With a shop the location is the business: as long as the door is closed, your customer buys at the shop down the street or online, and that habit forms quickly.
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Work out for yourself what it would cost.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
We compare the offerings of several insurers
An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
A shopkeeper sells what he buys in. The gross profit is therefore turnover minus the purchase value of the goods sold, and in retail that is a limited part of turnover. Against that stand high fixed costs: shop rent in a prime location, service charges of the shopping centre, staff on the floor and the shop fit-out.
The business contents and goods insurance pays for the shop fit-out and the collection. This policy pays only the the margin you lose for as long as you cannot sell. Both are needed: one makes the shop fit to trade again, the other bridges the months in which no till is ringing.
Two things are typical of retail. Your customers are passing trade and not tied by contract, and your premises usually stand between other premises. Damage at a neighbour or a closed shopping street can make your shop unreachable without any damage of your own. A separate extension is needed for that.
What does business interruption insurance for retail cover?
The structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
The basis
Gross profit
Turnover minus the variable costs that move with it.
Fixed costs continue
Profit margin you lose
Update annually
The term
Indemnity period
Calculate back from full turnover, not from the rebuild value.
Clearance and permits
Rebuilding and fitting out
Winning customers back
Additional costs
Alternative
The additional costs of not standing still.
Temporary location
Outsourcing to third parties
Often cheaper
What is covered
Situation
Business interruption
Additional costs
Downtime after a fire at your premises
Yes
Yes
Loss of turnover after water damage
Yes
Yes
Additional costs to keep going elsewhere
No
Yes
Failure of a supplier
Sometimes
Sometimes
Digital downtime without physical damage
No
No
Loss of turnover due to lower demand
No
No
This overview is general in nature and is not personal advice. What is actually covered, including exclusions, limits and the excess, is set out in the policy conditions and the insurance card (verzekeringskaart) of the insurer; you receive both before you take out cover. Taking out cover without advice? Then read what execution only means for you.
Where things go wrong in practice
Four points that make the difference between a policy that pays out and one that does not.
Customer behaviour changes faster than your premises recover
A shop that is closed for six months loses more than the turnover of those months. Regular customers have found another address or a webshop in that time and the footfall route has shifted. So work the indemnity period back from the moment your daily turnover is at its old level again, not from the reopening. For formats with strong local ties, that extra period is the longest part of the process.
Season and collection determine what you really lose
A fashion shop that burns down in November misses the most important weeks of the year, and the collection that arrives afterwards is a season too late. With fresh produce the same happens on a smaller scale. The moment of the damage therefore determines how much gross profit disappears. Discuss that pattern in advance, because a payment based on an annual average does a strongly seasonal shop no justice.
Damage at the neighbours or a closed street
In a shopping centre or a terraced frontage, a fire at another business can make your shop inaccessible for weeks while your premises are untouched. The main cover then pays nothing, because there is no material damage to your own property. There is an extension for this for damage to neighbouring property and blocked access, with a limit of its own and usually a waiting period. If you rent in a shopping centre, have that extension included.
What is not included
Excluded are the value of the collection itself, loss of value and obsolescence of stock left on the shelf, loss of rent, and loss of turnover through roadworks, a shopping area emptying out or falling spending without material damage. Failure of your till system, card payments or webshop gives no right to payment either; that belongs with cyber insurance. Penalties under a lease also stay outside the policy.
What does your premium depend on?
Gross margin on shop turnover. In retail the purchase value falls away during a standstill. Only the margin and the continuing costs make up the sum insured.
Seasonal pattern of turnover. A strongly peaked yearly pattern makes the moment of the damage decisive for the real loss.
Location in a shopping centre or terraced frontage. Adjoining premises increase the chance of damage from neighbouring property and of blocked access.
Type of goods and fire load. Textiles, plastics, electronics with batteries and catering-like activities in the shop weigh more heavily.
Presence of a webshop or a second branch. If part of the turnover can continue through the internet or another branch, not everything falls away at once.
Indemnity period chosen. The period in which customers return counts heavily here. It falls after the reopening and is often forgotten.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
How we arrange it
You request a quoteWe take stock of your activities, turnover and wishes.
We compareseveral insurers, on premium as well as conditions.
You receive a proposalWith an explanation of the differences and the exclusions.
We arrange the switchIncluding cancellation, so there is no gap in cover.
Customers rate our service on four aspects: personal service, service delivery, availability and the outcome. The reviews are collected and published by NH1816 and come from customers who have actually taken out a policy with Finass Advies B.V. or reported a claim.
No. Damaged or burnt trading goods and the shop fit-out fall under the business contents and goods insurance. Business interruption insurance pays only the gross margin you lose in the period in which the shop cannot sell, or can sell only to a limited extent. You need both covers: one restores the shop, the other bridges the turnover.
My neighbouring premises burn down and my shop cannot be reached. Is that covered?
Not on the standard cover, because there is no material damage to your own property. Insurers offer an extension for this for damage to neighbouring property or blocked access, with a limit of its own and usually a waiting period of a few days. In a shopping centre or a continuous shopping street that is one of the first extensions to have included.
Will I be paid for loss of turnover caused by roadworks?
No. A street dug up, a building pit in front of the door or a shopping area emptying out are not material damage to your shop, and that damage is the condition for cover. However hard the loss of turnover hits, this policy does not come into play for it. What is covered is interruption after fire, storm or water damage in your own building.
Which indemnity period suits a shop?
Allow time for clearing up, repair and fitting out the shop again, plus the run-up period in which customers return and the collection is complete once more. At a strongly seasonal business, a missed peak season only comes round again a year later. For many shopkeepers a period of one year is therefore on the tight side.
Finass Verzekert is a trading name of Finass Advies B.V. We advise on and arrange non-life insurance on the basis of an objective analysis of several insurers, and receive commission for this from the insurer, which is included in the premium. You pay no separate advice fee. Before you take out cover, we establish your wishes and needs.
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