← Back to RFS homepage
Home › Industries › Wholesale & Distribution
Industry Practice · Commerce & hospitality

Wholesale & Distribution

Cover for wholesale traders, C&F agents and distribution networks, stock, transit, credit-risk-adjacent fidelity, and warehouse property.

Warehouse stock lossCargo in transitEmployee & agent dishonesty
Request a Sector Review → Speak to an Advisor
The sector

The same goods are the asset, the liability and the cash flow.

Wholesale and distribution operators carry concentrated stock value moving continuously through warehouses, ports and customer sites. The exposures are heavy on cargo and warehouse fire risk, with fidelity and dishonesty exposure from the touchpoints where goods and money exchange hands.

Risk profile

Where the exposure lives.

Distribution risk sits in stock, in transit and in the liability carried down the supply chain. These four first.

01
Warehouse stock loss
Fire, theft and water damage in distribution warehouses with concentrated stock value.
02
Cargo in transit
Inbound supplier shipments and outbound customer despatch, high frequency, moderate severity per consignment.
03
Employee & agent dishonesty
Cash-on-delivery routes and customer-facing agents create fidelity exposure for cash and stock.
04
Forklift & material handling
Damage to stock, racking and third parties from handling-equipment operations.
Recommended cover

The programme we typically place.

Each cover below is a link to the policy page. The combination, the limits and the wording are what we negotiate on your behalf.

01
Fire & Burglary
Warehouse property and stock cover with BI for revenue continuity.
Learn about this cover →
02
Marine Insurance
Cargo cover for inbound and outbound transit on Inland Transit clauses.
Learn about this cover →
03
Fidelity Insurance
Employee dishonesty cover for cash-handling and stock-handling routes.
Learn about this cover →
04
Public Liability
Premises and operations liability with forklift and handling-equipment extensions.
Learn about this cover →
Claim reality

What a claim tends to look like here.

A common claim is fire or burglary of accumulated stock in the warehouse, or damage in transit between suppliers and customers, layered with liability carried down the supply chain. High stock turnover makes accurate sum insured critical.

Questions

Questions we get in this sector.

A declaration-basis policy adjusts the sum insured to actual stock levels through the year, avoiding both underinsurance at peak and over-payment at trough. We reconcile declarations periodically.
A distributor can be drawn into product-liability claims for goods it supplies, even without manufacturing them. We arrange product liability where the goods can cause third-party loss in use.
Only at the locations declared. Distribution businesses open and close storage points as demand shifts, and an undeclared godown is uninsured however long the policy has been running.
Not under the fire policy. Internal movement between godowns needs transit cover, and it is one of the most frequently overlooked exposures in distribution.
On a declaration or floater basis where values swing, so the sum insured tracks what is actually held rather than an average. A fixed sum insured set on the average leaves the peak under-insured and the average clause applies.

Need a sector-specific risk review?

Speak with an advisor who has arranged cover for wholesale before.

Request an Assessment →