UK Shop Insurance Quotes
Shop Insurance
A retail package that brings your shopfront, stock and contents, your public, employers and product liability, and the income you lose if trading stops into one policy.
Why put your shop cover through us?
- Line up stock, contents and liability cover side by side
- Built for high street traders, independent stores and retail shops
What is shop insurance?
Think of shop insurance as one retail package that gathers, under a single policy, the covers a shop relies on. At its core it guards stock, contents and the shopfront against fire, flood, theft and accidental damage. Around that sit public liability if a customer is hurt or their property is damaged, employers' liability once you have staff, product liability for whatever you sell, and business interruption to make good the income lost when an insured event stops you trading. The way the policy is put together follows the value of your stock and contents and how you run the shop, with shopfront glass, money and takings and goods in transit available to add on. For the typical high-street name or independent trader, this is the one policy that keeps the doors open after something goes wrong.
Because retail risk differs so much from shop to shop, the cover stretches across a broad spread of businesses. A corner convenience store, a fashion boutique, an off-licence, a busy newsagent and a specialist gift shop all fall under shop insurance, yet each presents a different picture to an underwriter. How keen an insurer is to write the risk shifts with the trade, the stock value and the postcode, and that is exactly why placing the cover with a specialist broker beats a generic off-the-shelf quote.
Most policies are assembled from the covers a particular shop actually needs. The starting point is stock and contents, fixtures and fittings and the shopfront, with the liabilities layered over the top. Any shop that opens its doors to customers ought to carry public liability against injury to a customer or damage to their property, usually written at £1m, £2m or £5m, while employers' liability becomes a legal requirement from the first member of staff you hire. Rather than pricing every shop the same, the final mix is rated against your real business.
Retail is the daily bread of the brokers on our panel. They know why stock value and annual turnover set the premium, how shutters, alarms and CCTV can pull the price back, why the business interruption period should match how long reopening would take, and how appetite tightens for late-night opening, high-value stock and flood-prone pitches. The quote reflects the way you genuinely trade, not a fixed number pulled off a screen.
Related shop cover
How shop insurance works
Tell us about your shop
Share your trade, stock value, annual turnover, staff numbers, location, security and any past claims. The closer these details are to reality, the sharper the quotes the specialist underwriting panel can return.
Compare specialist shop quotes
What you tell us reaches brokers who work retail risks day in, day out. They rate stock and contents, public and employers' liability, product liability and business interruption around your own shop and trade.
Choose your cover and stay protected
Settle on the policy that suits your shop. Start with core stock, contents and liability, then bolt on business interruption, shopfront glass, money and goods in transit wherever your trade calls for them.
What does shop insurance cover?
Shop insurance bundles the covers a retailer needs into one policy, from stock and shopfront to the liabilities you owe customers and staff. Public and employers' liability sit at the heart of it, with the rest built around the way your shop trades.
Stock and contents
Your stock, fixtures, fittings and equipment protected against fire, flood, theft and accidental damage, set to a declared sum insured for the goods you hold.
Public liability
Meets claims if a customer is injured or their property damaged in your shop. Commonly arranged at £1m, £2m or £5m, and expected by customers and most commercial landlords.
Employers' liability
Required the moment you employ anyone, at £5m minimum and usually £10m. It covers staff who are injured or made ill through the work they do for your shop.
Product liability
Covers you if something you sell causes injury or damage after it leaves the shop.
Business interruption
Replaces lost income and extra costs if you cannot trade after an insured event.
Shopfront, glass and money
Fixed glass, signage and the frontage if broken, plus your cash and takings.
See where your shop sits on cover and price, compare shop insurance quotes.
What shop insurance does not cover
Every shop policy is shaped by the trade you declare, the worth of your stock and contents, the way the premises are secured and the covers you add. Step outside those declared limits and the policy stops responding. Understanding where protection runs out is just as useful as knowing what it takes in, not least because underinsured stock, changes you never told the insurer about, and optional covers left off the schedule sit high on the list of reasons a shop claim is cut back or turned down.
