BBC Shop Cookies Notice

BBC SHOP COOKIES NOTICE

Last updated: 4/1/2021

BBC Shop is operated by BBC Studios Americas, part of the BBC Studios group (a commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation). This notice describes how cookies and other specialist web technologies are used to support the BBC Shop service and the options available to you.

To learn more about how we treat other personal data please read our Privacy Policy. [NB: This should be https://www.bbcstudios.com/privacy/ or link to localised/branded version]

1. ABOUT COOKIES (AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES)

A cookie is a small text file that is automatically sent to your device where it is stored by your web browser. The cookie stores a unique identifier (a string of random characters) so that your browser can be distinguished from others, and are often used to link your browser to databases that hold data about your usage and inferred interests, along with other data such as your IP address. They are used for various functions - from enabling the website to work, by recognising the same user as they navigate from one page to another; to analysing what content is viewed and is popular, through to personalising content based on browsing behaviour and interests.

Cookies may be stored by the website you are visiting (a “first party cookie”) or by a technology provider, such as an analytics company, advertising network or social media platform (a “third party cookie”). Third party cookies may be used to link your browsing behaviour across multiple sites. Cookies are either stored for the duration of your visit (a “session cookie”) or they will remain on your device for a fixed period (usually several months, or longer) to remember you across multiple browsing sessions (a “persistent cookie”).

Other types of storage, such as local or “HTML” storage

Many websites use local storage technologies that are similar to cookies but enable larger amounts of data to be stored. This means they can store information like your preferences and viewing history on your device rather than on their own systems.

Other tracking technologies, such as pixels

Websites and email communications may also use embedded code to record how you interact with them (recognising your browser via the unique ID stored in their cookie or your device “AdID”). They are often used to send data about your browsing to a third party, such as a social media company or advertiser to measure engagement with their content or to personalise ads or marketing.

2. HOW COOKIES ARE USED ON BBC SHOP

Cookies are used on BBC Shop for the following purposes:

Essential: these are cookies that are technically necessary to enable the effective operation of the service. For example, to enable you to navigate the service, to remember your cookie preferences, to keep our service secure and for system administration, such as preventing fraudulent or disruptive activity. Without these cookies the service may not operate as it should and so these are not optional.
Functional: these cookies support functionality that improves your experience or provides features you have requested.
Performance: these cookies are used to enable us to analyse and improve the performance of the service. For example, to help us to know how many users we have, which parts of our sites are most popular, what browsers are used (so we can maximise compatibility), the country or region where our users are located, and the demographics and interests of our users. This enables us to understand better who is using our site, to ensure we are reaching our target demographic, and to improve and tailor our services accordingly. We might also use cookies to measure the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns (online and by email).
Marketing: these cookies enable us to show you marketing messages (or ads) on our website and elsewhere online, and allow us to understand the effectiveness of our marketing (for example, whether you viewed or clicked on one of our ads). We may use marketing technologies so that we can promote our services to you, which could be personalised to you based on your use of the service and/or your inferred interests. They also support social media features, such as enabling you to share our content via your social media account(s) and to embed content from social media platforms (such as video content). These companies might use cookies to provide these services or otherwise enable them to track your use of their services.

3. THIRD PARTY COOKIES

We use a number of specialist companies to help us to run the website effectively and to provide marketing functionality, as described in the previous section. The cookies used by our service providers are mostly used strictly for the purposes of supporting the BBC Shop service (for the purposes of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), they are acting as a ‘service provider’). However, we do use Google marketing and advertising services through which Google may use data collected via BBC Shop for their own purposes. You can find out more about how Google uses data here. You can also opt out via your Google settings.

PROVIDER	CATEGORY	PURPOSE
BBC Shop	Essential	Determines whether to display newsletter sign-up module
Shopify	Essential	Shopify provides the platform upon which BBC Shop operates. They use a number of cookies that are necessary to enable the website to function to enable you to browse and make a purchase. You can find out more about the specific cookies used by the Shopify platform here.
Vimeo	Essential	We use Vimeo embeddable Video Player to deliver content on the site. Vimeo’s embeddable video player uses Vimeo cookies. Vimeo do not use third-party analytics or advertising cookies in their embedded video player unless you are logged in to a Vimeo account. More information about the cookies Vimeo use can be found here.
Shopify	Performance	Shopify also use cookies are for reporting and analytics purposes. In particular, they are used to track the referral to the website (i.e. what brought you to the site, such as a search engine recommendation or link from an email or website) and your browsing behavior on the website. You can find out more about the specific cookies used by the Shopify platform here.
Google Analytics	Analytics	This is a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. Google Analytics sets a cookie in order to evaluate use of those services and compile an aggregate report for us. To do this, Google use the _ga cookie along with a ClientID that identifies you as a user of our website. You can find out more about how Google uses data here. You can also install a browser plugin to opt out from Google Analytics across all websites.
Blueshift	Marketing	We use website cookies and email pixels to personalise and understand engagement with our marketing emails. Blueshift, our email provider, is acting as our service provider and do not use your data for their own purposes.
Google	Marketing	We use Google Marketing Platform to serve and to measure the effectiveness of our online marketing campaigns. We may also use this cookie to derive demographics and interests data for analytics purposes. You can find out more about how Google uses data here. You can also opt out across all websites via your Google settings.
Nosto	Marketing	We use cookies to provide customers with personalized product recommendations using a specialist platform, Nosto. Nosto track your browsing and shopping behaviour on this website to deliver relevant recommendations to you. They are acting as our service provider and do not use your data for other purposes.
Pepperjam	Marketing	Pepperjam helps us to market BBC Shop via other websites and apps. When a customer clicks on an ad and completes a purchase, Pepperjam compensate the website or app for that conversion (known as affiliate marketing). They use cookies to track that conversion effectively. Pepperjam is our service provider and do not use your data for their own purposes. More information on how they process data can be found here.

4. YOUR CHOICES

You can choose how cookies are generally handled by your web browser via your browser settings. This includes blocking or deleting all cookies or just third party cookies, although be aware this may impact on your browsing experience. Each browser manufacturer is different, so check the "Help" menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences.

You can opt-out from tracking of your interaction with our email communications by blocking images from being shown by your email client (many do this by default).

5. HOW TO CONTACT US

If you have any questions or concerns about BBC Shop’s use of cookies please contact our Privacy Team via the following email address: dataprotection@bbc.com.