How to Insure Your New Jersey Retail Business

Retail is a huge industry especially in New Jersey. In fact, the town of Paramus reportedly has more retail sales than anywhere else in the country, with its numbers even outshining Hollywood’s. Since shopping is such a big deal for the state, it’s highly important for New Jersey retail business owners to get the proper protection and keep their doors open for years to come. It all starts with finding the right retail business insurance coverage.

What Is Retail Business Insurance?

Similar to all other areas of the country, New Jersey retail business insurance is essentially a special type of business insurance customized to protect owners of retail stores. The agreement between the insurance company and the retail business states that the insurer will cover financial losses that befall the retail business. Of course, only specific perils stated in the policy will be covered by the insurance company.

How to Insure Your New Jersey Retail Business

The thing about retail business coverage is that one policy won’t work for every type of retail business or each specific business owner. With the help of your New Jersey independent insurance agent, you’ll work together to assemble a package of different coverages to protect yourself and your business against risks unique to you. Retail business insurance is designed to keep your business afloat following a huge disaster such as property destruction or lawsuits.

Your independent insurance agent will help identify the right types of coverage for you as they learn more about your specific retail business and its operations. Since retail business insurance is so customizable, you’ll be able to work together to build a policy that fits not only your business’s needs but also the needs of your bank account.

What Does Retail Business Insurance Cover in New Jersey?

Retail business insurance is set up to protect business owners against potential threats. This includes retailers in New Jersey. Your policy will include the basics of business insurance coverage with several specific coverages tailored to your unique business added on. The more risks involved in your business, the more coverage you’ll need. But here are a handful of commonly selected coverages in retail business insurance packages to start off.

Your New Jersey retail business insurance package can be assembled from a combination of the following coverages:

• General liability: This coverage protects you against property damage or injury claims made by a third party. 
• Workers’ compensation: If your employees become ill, get injured, or die from a work-related incident, this aspect of the insurance will cover the financial ramifications. Depending on the type of work being performed, this coverage is mandatory in New Jersey. 
• Property Insurance: Covers loss of or damage to your physical property including your storefront and often the inventory inside it. Protected mishaps include fires, storms, and more.
• Commercial/business auto: Provides protection for any company vehicles against things like theft, vandalism, and damage from natural disasters. If your retail business makes home deliveries, for example, you need this coverage.
• Business income: A part of property insurance, this aspect covers the financial loss suffered while a business is closed due to fire damage or other disasters.
• Signage coverage: Often times, a retailer’s signage is expensive to either install or replace. Since signs live outside of the store’s building, they’re constantly vulnerable to the elements of nature, and thieves/vandals. This coverage provides reimbursement in the event you need to repair/replace your store’s signage due to a covered peril.
• Disability insurance: Businesses in New Jersey are required by law to purchase this coverage for their employees to protect them in the event they become disabled due to workplace conditions or operations.
• Unemployment insurance: If your retail business has any employees (which it most likely does), as soon as you, the owner, start officially paying state taxes, your business will automatically be buying mandatory New Jersey unemployment insurance.
• Product liability: If your retail store sells a product or service that ends up causing injury, illness, or property damage to your customers, you could get slapped with a lawsuit. This coverage protects you against the legal ramifications of offering faulty products.
• Utility interruption: In the event of an extended power outage or other catastrophe, your business’s operations may be slowed or even suspended. This coverage provides compensation for lost income during these periods as well as for damage caused to your property by the covered catastrophe.
• Cyber liability: In the event your business’s computer system is compromised, sensitive or personal data may be stolen and even sold to third parties. This can include things like credit card numbers or personal employee records. Aside from having to pay to clean up your network’s security, your retail business could also face a lawsuit. Coverage protects against financial and legal ramifications following a cyberattack.

Your retail business insurance package will be assembled by selecting the coverages that work for your unique business from a big list of available options. Coverage applies to everything from lost business revenue to potential legal/court fees and beyond.

What Does Retail Business Insurance Not Cover in New Jersey?