Wear, tear and slow deterioration
Damage that creeps in through ageing, general deterioration, patchy upkeep, slow-acting causes, rot, damp and corrosion sits outside the cover. The expectation is that you keep the premises, fixtures and equipment in sound order. A policy answers for sudden, unexpected events, never the gradual toll of neglect.
Cash above the agreed limit
Protection for cash, cheques and card takings carries a ceiling, with separate limits for money held on the premises during and after trading hours, locked in a safe and carried to the bank. Anything over those figures, or cash left out overnight instead of secured, will not be paid. Bank often and keep takings within the sums agreed.
Stock kept or left outdoors
The cover attaches to stock and contents held inside the shop and its secure storage. Goods sitting outside, on the pavement or in an open yard, and stock tucked into outbuildings the policy never mentions, are generally left out. Keep stock within the insured premises and tell the insurer about any external or off-site storage.
Cyber and online losses, unless added
A standard shop policy leaves out cyber crime, a hacked till or card system, ransomware, data breaches and losses tied to your online shop. With more retailers selling and taking payment online, that gap keeps widening. Where you need it, cyber protection can be arranged as a separate section of the policy.
Goods in transit, unless added
Stock riding in a vehicle, whether it is a delivery out to a customer or a collection from a supplier, is not included as standard. If you carry goods on the road, or take stock to markets and events, ask for goods in transit cover to be added rather than taking for granted that it is already there.
Advice you give to customers
Where part of what you do involves giving advice or a professional service, say fitting, dispensing or specifying a product, any claim that flows from that advice falls outside a standard shop policy. Professional indemnity is a separate cover that can run alongside the shop policy when your trade calls for it.
What sits outside the cover varies a great deal between insurers and between individual shops. Before you buy, read the wording closely on money limits, stock values, security conditions and optional covers. To protect against claims from customers hurt in your shop, read our public liability insurance guide.
Shops we cover
Shop insurance is arranged around the trade, the stock and the way the shop is run, so the cover fits the risk. These are the kinds of retail business a package policy is built for.
Convenience stores and newsagents
Long trading hours, cash held on the premises and steady footfall through the day.
Clothing and fashion boutiques
High-value, seasonal stock that needs a sum insured sized to the rail.
Off-licences
Licensed stock, breakable goods and theft risk that a specialist prices with care.
Gift and card shops
Small, varied stock lines and the busy peak seasons that drive takings.
Food and speciality retailers
Perishable stock, chillers and the product liability that fresh trade brings.
Hardware and homeware shops
Bulky stock, sharp tools and heavier public liability across a busy floor.
And plenty more retail trades
- Salons and barbers
- Florists
- Bakeries
- Pet shops
- Electricals
- Health and beauty
Trade not listed? Most retail businesses can be covered. Compare shop insurance quotes to see cover built around your shop.
What affects shop insurance costs
No two retailers pay quite the same for shop insurance. A small newsagent on a quiet parade falls into a very different bracket from a busy off-licence holding high-value stock in a city-centre postcode. Many small shops land somewhere between a few hundred pounds a year and the low thousands, but the number rises and falls with the stock you carry, the staff on your books, where you trade and how well the premises are guarded. Once you can see which of these levers moves the premium, you are ready to ask sharper questions before you buy.
Give an accurate stock value and annual turnover at quote stage, and set the sums insured to meet the full cost of replacing stock, fixtures and fittings. How willing insurers are to take on retail risks varies more than most shopkeepers imagine. Some will not touch off-licences, high-value electricals or late-night trading, while others make a speciality of exactly those trades. Because a specialist broker knows which insurer suits which trade, the very same shop can draw quotes 30 to 50% apart across the market. Pin down the stock figure as well, since underinsurance brings the average clause into play and trims every claim payout in proportion.
MMC Shop Insurance Specialists, FCA-authorised (reg. 916241)
Trade type and what you sell
The goods on your shelves and the way you run the shop set the risk. A hardware shop, an off-licence, a food retailer and a fashion boutique each bring a different fire, theft and liability profile. Higher-risk stock, opening late into the night and a busy high-street pitch each nudge the premium upward.
