retail insurance

E-Commerce and Online Retailer Insurance

Everything You Need To Know About E-Commerce Business Insurance Policies

Most people think that just because they run an e-commerce business they are not exposed to the risks that brick and mortar businesses are exposed to. While this might seem like the case at first, when you peel back the layers and look a little deeper, you’ll find that it’s not the case at all. In fact, as an e-commerce store owner in Canada, you’ll likely be exposed to the same threats that most brick and mortar companies are exposed to, if not more given the volatility of the Internet and online scammers these days.

Couple this with the complexity of business retail insurance and it only makes things all that more difficult. Whatever the situation is, you can see just how pertinent it is to understand business insurance, the policies available to you, and just how they can protect your business. That’s exactly what you are going to learn below.

 

Know Your Inherent Risks

Before you delve into the deep world of e-commerce business insurance and everything that it has to offer, you need to know and understand the risks posed to you. It is these risks that will help you develop and implement the right policies. So, what risks are you exposed to? First, you’re exposed to what is known as product liability. This is when a customer claims that one of your products caused them physical harm. For instance, if a baby chokes on a small piece of plastic that falls off one of your products, the parents can sue or place blame at your feet.

Another risk that you’ll be exposed to slips and falls. Now, you might be thinking how this is possible, given that you don’t have a physical outlet store. Well, just because you don’t have customers coming in and out of a physical brick and mortar store, it doesn’t mean that you won’t have people on your property. For instance, you’ll have mailmen delivering and picking up packages that pertain to your business. Well, if that mailman falls on your property while picking up or delivering packages, they can sue your business.

Other risks that you are potentially open to are slander, libel, business interruptions, stolen or damaged inventory, and employee injury lawsuits. So, as you can see, you are open to just as many risks as a brick and mortar business. And, this is not to even mention all the online risks that your business is exposed to. There are even tons of more online risks.

 

Understanding A Bundled Business And General Liability Policy

If you call up any well-known insurance provider in Canada like ProfessionalsCoverage, you’ll find that they are going to start you off with two basic insurance policies. While these policies might seem basic at heart, they can offer some of the most protection to some of the biggest threats that your company will face. When business owner’s insurance is coupled with general liability insurance, they’ll both offer protection against customer injuries, stolen or damaged goods, business interruptions, slips and falls, damaged customer property, and libel or slander claims.

Now, you might be thinking – “How am I possibly going to slander someone’s name?” This happens more often than you’d imagine through simple advertising. Just saying that your company offers better services than another could be considered slander. You could even be sued for something like this. Regardless of the situation, you can see where these bundled policies could come in handy. However, their biggest protection is the fact that they protect against lawsuits.

For instance, say that a mailman does slip and fall on your property while delivering a package related to your business. He or she could sue you even if you are willing to pay for the medical charges. The mailman could sue for mental anguish. Even if you are not deemed liable for the incident, this is something that could get tied up in the courts and end up costing your business thousands of dollars. This is where these policies excel. They will not only cover the settlement if you are deemed liable, but they will cover any court-related courses associated with the incident.

 

An Exploration Of Workers’ Compensation Insurance

Given that you are running an ecommerce business, it is entirely possible that you could get along without hiring any employees. However, if you want to maximize your true earning potential, you’ll need more employees. If you want to eventually expand and grow to your full potential, you’ll need employees. Any time you bring on employees, you are going to need to cover them with what is known as workers’ compensation insurance. This is a type of insurance that protects your employees in the event that they are injured while on the job.

This might sound far-fetched, given that the e-commerce business is low-risk, but it only takes bending in the wrong direction to hurt someone’s back or throw out a disc. Whatever the situation is, these events could result in downtime for your employees. Downtime that keeps them out of work and missing wages. This is where workers’ comp insurance offers the protection that you and your business needs. This type of coverage will not only cover your employee’s medical expenses related to the incident, but it’ll cover their rehab costs, their mental suffering costs, and it’ll even cover your court costs in the event that the employee wants to sue.

Workers’ comp only offers protection for so many years, and some employees with long-term injuries might feel like they are owed more than the coverage offers. When this happens, they’ll likely take the case to the courts. Workers’ comp will help in these situations, as it’ll cover all court-related costs, including the settlement and lawyer fees.

 

Umbrella/Excess Liability Insurance

Have you ever heard the saying that all good things come to an end or all good things can only last so long? Well, this is true and it is even so true for the insurance industry. You’ll find that no matter how big or reputable the insurance provider, there is only so much protection that they can offer. For instance, providers like ProfessionalsCoverage might only offer 1 to 5 million protection on workers’ comp claims. If the claim exceeds this amount then the rest will be expected to come from the business.

Even an amount of $500,000 extra could be enough to force most companies today to shut down. Luckily, you won’t have to if you are invested in umbrella/excess liability insurance. This policy covers the excess of the claims that go over the original coverage limit. However, it should be noted that even this extra protection only offers so much coverage. It might offer an additional 1 mill or it might offer an additional 5 mill. It really depends on the provider and the policy that you have.

 

 

 

 

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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.