smiling male deli owner standing by shelves in his shop

Shop and retail insurance

Price beat guarantee

We guarantee to beat your new insurance quote or renewal premium from any other insurer.

New policies only. Cover on an equivalent basis to ours. Excludes policies with home emergency cover added. Qualifying criteria apply. Terms & Conditions.

Stolen laptop? Damaged mobile? We'll replace your essential tech within 24hrs of claim approval, with Business Tech Essentials. Cover & claim limits apply. Mon - Fri 8am - 6pm, except Bank holidays
  • We'll cover you if you sell your products online, at home, in a shop, and on a market stall.
  • No admin fees if you need to make changes to your policy.
  • 0% APR on your monthly Direct Debit payments in the first year.
    Over 18s, subject to eligibility.
  • We won't be beaten on price. We'll beat your new business insurance quote or renewal premium from any other insurer.
    New policies only. Cover on an equivalent basis to ours. Excludes policies with home emergency cover added. Qualifying criteria apply. Terms & Conditions.

Shop and retail business insurance made for you

Whether you own a flower shop, repair bikes in a shed, sell homemade jam at a farmer's market or sell your products and services via your website, we can help you create a tailored insurance policy for your business.

We know that every enterprise is unique, and someone who sells toys isn't going to want exactly the same insurance as someone who repairs shoes. That's why we offer customised business insurance that can be tailored to your business's needs.

There is a lot to consider when choosing the best type of insurance for your business. If you store stock, you may want to cover your goods against theft or damage at your shop or home. You are also able to cover goods being sent by post or via a courier. If you operate an online shop then insuring yourself against cyber attacks will be a high priority. Meanwhile, if you own or rent shop space, you may want to insure your business against property damage to your buildings and contents caused by fire or flood.

Our easy-to-use online quote tool helps you pick the covers that make sense for your business and add them to a single policy. Then, if your business changes later, we'll let you amend that policy without charging you admin fees. See our list of covers below.

Why Direct Line for Business?

We have over 10 years of experience when it comes to insuring small businesses. That means we know exactly what you need.

  • Our quick and easy online process makes customising your Shop and Retail Insurance a breeze.
  • We can cover you whether you work from home, rent/own a shop, or sell your products online or at fairs, markets and pop-ups.
  • Instant policy documents so you can download and show proof of cover to trade shows and venues.

What kind of shops do you cover?

We offer cover to thousands of UK businesses each year. Some of the industries we cover include:

  • Food retail
  • Arts and crafts
  • Clothing
  • Grocery
  • Gift and greeting card shops
  • Newsagents
  • Boutiques
  • Cake makers and decorators

Confused by an insurance term?

Look it up in our jargon buster

Your cover options

Add any of the following cover options to your policy to create commercial shop insurance that fits your business needs. These covers are subject to policy conditions and limits.

Public liability insurance covers you if you cause injury to a member of the public or accidentally damage someone's property. An example of this could include a customer slipping on a wet floor in your shop or office and hurting themselves, or causing damage while carrying out building works on a client's house.

This insurance also covers you if a customer or member of the public becomes ill or suffers an injury because of a product you have supplied. For example, if the heel snaps off a shoe someone has bought from you, causing them to fall over, or if a cupcake you sell at an event makes someone sick.

If the people in question pursued legal action against you, public and product liability insurance would cover the costs you are liable to pay. We can offer cover from £1 million to £10 million.

Employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement if you have employees. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule, which you can read more about here.

We cover you for £10 million, as standard. This covers the legal and compensation costs you are required to pay if an employee gets injured or becomes ill because of the work they do for you.

If there is an insured event such as flood or fire at your work premises, buildings insurance will cover the costs of repairing the damage, helping you get back up and running.

Equipment breakdown cover (for items forming part of the building) is included as standard. This would cover the costs of replacing or repairing things like your broken boiler and fire/burglar alarms, as long as the damage is not due to wear and tear.

Contents and stock cover is essential for businesses that supply goods or rely on specific equipment to run their business.

A seamstress would not be able to work without a sewing machine, a web designer would not be able to code without a computer and you may not be able to run your business without your trusty tablet.

Meanwhile, there will be other more general items that you might rely on for your business, like your office furniture or your shop tills. Insure your business contents so that if they're damaged by an insured event, such as fire or theft, your business keeps going.

If you sell goods, you'll want to insure your stock, whether that's raw materials or the finished article. If your goods are damaged or stolen, what have you got to sell?