Stock value and turnover
This is the heaviest single influence on price. The policy rates against the full replacement cost of your stock, fixtures, fittings and equipment, and against your annual turnover. Hold more stock or take more at the till and the cover costs more, so set the sums insured to match the true figures.
Number of employees
The size of your team feeds directly into the premium. Employers' liability turns into a legal requirement the instant you take on staff, and a bigger wage roll with more people on the shop floor raises both the employers' and public liability exposure the policy has to carry.
Location and postcode
Local crime figures, footfall and flood risk all pass straight into the rating, which is how a city-centre shop can end up costing many times more than one on a quiet parade. Where the postcode carries the highest risk, a record of theft or flooding pushes premiums higher and, at times, brings larger excesses too.
Claims history
Earlier theft, fire, flood or liability claims load the premium and may bring higher excesses or exclusions. Few things keep the cost down as reliably as a clean claims record across recent years, so keep tidy records and report any incident properly at the time it happens.
Security: shutters, alarms and CCTV
Roller shutters, a monitored intruder alarm, CCTV, smoke detection and good-quality locks on every final exit door all bring the premium down. Meeting the insurer's minimum security clause also keeps your theft cover valid when a claim is made.
Each shop is priced on its own trade, stock, location and security arrangements. Compare shop insurance quotes to see how your trade, stock and security move the premium across our specialist broker panel.
How much does shop insurance cost?
Shop insurance carries no fixed online price. The cost tracks your own business, and a specialist rates it against the risk you present. Set out below are the main factors that push a shop premium higher or pull it lower.
| Factor | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Stock value and turnover | Holding more stock on a bigger turnover means more to insure. |
| Number of employees | A larger team lifts the employers' liability exposure. |
| Location | Busy high-street footfall and higher-risk areas cost more. |
| Trade type | The goods you sell shape the risk and product liability. |
| Security | Shutters, alarms and CCTV can bring the premium down. |
| Claims history | A record of past claims pushes the price up. |
As a rough guide: a small shop tends to pay anywhere from a few hundred pounds up into the low thousands a year. No fixed online price exists, since a specialist quotes it against your own trade, stock and cover.
How shop insurance works
Getting a shop covered takes three simple steps. Tell us about the business, get matched with specialist retail brokers, then compare quotes and choose the cover that fits.
Tell us about your shop
Share the basics: your trade, stock value, number of staff, location and the security you have in place.
Get matched with brokers
We put you in front of specialist retail insurance brokers who understand shops and price cover against the risk.
Compare and get covered
Compare quotes side by side, ask any questions, and get the shop covered with the policy that suits.
Shop cover options and legal requirements
Parts of a shop policy are fixed by law, while others are there to guard the business you have built. What follows runs through the main covers a retailer draws on, from employers' and public liability to stock, shopfront glass and lost income, and marks where the law makes the decision for you rather than leaving it open. Expand any panel below to see what a cover does and when it comes into play.
Employers' liability: a legal requirement
The instant you take on staff, employers' liability insurance becomes a legal requirement, and that holds whether they are full time, part time, seasonal or a family member on the payroll. Under the Employers' Liability Act 1969 the minimum cover is £5m, though most shop policies set £10m as standard. It meets compensation and legal costs when a member of staff is injured or made ill through the work they do for you.
Even one Saturday assistant brings the duty into force. Trade without valid cover and the penalty can reach £2,500 for every day you are uninsured, and the certificate must be on hand for your staff to see. Our shop insurance guide explains how staff cover slots into a retail policy.
Public liability for customers in the shop
Public liability answers claims from members of the public who are injured, or whose property is damaged, because of your shop. The textbook case is a customer who slips on a wet floor or is hurt by a falling display. Cover is commonly arranged at £1m, £2m or £5m, and a commercial landlord or supplier will often insist on a set limit.
No statute makes it compulsory, yet few retailers go without it, and customers and landlords take it as read. Which limit is right comes down to how busy the shop is and the value of the contracts you handle.
Product liability for the goods you sell
Product liability steps in when something you sell causes injury or damage, even if you only retailed the item rather than making it. The heaviest exposure sits with food, drink, cosmetics, electricals and children's goods, and a claim can surface long after the sale went through.
