Cookie Policy
Cookie Policy – Last updated 25th May 2018
WHAT IS A COOKIE?
A cookie is a tiny piece of data stored on your computer and managed by your web browser at the request of a website. Cookies are very useful to a website because they help the website remember important things like what items you have in your shopping basket, what special offers you might be eligible for and whether you are logged in. They also help websites remember your preferences such as, for instance, whether you like to see prices including or excluding VAT. Cookies are also used to help improve a website by using a unique (anonymous) value to help the site owner identify the most popular content, measure site performance and how often users visit. Websites often use services from other companies to help with this analysis and the cookies used by these other companies on the website owner’s behalf are called third-party cookies. Because cookies are managed by your web browser if you move to a different device or browser software the cookies won’t come along. You will need to log into a website again on your mobile device, for instance, even though you are logged in on your desktop computer already. Each device and web browser will have its own set of cookies that might be different.
OUR COOKIES
We classify the cookies we use on our websites based on what they do and whether they are essential to the working of the website. You can disable any or all of the cookies we use via your web browser preferences but disabling certain cookies will prevent our sites from offering the functionality you want to use.
Required cookies. Without these cookies, some or all of our websites won’t work the way you expect. For instance, you won’t be able to log into your account or add items to your basket.
Convenience cookies. Without these cookies, you can still use our websites but you might miss out on special offers and you might not see personalisations you have made to your Control Panel.
Analytical cookies. These cookies are not needed for you to use our sites but they do help us improve sites to make them easier to use and faster.
In the following tables, there’s more information about each cookie we use, what kind of cookie it is and what we use it for.
REQUIRED COOKIES
NamePurposeExpiryWhere usedPHPSESSIDreserves user session state across page requests.2 hoursGloballyCookieConsentStores the user’s cookie consent state for the current domain.SessionGlobally
ANALYTICAL COOKIES
NamePurposeExpiryWhere used_gaRegisters a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.2 yearsGlobally_gidRegisters a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.SessionGlobally_gatUsed by Google Analytics to throttle request rateSessionGlobally
MARKETING COOKIES
NamePurposeExpiryWhere usedNIDRegisters a unique ID that identifies a returning user’s device. The ID is used for targeted ads. 6 monthsGloballyads/ga-audiencesUsed by Google AdWords to re-engage visitors that are likely to convert to customers based on the visitor’s online behaviour across websites.SessionGloballycollectUsed to send data to Google Analytics about the visitor’s device and behaviour. Tracks the visitor across devices and marketing channels.SessionGlobally
UNCLASSIFIED COOKIES
NamePurposeExpiryWhere usedcookieLawProSessionGlobally
A * at the end of a cookie name means ‘anything’. For instance, TS* means any cookie that starts with the letters ‘TS’.
A session cookie is one that only lasts as long as you are browsing our websites. Your web browser will usually clean up session cookies when you close your browser windows.
We use a few companies to help us analyse and improve our websites and we also integrate with Social Media services. These companies have their own cookies and their own cookie policies:
Third-Party ProductUsePolicy linkFacebookAdvertising
Social Mediahttps://www.facebook.com/policies/cookies/
https://www.facebook.com/business/gdpr
https://www.facebook.com/business/news/facebooks-commitment-to-data-protection-and-privacy-in-compliance-with-the-gdprGoogleAnalyticshttps://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/analyticsjs/cookie-usage?hl=en
COOKIE SETTINGS
You can control which cookies your web browser allows via the browser’s preferences. You may prevent (block) all cookies or just some but remember that some cookies are required for our websites to work. The third-party services we use support the ‘Do Not Track’ option in modern web browsers and modern web browsers also offer to block ‘Only third-party’ cookies. Enabling these options shouldn’t prevent you using our websites (please contact us if you experience problems and we will do our best to fix them). Most web browsers also support optional plugins that offer enhanced control over cookies. Remember, cookies are browser and device specific so you will need to set your cookie preferences in all your browsers and on all your devices separately.