable to imagine this happening. Whatever extra is needed will be expected to come from you or your business. It would be hard for even the most successful businesses to cover $500,000 unexpectedly. Heck, it would be hard for most businesses today to over $100,000 unexpectedly. Luckily, you won’t have to with this umbrella policy, as it’ll cover the excess that your original policy doesn’t cover. Just know that there are also limits to this policy as well. Given that you are not in a high-risk industry, you might not even need this excess coverage, but it is always good to be prepared.

 

 

 

 

Need coverage in effect? Compare the market!

get a quote

 

 

 

 

Other Types of Retail Insurance We Provide:

If your business is not mentioned below, have no worries. Our insurance markets can provide liability coverage for the majority of retail industries.