In most shops product liability rides alongside public liability under one combined limit. Holding on to supplier records and batch details makes it far easier to trace a faulty product back to its source should a claim ever land on you.
Stock and contents cover
Stock and contents cover guards the goods you hold for sale, along with your fixtures, fittings, tills, shelving and equipment, against fire, flood, theft, escape of water and accidental damage. Set the sum insured to the full replacement value of stock at its peak, not an average taken across the year.
Seasonal peaks count here: cover is frequently arranged to lift for a set stretch ahead of Christmas or a sale. Our shop insurance guide shows how stock and contents limits are worked out.
Shopfront and glass cover
Few parts of a shop are as exposed as its fixed glass. Shopfront and glass cover pays to replace windows, display glass, the fascia and glazed doors after breakage, and can take in the cost of boarding up and renewing any signage or lettering.
The cover usually reaches sanitary ware and fixed mirrors inside the premises as well. Since a broken shopfront can shut you down until it is put right, quick glass replacement is a practical matter every bit as much as a financial one.
Money and takings cover
Money cover looks after cash, cheques and card vouchers the shop takes, whether they are on the premises inside or outside trading hours or on their way to the bank. Separate limits usually apply to money in a locked safe, money in the till and money in transit.
A number of policies extend to assault of the person carrying the takings too. Sticking to the cash-handling and banking routines the policy lays down is what keeps this cover live at the point of a claim.
Business interruption for lost income
Business interruption makes good the income a shop loses while it cannot trade after an insured event such as a fire or flood. Over an agreed indemnity period it covers lost gross profit and the extra costs of getting back on your feet, renting temporary premises among them.
Make the indemnity period long enough to find new premises, refit and win trade back, which for many shops lands at 12 to 24 months. Cutting it too short ranks among the most common gaps in a retail policy.
Security conditions: shutters, alarms and CCTV
In return for cover on stock and premises, insurers attach security conditions. These typically spell out the standard of door and window locks, roller shutters, an intruder alarm built to a recognised specification and, once stock values climb, monitored CCTV.
Satisfying these conditions can trim the premium, yet they double as warranties: leave the alarm unset or a lock unused and a theft claim can be refused. Be straight about your security at quote stage, because the Insurance Act 2015 lets an insurer reduce or avoid a claim where material facts go undisclosed.
Every cover answers a different need, and a handful are set by law rather than left to you. Compare shop insurance quotes to see how stock, liability and income cover come together for your trade across the MyMoneyComparison.com broker panel.
Who needs shop insurance?
Almost any retailer trading from a shop needs cover, but the policy looks different depending on what you sell, how much stock you carry and how many staff you employ. A single package can bring together stock and contents, public liability, employers' liability and business interruption. Employers' liability becomes a legal requirement the moment you take on staff.
Convenience stores and newsagents
Everyday grocery, tobacco and news stock. Cover needs stock and contents, public liability, and money and takings, with theft and shopfront glass high on the list.
Cover availableClothing and fashion boutiques
Seasonal stock that dates quickly. Cover needs stock and contents at replacement value, public liability, and business interruption if you cannot trade.
Cover availableOff-licences and drinks retailers
High-value stock and later trading hours. Rated on stock value, security and hours open, so shutters, alarms and CCTV all matter.
Cover availableGift and card shops
A wide spread of lower-value stock. Cover centres on stock and contents, plus public liability and shopfront glass for a busy display.
Cover availableFood and speciality retailers
Perishable stock and chillers on the shop floor. Product liability and stock deterioration cover both matter when refrigeration fails.
Cover availableHardware and homeware shops
Bulky stock and tools moving through a busy shop floor. That means heavier public liability alongside stock and contents cover.
Cover availableNot sure which cover fits your trade? Compare cover for your shop and match the policy to your stock, staff and risk.
Shop insurance vs standard home or contents insurance.