Our different cover options allow you to insure your business equipment and stock at your premises, when you're on the move, or both. Whether you work at home, at fairs, in shared workspaces or visit a lot of clients, we've got you covered. And when you insure stock at your premises or home, you'll also get an extra 25% of stock covered for two months of your choice as standard, ideal for your busiest periods.

And now with Business Tech Essentials, if your essential tech is stolen or damaged, we'll replace it within 24 hours from claim approval.

When you cover your electrical items and tech you get Business Tech Essentials. Which means if your essential tech - like laptops, mobiles, or tablets - are stolen or damaged we'll replace them within 24 hours of claim approval.

Cover & claim limits apply. Mon - Fri 8am - 6pm, except Bank holidays.

Depending on the type of business you run, you might work from home, in an office, at your shop, a client's premises or a shared working space. If your working premises became unusable due to an insured event like a fire or flood, business interruption will cover the costs of relocating until it's fixed. It can also cover you for any lost turnover during this time if you've insured your premises or business property with us.

If your main supplier or customer suffers damage to their premises and can't trade, we'll cover you for the loss of business you'll suffer. Equally, if a market or fair that you regularly attend suffers a fire, we'll cover the lost turnover for the time you can't trade there. Business interruption will also cover you if key equipment that you use to run your business, like a laptop, is damaged or stolen, meaning you can't trade.

Our business interruption cover can insure you if you or one of your key employees becomes seriously disabled and is unable to continue work. We will cover the incurred costs, up to £25,000, to minimise any interruption to the business.

Theft of Takings covers cash or cheques stolen from you in transit, from a safe or on you while you're working at other premises, such as your clients' homes. Maximum limits apply.

If you hold sensitive customer data, process payments online or just want peace of mind, Cyber cover should be considered. Because cyber criminals can be clever. Catching you off-guard and tricking you in to doing something you shouldn't, like opening an attachment in a fake email, or finding a way through your cyber-security. If this happens and they get their hands on your data or access to your bank account, the impact on your business could be devastating.

But, with our Cyber cover, you can call the experts, 24/7. They'll be on it, helping you to stay in business and recover in three ways following a cyber incident:

Recover financially

  • Covering loss of business income
  • Covering recovery costs, like fixing damage to your computer systems or data restoration
  • Covering fines (where insurable by law) and compensation costs following a data breach

Recover your reputation

  • You get access to public relations and crisis management experts to minimise damage to your brand and business.

Recover your systems and help prevent future incidents

  • Technical experts will help fix your IT issues and provide advice on how to prevent future cyber incidents.

Read more on Cyber cover here.

Available on new and renewal policies only. For Retail and Office & Professional customers only.

This covers the legal costs of providing specialist lawyers and taking action against many common legal problems, for instance disputes with suppliers or clients. Legal expenses cover can only be used if there is at least a 51% chance that the claim will succeed.

Personal accident cover provides payment if anyone in your business between the ages 16-75 is unable to work because they've been injured in an accident, whether in a business or personal capacity.

We'll pay a lump sum of £50,000 if there is an accidental death, accidental loss of limbs or sight, or if someone in your business becomes permanently disabled following an accident.

If someone in your business is unable to work due to a temporary injury, then after 7 days we'll pay their normal net weekly earnings up to £500 for up to 104 weeks.

You can choose Personal Accident as an add-on once you've completed your quote.

If you have commercial premises, you can extend your cover, for an additional premium, to include property damage as a result of an Act of Terrorism. We'll cover you up to the maximum sum insured on your policy for buildings, contents, and business interruption (depending on which covers you have taken).

This includes:

  • the rebuild of buildings damaged beyond repair
  • cover for damage or loss of your business contents, stock, and computer equipment, to help you get back up and running.

If you choose business interruption cover, you can extend this to include cover for reduced turnover and the costs of setting up elsewhere, due to damage to your premises resulting from an Act of Terrorism. It will also cover you not being able to access your premises as a result of an Act of Terrorism within 1 mile of your business.

Acts of Terrorism are defined as damage caused by someone acting on behalf of, or in connection with, any organisation which uses force or violence to overthrow or influence the UK government.

Terrorism cover is only available for properties located in England, Wales and Scotland.

Terrorism insurance is optional, so an additional premium will apply.

You can include Terrorism cover on your policy by adding it online or by calling us on 0345 301 5066 when you take out your policy or at renewal, as it cannot be added to your policy mid-term.

Policy documents

If you have an existing quote or policy with us, you can view and download your policy documents from the My Account page.

We tailor all our policies, so your documents only show what you've chosen to cover.

Here is a summary of a generic policy, from 25 October 2020 onwards, which shows the main covers and exclusions in our policies.

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  • Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm
  • Saturday 9am - 3pm
  • Sunday Closed