Privacy and cookies policy

1. Introduction

a. This Privacy and Cookies Policy sets out the privacy policy of Ascential Information Services Limited, Company Number 7880716 (England) whose registered address is c/o Ascential Group Limited, The Prow, 1 Wilder Walk, London W1B 5AP (‘Ascential’), who controls this website. For the purpose of the Data Protection Act, the data controller is Ascential.

b. Ascential is committed to protecting the privacy of its users and the purpose of this Privacy Policy is to describe to you how Ascential will use personal information about you that is submitted to Ascential.

c. By providing your personal information to Ascential, you consent to the collection and use of it and any other information provided to Ascential Information Services in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If at any time you wish to change the uses of your personal information to which you have consented, please contact Ascential at customerservices@retail-week.com.

d. Ascential may revise this Privacy Policy at any time by posting an update on Ascential’s Website(s). Please ensure that you check Ascential’s Website and any other Ascential Website(s) you use from time to time to review the current Privacy Policy and to update your preferences. This Privacy and Cookies Policy was last updated in December 2017.

2. Collection of Personal Information

a. The types of personal information collected and stored by Ascential might include your name, date of birth, email address, postal address, telephone number, and credit/debit card details (to the extent permitted by the Data Protection Act 1998 and related legislation (‘the DPA’).

b. Ascential (or any of its sub-contractors) may collect personal information about you in the following ways:

i. any data that you provide when you complete and submit an application to Ascential to register on Ascential’s Website(s) or receive email alerts or other communications from Ascential;

ii. any data that you provide via postings to forums and blogs and any other posting that you make to a Ascential Website (in such circumstances the information posted by you will, of course, also be available to users of Ascential’s Website globally);

iii. during any transaction with Ascential; and

iv: any other data that you provide to Ascential when you enquire about Ascential’s activities, email, telephone or write to Ascential or otherwise provide Ascential with personal information.

c. Ascential (or any of its sub-contractors) may also receive information about you from third parties, for example a friend who wants to tell you about one of Ascential’s Websites.

3. Storage and Retention of Your Information

a. Ascential will keep your information on a secure server. The technology that Ascential uses and the security policies that Ascential has implemented are intended to safeguard your information from unauthorised access and improper use.

b. Ascential will keep your information (to the extent permitted by the DPA) to enable Ascential to use it for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

4. Use of Your Information

a. Ascential may use your personal information (subject in each case to the requirements of the DPA) for the following purposes:

i. administering your website account(s) and otherwise in connection with any service for which you have provided your information, including any email alerts, transactions with us and competitions and promotions that you take part in;

ii. responding to any enquiry you make;

iii. subject to your consent, sending you newsletters and/or alerts and information regarding Ascential or any third party’s future services (in all formats to which you have consented); and

iv. for generating aggregated statistics about users, traffic patterns and so on, of Ascential’s website(s) and other services and developing Ascential’s marketing plans.

b. Ascential may also disclose your information (subject in each case to the requirements of the DPA) as follows:

i. if you have given your consent for Ascential to do so, to other selected organisations to enable them to contact you or send you information by post, telephone and/or email;

ii. to any service providers, sub-contractors and agents appointed by Ascential to perform the above functions on its behalf and in accordance with its instructions;

iii. to third parties selected by Ascential as part of aggregated and anonymised statistics about users, traffic patterns and so on, of Ascential’s Website(s);

iv. to such individuals and/or bodies as necessary to ensure Ascential’s compliance with any applicable law, regulation, legal proceeding or governmental request;

v. where you post material that does or may constitute a criminal offence, breach the rights of a third party, give rise to a civil action or breach the Terms and Conditions of the applicable website and as otherwise necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of Ascential and Ascential’s customers, to any relevant authority or third party requiring Ascential to disclose the identity of or locate anyone posting such material on an Ascential website; and

vi. to any individual making a subject information request to Ascential.

