Retail – Shops
What a shop sells and from where it sells weigh more in its exposure than the square metres of the premises: the assortment sets its position against the consumer, and the way of selling determines where the merchandise is each day. Every time one of these two things changes, the programme returns to the table.
Theft, escape of water, online channel and product recall
A shop stores its inventory in three places, and each responds with a limit.
The inventory of a store simultaneously exists in the premises, in its own warehouse, and on the platform of the operator preparing the orders, and each of these locations responds with a different limit and different protection measures. The total capital may be well calculated and yet poorly distributed, which is the form of underinsurance that appears when the claim occurs at the location with the lowest limit.
Burglary, robbery and unknown shrinkage
Policies separate robbery with force and expoliation from theft and inventory discrepancies, which are usually excluded or carry a reduced sublimit. Checking what protection measures the policy conditions require, and keeping them operational during the hours when the premises are closed, is what keeps the cover alive.
Water damage in premises and warehouse
Goods stacked at ground level, the basement warehouse, and the conservation chamber are the points where water damage becomes a complete loss of stock. The policy limits this exposure with its own sublimit for goods located below ground level and with a minimum palletisation height, two conditions that are checked during the risk visit and documented in writing.
The online channel and the waiting period
In e-commerce, interruption is compensated after a waiting period agreed in hours, and this threshold is the same in January as in the highest sales week of the year. The period is negotiated by looking at the commercial calendar, because the average of the year hides precisely that week. Alongside it, the limit of the cover that responds to customers whose data travels through the store is reviewed, which is underwritten considering the contracted payment gateway and the accompanying data processing.
Own brand turns the retailer into a producer
Anyone who imports from outside the European Union or puts their brand on the product assumes the position of producer for the purposes of Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007. With it comes product liability and a sublimit for withdrawal expenses, which is sized by counting references and stores and is compared with the real cost of recovering an already distributed reference.
The covers that support a company in this sector
Each one is designed based on the company's real exposure. None are contracted the same in two companies in the same sector.
Lo que nos preguntan en retail – shops
At what value do we declare the store's stock?
At the replacement cost of the goods. The retail price only comes into play when the policy expressly includes that clause, and usually for goods already sold and pending delivery. The difference between the two amounts is the commercial margin, and dragging it into the declared capital increases the premium without improving the indemnity. Based on that value, the maximum capital is set in the highest sales week and regularised at the close, so that the cover accompanies the commercial calendar instead of the average of the year.
We sell third-party products. Are we liable for a manufacturing defect?
The Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007 considers the manufacturer, the importer in the European Union, and the person who places their brand on the product as the producer. When the producer cannot be identified, the supplier is liable as such unless they inform the injured party who manufactured or supplied the product within the following three months. Therefore, own-brand assortments change the policy required. It is also advisable to follow Directive (EU) 2024/2853, which replaces the current regime of liability for defective products, expands the concept of product to include software and related digital services, and must be transposed before 9 December 2026: the renewal of that exercise is the time to review the definitions of the terms and conditions.
Does the premises policy cover the goods we have in a logistics platform?
Only if that location is declared and has an assigned limit. The accumulated value on an operator's platform can exceed that of the premises itself, and it is covered either from the property damage policy with the named location or from the transport policy with a sufficient limit per stay. The contract with the operator is read in parallel, because the liability limit assumed there determines what will remain under your programme.
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