What is the best insurance policy for a clothing store? Are you interested in starting a retail clothing store online and you seek ways to secure your investment? Then below is a guide to help you get started. Maya has always had the dream of becoming a designer and owning her own clothing line someday for as long as she could remember. While other kids played around the block, she would usually sit with her grandma watching her as she knit cardigans and caps for children.
Whilst at College, Maya made extra money for herself from helping other students mend their clothes and sometimes, helping them to design and sew new clothes. After college, Maya enrolled in a fashion institute and after spending four years there learning all the ropes, tips and tricks of the trade, Maya became a fully certified fashion designer and she was ready for business. But getting adequate funding for her business was quite tough.
Thankfully, grandma left her some money in her will so with this and a couple of loans here and there, she got just enough to start with. She purchased all the equipment she needed and launched her clothing line. She also had a retail store where she sold her designs.
She began to gain popularity as her designs were brilliant; Maya was doing well until disaster struck. In just one day, Maya lost all her investments, every single equipment and inventory to a fire incident caused by a power surge. Just like that, a hardworking girl lost all she had spent her life working on.
There are a lot of ‘Maya’s’ out there who have lost their investments to unfortunate occurrences but it doesn’t have to be that way. There’s a way to protect yourself from all of these such that if such a thing ever happens, you won’t lose no sweat because the loss wouldn’t be borne by you but by another party entirely-insurance.
Most small business owners feel that they do not need insurance cover for their businesses but they do need it. Insurance is important for any kind of business, whether big, small or medium sized. Although the costs of insurance might look huge or overwhelming now, you would be grateful you signed up for it if a disaster happens. So what insurance policies should you get for your retail clothing store? You would need-:
What is the Best Insurance Cover for a Clothing Retail Store
1. General liability insurance
This is an insurance cover that most businesses need. It would cover for any direct or indirect harm caused to people in the course of transacting business with you. For instance, a customer might slip and fall in your store and you would be asked to cover the medical bills. This is what your General Liability Insurance is for.
2. Commercial property coverage
This is designed to cover for all of your equipment and gadgets. For instance, if the building where your store is located belongs to you, the insurance would cover for any harm that may come to the business in form of flood or fire.
You would also have a couple of furniture, fittings and gadgets which you use to run your business. Commercial property coverage would ensure that these properties are replaced immediately in the event of any unfortunate occurrence.
3. Business Interruption Coverage
As you already know, the clothing business is seasonal in nature. There are peak and off-peak periods in the business. Business interruption coverage would ensure that you are protected during off-peak periods. Business interruptions could also come up as a result of ill health or other circumstances beyond control.
4. Equipment breakdown insurance
Machines can be unpredictable sometimes. Even computers used to record sales or credit card machines used to take payments can break down sometimes causing you to lose revenue and customers. Equipment breakdown insurance is designed to keep you going whenever there is a breakdown of equipment and gadgets as a result of mechanical faults or human errors.
5. Medical Insurance
In some countries, it is compulsory to provide insurance cover for all your employees. So, if you will be having lots of people working for you, it is important that you get health insurance cover for them.
6. Loss-in-transit
This is especially important for you if you would be selling stuffs online. Online business can be risky and you have to protect yourself from any risks. Sometimes goods could get lost in transit and sometimes you may encounter some shady clients who would try to scam you. Getting an insurance policy to protect you from such occurrences is a totally good idea.
7. Theft insurance
You can’t rule out incidents of shoplifting in a retail store. Imagine a scenario where someone just slipped a very expensive diamond bracelet into their pockets and walked away undetected. This would be a huge loss to the business but it won’t be too much of a problem if you are adequately covered.
8. Commercial motor vehicle Insurance
You will most likely have delivery vans or vans to move your inventory around; it is smarter to have a comprehensive cover for such vehicles.
9. Building/ Warehouse insurance
If you have a warehouse for storing merchandise, you must ensure that you get an insurance cover for your warehouse in case of burglary, theft or flood.
10. Employee fraud/liability insurance
What happens when an employee becomes dishonest and commits a fraud involving large sums of money? An appropriate insurance cover would ensure that such money is replaced and all legal costs are covered.
11. Workers compensation insurance
An employee may also sustain injury during the course of working for you. Workers Compensation Insurance is designed to cover all medical bills and compensate the worker in the event of such occurrence.
Now What is the Best Insurance Cover for a Clothing Retail Store
Well, you do not necessarily have to take up all of the insurance policies listed above. You only need to look out for the ones that are relevant and applicable to you. You should also be smart when taking up an insurance policy and analyze the cost and benefits in relation to your current revenue and profits.
If you are currently making $5,000 monthly, it wouldn’t make sense for you to take up insurance policies that would cost you $3,000 monthly because there are other business expenses to be covered for. So, make sure you create a budget for your expenses and spread out what is allocated for insurance into all of the policies you have chosen.