c. In the event that Ascential (or a relevant part of Ascential) is acquired by or merges with another company, your personal information may be passed to the purchasing/merging company among the transferred business assets. This will enable your relationship to continue with the relevant Ascential business despite the change of ownership. Your personal information may also be passed (on a confidential basis) to companies with whom Ascential is negotiating such a sale/merger as part of the verification exercise carried out on Ascential by the third party.

d. In processing your information in accordance with the above, Ascential may (to the extent permitted by the DPA) send it outside the European Economic Area (‘EEA’). Ascential will take all reasonable steps to ensure that in such circumstances your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy but your attention is drawn to the fact that the laws of countries outside the EEA may provide lesser protection to your information than the UK. When you submit your personal information to Ascential you consent to the transfer of your information outside the EEA unless you specifically indicate otherwise.

5. Cookies

a. When you visit an Ascential website(s), Ascential uses ‘cookie’ technology try to make that experience simple, personalised and meaningful. Cookies are small pieces of information that are issued to your computer or any device you use to access the internet when you visit a website, and which store and sometimes track information about your use of the website. A number of cookies Ascential uses last only for the duration of your web session and expire when you close your browser. Other cookies are used to remember you when you return to the Website and will last for longer.

b. Ascential uses cookies to:

i. create a specific login session for a visitor to an Ascential Website in order for that page requested to be delivered in an effective, secure and consistent manner;

ii. recognise when a visitor to an Ascential Website has visited before; this means Ascential can identify the number of unique visitors Ascential receives to the Website and allows Ascential to make sure Ascential has enough capacity for the number of users that Ascential gets;

iii. customise elements of the promotional layout and/or content of the pages of the website;

iv. store your product selections to the shopping basket;

v. collect statistical information about how Ascential visitors use the Website(s) so that Ascential can improve the Website(s) and learn which parts are most popular to visitors; and

vi. gather information through Ascential’s advertising partners, about the pages on the Ascential Website(s) that you visit, and also other information about other websites that you visit, so as to place you in an ‘interest segment’. This information is then used to serve interest-based advertisements that it is believed will be targeted to your interests. For more information about this type of interest based advertising, and about how to turn this feature off please visit www.youronlinechoices.com/uk or follow some of the links to the website of Ascential’s advertising partners shown below. Without these cookies, advertisements you encounter will be less relevant to you and to your interests.

vii. Some of the cookies used by Ascential Websites are set by Ascential, and some are set by third parties who are delivering services on Ascential’s behalf. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies but, if you prefer, you can change your browser to prevent that or to notify you each time a cookie is set. You can also learn more about cookies by visiting www.allaboutcookies.org, which includes additional useful information on cookies and how to block cookies using different browsers. Please note however, that by blocking or deleting cookies used on an Ascential Website(s) you may not be able to take full advantage of the Website(s) if you do so.

6. Our cookies

a. We have described the main cookies Ascential uses and what Ascential use these for below:

Used to authenticate user when they log in to the site

7. Third party cookies

a. Certain cookies are either set by third parties on the Website or these are set by Ascential using the third parties cookie code. More information about cookies placed by third parties and how to restrict or block cookies can be accessed by following the link to their website. In addition to cookies, tracking gifs may be set by Ascential or third parties in respect of your use of the Website. Tracking gifs are small image files within the content of Ascential’s site or the body of our newsletters so Ascential or third parties can understand which parts of the Website are visited or whether particular content is of interest.

8. Third Party Websites

a. Please be aware that Ascential does not control and is not responsible for websites that are referred to or linked from its own Websites and that use of your personal information on these websites is not subject to this Privacy and Cookies Policy.

9. Registration

a. To access certain parts of the Ascential Website(s), Ascential may require you to register and provide certain information about yourself.

b. You are reminded that in addition to the provisions of this Privacy and Cookies Policy, where you register you also agree to:

i. provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself as prompted by the relevant registration form (such information being the ‘Registration Data’); and

ii. maintain and promptly update the Registration Data to keep it fully up to date.