Cookie Policy
What’s a cookie?
- A “cookie” is a piece of information that is stored on your computer’s hard drive and which records how you move your way around a website so that, when you revisit that website, it can present tailored options based on the information stored about your last visit. Cookies can also be used to analyse traffic and for advertising and marketing purposes.
- Cookies are used by nearly all websites and do not harm your system.
If you want to check or change what types of cookies you accept, this can usually be altered within your browser settings. You can block cookies at any time by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.
How do we use cookies?
- We use cookies to track your use of our website. This enables us to understand how you use the site and track any patterns with regards how you are using our website. This helps us to develop and improve our website as well as products and / or services in response to what you might need or want.
- Cookies are either:
- Session cookies: these are only stored on your computer during your web session and are automatically deleted when you close your browser – they usually store an anonymous session ID allowing you to browse a website without having to log in to each page but they do not collect any personal data from your computer; or
- Persistent cookies: a persistent cookie is stored as a file on your computer and it remains there when you close your web browser. The cookie can be read by the website that created it when you visit that website again. We use persistent cookies for Google Analytics.
- Cookies can also be categorised as follows:
- Strictly necessary cookies: These cookies are essential to enable you to use the website effectively, such as when buying a product and / or service, and therefore cannot be turned off. Without these cookies, the services available to you on our website cannot be provided. These cookies do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing or remembering where you have been on the internet.
- Performance cookies: These cookies enable us to monitor and improve the performance of our website. For example, they allow us to count visits, identify traffic sources and see which parts of the site are most popular.
- Functionality cookies: These cookies allow our website to remember choices you make and provide enhanced features. For instance, we may be able to provide you with news or updates relevant to the services you use. They may also be used to provide services you have requested such as viewing a video or commenting on a blog. The information these cookies collect is usually anonymised.
- Targeting cookies (also known as advertising cookies) collect information about your browsing habits and are used by third-party services to make advertising more relevant to you and your interests. These are used by third-party websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+ and are placed when you use social sharing buttons on website. When using these share buttons, you will be directed to a page that is controlled by a third-party company which may place a targeting cookie. Your use of a social share button will be subject to the applicable third-party service’s privacy and cookies policies.
HTML web beacon pixels
Our marketing emails may contain HTML web beacon pixels. These tell us whether our marketing emails are opened and whether any links to our website within the emails are clicked. We may use this information to improve and our marketing emails and tailor them to the products that interest you most. This information may be connected to your personal identity.
Third-party HTML web beacon pixels
Our website contains third-party HTML web beacon pixels. The information collected about you via these pixels is used for serving you more relevant advertisements across the Web. This practice is known as “retargeting.”
One of these pixels is called the Facebook pixel. This technology allows us to track visitors to our Website who have a Facebook account. The Facebook tracking pixel also allows us to serve advertisements both on and off Facebook. We share information regarding your visit to our website with Facebook, but this will not include any personal information. Facebook uses this information to monitor the effectiveness of our advertising and applications on our behalf. The information we share with Facebook will be used in accordance with the Facebook privacy policy applicable to people in your area. To opt out of having information about your visits to our Website shared with Facebook as a result of the Facebook pixel, click here.