Though retail business insurance covers a lot of components for retailers, it doesn’t just cover anything. The following are examples of commonly excluded perils under New Jersey retail business insurance policies:

• Employee dishonesty
• Breakdown of appliances such as steam boilers
• General wear and tear of equipment, etc.
• Routine maintenance fees
• Earthquake damage
• Nuclear reaction and war
• Power failure (unless it causes damage to computer systems)
• Robbery
• Pollution
• Temperature/humidity changes
• Inexplicably lost inventory
• Flood damage*

*In a state like New Jersey that’s prone to flooding, you’ll most likely want to purchase additional flood coverage for your retail business, or you may even be required to have it by your mortgage lender. Your New Jersey independent insurance agent can give you more information about finding coverage.

What Are the Benefits of Retail Business Insurance in NJ?

Retail business insurance provides protection to New Jersey business owners in a number of ways. Beyond the store’s physical assets and building, many components of your retail business stand to be destroyed or otherwise harmed by common threats. There are four major benefits to having retail business insurance:

• Protection against legal trouble: A costly and damaging event like a fire could send a business into the red without the proper coverage. If the business was unable to pay off their loans, venders, or employees, they could face serious legal consequences. Retail business insurance helps prevent these ugly matters from surfacing.
• Protection against a damaged reputation: Often times, huge incidents affecting retailers end up in the media. When it comes to customers’ personal property getting lost, damaged or destroyed, word about their upset could spread quickly and even turn from gossip into media coverage. Having the right retail business insurance can help prevent your business’s reputation from going up in flames.
• Protection against spoilage: If your retail business’s inventory includes food or other perishables (even if it’s just a cooler of sodas or a conveniently placed display of candy bars right by the checkout), just one incident can ruin the entire stock. Retail business coverage can help the business recover from lost goods.
• Protection against bankruptcy: Imagine a severe storm or other terrible incident like an airplane crash that literally wipes out your retail business’s entire storefront. Without the right insurance, the business owner could easily be forced into bankruptcy. Retail business insurance helps businesses stay open, stay afloat, or rebuild following massive destruction.

Your New Jersey independent insurance agent can help you review your retail business insurance policy to answer any remaining questions about your coverage. They’ll also be able to help you figure out whether you’ve got enough coverage, or if you should purchase more.

How Much Does Retail Business Insurance Cost in New Jersey?

It depends on a number of factors. Retail business owners might pay somewhere in the low thousands annually if they run a small retail store that faces relatively few risks, while giant retail chain owners might pay up into the ten thousands or even much more per year. Retailers located in New Jersey, however, might pay quite a bit more for coverage than business owners further inland due to the state’s increased risk of weather-related perils.

Of course, it’s hard to offer an average figure since each retail business is unique. But really, it all depends on a number of factors, like:

• The type of retail business: This involves more than just whether the retail business sells obscure knickknacks or pricey designer sunglasses. The kind of equipment your retail business uses and the specific operations taking place will affect its risk level to insure. Obviously, more danger means more money for insurance.
• The location of the retail business: Larger cities tend to have higher costs for insurance, but it goes beyond that. Depending on where you are specifically in New Jersey, your location may be more prone to various weather-related risks. Retail businesses right along the Jersey Shore, for example, may have premiums up to 20% higher due to risk of hurricane damage.
• The number of employees: The more you've got, the more workers' comp you’ll need. Simple as that.
• How much business you generate: Premiums are calculated based on business projections for the upcoming year. If your workload doubles, most likely your premium will, too.

Your agent can work with you to find a policy that fits within your retail business’s budget. Have your financial restrictions in mind before you start shopping for coverage to help speed the process along.

Why Work with a New Jersey Independent Insurance Agent?

In order to get the protection you need and deserve, you’ll want to work with a trusted expert. And who could be better for the job than a local agent who shares your area code? Independent insurance agents act as your own personal insurance shoppers, offering you tons more options than one-policy companies. With just one call, they’ll hook you up with multiple quotes.

New Jersey independent insurance agents are armed with knowledge on what coverage is needed in your area, and they’ll get you set up with just enough of it — not too little, not too much. They’ll handle all the heavy lifting so you can rest assured you’ll be set up with the right coverage at the right price.

They’re not just there at the beginning, either. If disaster strikes, your New Jersey agent will be there to help walk you through the claims process and make sure you’re getting the benefits you're entitled to. Now that’s thinking ahead.