Department stores carry a wide variety of items including furniture, home décor, clothing and shoes, jewelry, bed and bath items, undergarments and appliances. Many department store also have an in-store café, beauty salon or photography studio. The biggest risk for department stores is that of shoplifting with other crimes, liabilities and general business risks close behind. The best way to protect your store against these and other risks is by obtaining department store insurance. Choose your policies wisely to get the best coverage.
Types of Department Store Insurance
Each different insurance policy will cover a different set of risks so it’s a good idea to get more than one policy. Consider from the following important policies:
Department Store General Liability Insurance
General liability is a basic insurance policy covering liabilities like product liability, completed operations and bodily injury if someone gets injured while on your property. In a department store, there are dozens of ways a customer could injure themselves, such as getting injured on an escalator, tripping over boxes left in the aisle way or slipping on freshly-mopped floors that haven’t dried completely. If this occurs, you will be liable for the injury, but general liability covers these types of costs.
Department Store Commercial Auto Insurance
Business auto insurance is a commercial insurance policy for vehicles used for business purposes. This could be anything from delivering items or picking up merchandise from a local vendor to daily bank deposits. Accidents occurring while on a business errand are covered by the business auto insurance policy. Many policies also cover vandalism to your vehicle. This is great coverage to have when using your own vehicle for business errands.
Department Store Business Property Insurance
Your business property should be protected from unexpected events that could occur. Many business property insurance policies cover a wide range of events like fire, natural disasters, extreme weather conditions that cause damage to your property. For example, if there are hurricane winds in your area, the tree outside your store could crash in through the window, destroying the window and merchandise close by. The business property insurance will cover repairs to the building and replacing items that were destroyed.
Department Store Cyber Liability Insurance
If you also have an online department store, you should protect it with a cyber liability insurance policy. Many cyber crimes pose a risk to your business, including people using forged payment options and basically getting free merchandise to hacking into your site and stealing information from you or your previous customers. Protect your business from these crimes with cyber liability insurance.
Department Store Workers’ Compensation
Protect your employees by covering them with a workers’ compensation insurance policy. Worker’s comp offers coverage for work-related injuries and illnesses. Employees of a department store could fall off a ladder when restocking on high shelves, get repetitive motion injuries as cashiers, or cut their hands with a box cutter when opening boxes of new merchandise for the store. Their medical costs, recovery and lost income is covered by workers’ compensation insurance, and is required by law in most states.
Department Store Crime Insurance
One of the biggest risks to department stores is that of shoplifting and other crimes like theft and vandalism. To protect your store from shoplifting, you should get a crime insurance policy as part of your department store insurance protection. This will not only help you cover the loss you experienced from the theft or shoplifting, but help repair damage to your store that occurred during the crime. It is an essential insurance policy for all retail stores, including department stores.
Now that you know of the most essential business insurance policies for your department store, you can effectively protect it from all the risks you’re exposed to.
