Cookie Policy
We use cookies and similar technologies to personalise and improve your experience when you use our website, including:
- keeping track of your shopping basket;
- allowing you to login to your account;
- remembering your preferences;
- customising the website to be more relevant to you (like displaying prices in your country’s currency); and
- helping us make our website better by telling us what users like and don’t like.
This document explains what these technologies are, why we use them and your rights to control our use of them. This Cookie Policy is incorporated into our Privacy Policy. If you continue to browse the site without changing your settings, we’ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies. However, you can change your cookie settings at any time by clicking here.
1. What are cookies?
A “cookie” is a small text file that’s stored on your device when you visit a website. All of your devices have different cookie settings. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your device.
Some cookies are deleted when you close down your browser. Others remain on your device until they expire or you delete them from your cache. These enable us to remember things about you as a returning visitor.
For more information about cookies, please visit www.allaboutcookies.org. Alternatively, you can search the internet for other independent information on cookies.
Cookies can be set by us (“first party cookies”) or by selected other companies who place cookies on our site to enable features or functionality to be provided on or through the website you are using, such as advertising, interactive content and analytics (“third party cookies”). The third parties that set these third party cookies can recognise your device both when it visits our website and also when it visits certain other websites or services. These service providers are subject to confidentiality provisions with us to restrict their use and collection of any personal data. However, please note that we do not control these third party cookies and we suggest you read the third parties’ privacy policies to make sure you are happy.
2. Why do we use cookies and other tracking technologies?
We use cookies and third party cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons in order for our website to operate, and we refer to these as “strictly necessary” cookies. Other cookies enable us and the third parties we work with to track and target the interests of visitors to our website, and we refer to these as “performance” and “functionality” cookies. For example, we use cookies to tailor content and information that we may send or display to you and otherwise personalize your experience while interacting with our website and to otherwise improve the functionality of our services. Finally, third parties serve cookies through our website for advertising, analytics, and other purposes. This is described in more detail below.
3. What categories of cookies may be used?
The specific types of first and third party cookies served through our website and the purposes they perform are described in further detail below:
Strictly necessary cookies
We need to use these cookies to make the website work and allow you to use some of its features, such as tracking page navigation to assist with linking back to different sections, signing up to a newsletter and enhancing security on site when submitting forms.
You can set your browser to block or alert you about these (or any other) cookies, but some or all of the site won’t work.
If you really hate cookies this much, it’s probably best you close the website and clear all your cookies. In fact, the web probably isn’t for you… Physical shops still exist, and you can be confident of your privacy there. Well, apart from people recognising you. And Security cameras. Lots of security cameras. But apart from that you’re all good.
For a list of the cookies used on our site which fall under this category, click here.
Performance cookies
These cookies are all about tracking site performance – we use them to do stuff like count visits, provide debugging information and see where visitors are coming from.
Typically these cookies just contain a unique ID which allows us and 3rd party services to recognise you as you move about the site and interact with it. We (and 3rd party services) record all those interactions and tie them together using the unique IDs in these cookies.
If you turn these cookies off it’ll hamper our efforts, but nothing critical to you using the site should break.
For a list of the cookies used on our site which fall under this category, click here.
Functional cookies
These cookies are used to deliver enhanced functionality and features which we think are jolly valuable, but aren’t absolutely critical to making the website work (as in, you should still be able to buy stuff with these turned off), and they’re set both by us and 3rd party service we use.
You can turn these off, but some things won’t work or won’t work as well.
For a list of the cookies used on our site which fall under this category, click here.
Targeting cookies
Ok, these are the “bad” cookies everyone’s talking about. They’re set by us and our advertising partners to help deliver targeted ads.
They may be used by us and our partners to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
But, before you click “deactivate” faster than a bourbon lover hitting “add to basket” when we get more Buffalo Trace Antique Collection into stock, just think about it for a moment – you’re not going to get less advertising, it’s just going to be less targeted – for which read “less relevant” – for which read “less useful”.
No one really likes advertising, and while we’d all prefer less of it, it’s a tough sell to say that it would be better for it to be less relevant.
That’s our pitch, now feel free to turn them off :-)
For a list of the cookies used on our site which fall under this category, click here.
Social Media cookies
These cookies are set by social media services which appear on the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit.
If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.
For a list of the cookies used on our site which fall under this category, click here.
Other tracking technologies
We and our third party partners may use other, similar technologies from time to time like web beacons, pixels (or “clear gifs”) and other tracking technologies. These are tiny graphics files that contain a unique identifier that enable us to recognise when someone has visited our website or, in the case of web beacons, opened an e-mail that we have sent them. This allows us, for example, to monitor the traffic patterns of users within our website, to understand whether you have come to our website from an online advertisement displayed on a third-party website, to serve targeted advertisements to you and others like you, to improve site performance, and to measure the success of marketing campaigns. While you may not have the ability to specifically reject or disable these tracking technologies, in many instances these technologies are reliant on cookies to function properly; accordingly, in those instances, declining cookies will impair functioning of these technologies.
Finally, please note that third parties (including providers of external services like web traffic analysis services) may also use cookies. Google also places and reads cookies on the browsers of users of our website (and may also use web beacons and similar technologies) to collect information relevant to the Google Certified Shops Programme. We have no control over these third parties.
For a list of the cookies used on our site which fall under this category, click here.
4. How can I control cookies?
You have the right to decide whether to accept or reject cookies.
Website cookie preference tool: You can exercise preferences about what cookies are served on our website by clicking here.
Browser controls: You can set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies. If you choose to reject cookies, you may still use our website though your access to some functionality and areas of our website may be restricted. Please click below for detailed information on how to disable and delete cookies in some commonly used browsers:
Disabling most Interest Based Advertising: Most advertising networks offer you a way to opt out of Interest Based Advertising. If you would like to find out more information, please visit www.youronlinechoices.eu.
Mobile Advertising: You can opt out of having your mobile advertising identifiers used for certain types of Interest Based Advertising, including those performed by us, by accessing the settings in your Apple or Android mobile device and following the most recent published instructions. If you opt out, we will remove all data about you and no further data collection or tracking will occur. The random ID we (or our third party partners) had previously assigned to you will also be removed. This means that if at a later stage, you decide to opt-in, we will not be able to continue and track you using the same ID as before, and you will for all practical purposes be a new user to our system
5. Changes to our Cookie Policy
This Cookie Policy was last updated on 26 November 2018. We may update it from time to time in order to reflect changes to the cookies we use or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons. Please therefore re-visit this Cookie Policy regularly to stay informed about our use of cookies and related technologies.
