As Black Friday arrives, Lee Mooney, commercial director at Paymentshield, discusses the value of additional seasonal cover for your clients.

Like Halloween, Black Friday is another tradition that has roots in America, but is one we’ve witnessed becoming increasingly popular over the past few years.

When the annual opportunity to grab a haul of bargains arrives, news programmes and social media are overcome with videos of savvy shoppers fighting over cut-price gadgets and queueing overnight to grab a slice of the cost savings action.

The Centre for Retail Research estimates that online spending alone on Black Friday is expected to reach £966 million. Total sales, including high street stores, are expected to climb to £1.39 billion by the end of the day and for shopping over the entire weekend to hit £3.5 billion.

This seasonal splurging on thousands of pounds worth of gifts means that homes across the country will soon have heaps of presents stashed in hiding places and there’s no doubt that, for many people, Christmas shopping will start on Black Friday.

In an effort to ensure that customers have the protection required for their increased contents value following this spending spree, Paymentshield’s Contents Insurance policy, underwritten by a panel of insurers, includes an automatic seasonal increase in cover of £2,500 around religious festival such as Christmas. Therefore, advisers can rest assured that their clients are covered during a time of year that often sees an increased rate of burglaries.

Customers who purchase a contents only or combined building and contents policy will therefore benefit from a £2,500 increase for one month before and one month after Christmas – just in time for Black Friday. This increase comes at no additional cost to the policyholder.

According to research, 40% of individuals still don’t have Contents Insurance and of those that do, 36% admit to failing to review their policies to ensure that the level of cover is adequate on an annual or more regular basis.

This time of year offers a great opportunity to educate clients that not all Home Insurance is the same and that policy benefits can vary significantly from provider to provider. In addition, advisers can take the opportunity to ensure their customers fully understand the benefits of the policies they have and are adequately protected.