The two are commonly confused, but they protect fundamentally different situations. Shop insurance is built around trading premises open to the public, covering retail stock, shopfront glass, liability to customers and staff, and the income you lose if you cannot trade. A home or standard contents policy covers a private dwelling and household belongings, and it excludes business use, retail stock and customers entirely. Running a shop on a home or contents policy is a common reason a claim is reduced or declined.
Cover the risks a home or contents policy leaves out. Compare shop insurance quotes to see cover and price side by side.
Compare shop insurance quotesSpecialist Shop Insurance
Specialist shop insurance comparison since 2013
For more than a decade, from 2013 onwards, MyMoneyComparison.com has pointed UK retailers towards cover without the usual runaround. Run a single convenience store, a fashion boutique, an off-licence, a food shop or a hardware store, and you reach a specialist broker panel that underwrites retail businesses every day. Compare specialist shop insurance through a panel fluent in stock and contents, public liability, employers' liability, product liability, business interruption and the wider spread of UK retail risks.
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Everything You Need to Know
Clear answers to the questions retailers ask most often about shop insurance.
What is shop insurance?
Bringing together the main protections a retailer relies on, shop insurance is a combined policy for a high street or independent shop. A single arrangement can look after your stock and fixtures, the frontage, the money you take, your responsibilities towards customers and staff, and the earnings you would lose if trading had to stop.
Is shop insurance a legal requirement?
No law forces you to hold a shop policy as such. The exception is employers’ liability, which becomes compulsory the moment you take on staff, with a legal floor of £5m of cover. Public liability sits outside the law too, yet shoppers assume you carry it and most commercial landlords write it into the lease.
What does shop insurance cover?
At its heart sit stock and contents, public and employers’ liability, product liability and business interruption. Around that you can add cover for the shopfront and its glass, cash and takings, and goods while they are being moved. Which parts you include comes down to the goods you trade and the way the shop runs.
Do I need employers' liability?
The moment you take on a member of staff, even a Saturday assistant or someone part time, this cover becomes a legal duty. £5m is the statutory minimum, though policies are commonly written at £10m. Trading without it can cost you as much as £2,500 for every day you go uninsured.
Does it cover my stock?
It does. The goods on your shelves and in the stockroom are protected against fire, flood, theft and accidental damage, up to the sum you declare. Base that figure on your highest holding, such as the run up to Christmas, otherwise you risk being short of cover exactly when you are carrying the most stock.
What is product liability?
Should an item you have sold go on to harm someone or damage their property, perhaps contaminated food or a faulty appliance, this is the cover that answers the claim. Nearly every retailer needs it, and it commonly runs hand in hand with public liability.
What is business interruption cover?
When an insured event such as a fire or flood shuts the doors, this part of the policy makes up the trading income you go without and meets the extra costs of getting back on your feet, say the rent on temporary premises. In effect it keeps money coming in while the shop is out of action.
Does it cover the shopfront and glass?
Yes. Cover for the frontage pays to put right broken windows, doors, fixed glass and signage, which counts for a lot when your shop faces the street. Alongside it, money cover looks after cash and takings, both on the premises and on the way to the bank.
How much does shop insurance cost?
No single figure applies, because every shop presents a different risk. What you pay turns on the value of your stock, your turnover, how many people you employ, where the shop sits, the trade you are in, the security you have fitted and your claims record. The way to see your own number is to compare quotes from several brokers.
Can better security lower my premium?
Often, yes. Fitting shutters, an alarm and CCTV cuts the chance of theft and break-in damage, and insurers tend to reward that with a lower price. Keep in mind that some cover only stands if the agreed security is actually installed and switched on.
Does shop insurance cover public liability?
It does, and public liability is one of the building blocks of a shop policy. If a customer is hurt on your premises, a slip on a wet floor or a display toppling over, or you damage something of theirs, this cover meets the resulting claim. Limits are usually set at £1m, £2m or £5m.
Why use a specialist retail insurance broker?
Two shops in different trades can carry very different risks, so a broker who knows the retail market can line up the stock, liability and business-interruption cover to fit the way your shop really works, and step in when a claim is made. These commercial markets are not somewhere a motor price-comparison route can reach. MyMoneyComparison.com puts you in touch with FCA-regulated UK brokers who compete for your quote.
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