Category

Online Privacy Policy

WHSmith Privacy Policy

WHSmith.co.uk wants you to be able to shop with confidence on our site, which is why we take the privacy of your personal information very seriously. We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data.

This privacy notice will inform you as to how we look after your personal data when you visit our website (regardless of where you visit it from) and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you. By using our website or any of our services, or providing us with any personal data, you agree to your personal data being used and disclosed in the manner set out in this policy.

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Purpose of this Privacy Notice

This privacy notice aims to give you information on how WHSmith collects and processes your personal data through your use of this website, including any data you may provide through this website when you shop with us. WH Smith High Street Limited is the data controller and is responsible for your personal data (collectively referred to as "WHSmith", "we", "us" or "our" in this privacy notice).

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

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How We Use Your Personal Data

We will only use your personal data (name, address, email address, date of birth) when the law allows us to, and only for the purposes agreed to when you provided it. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

  • Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you, i.e. fulfilling an order.
  • Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
  • Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

Generally we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data, other than for our own marketing in some situations, and always for third party marketing. In relation to direct marketing communications via email or text message where we collect your consent, you will always be asked to decide how you wish to be contacted. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing (or to object to receiving marketing where we do not rely on consent to send it) at any time by contacting our Customer Services team or by unsubscribing from marketing communications in any e-mail sent to you.

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Purposes For Which We Will Use Your Personal Data

We will use your personal data:

  • To register you as a new customer
  • Process and deliver your order(s) including:
    -Managing payments, fees and charges
    - Collecting and recovering money owed to us
    - Verifying your age with credit agency TransUnion when purchasing age sensitive products. Full TransUnion privacy policy available here: https://www.transunion.co.uk/legal-information/bureau-privacy-notice
  • To manage our relationship with you which will include:
    - Notifying you about changes to our terms or privacy policy
    - Asking you to leave a product or service review or take a survey
    - Sending you reminders if you abandon (exit the site) after a search, product view, basket or do not complete your order
  • To enable you to partake in a prize draw or competition**
  • To administer and protect our business and this website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, development, support, reporting and hosting of data)
  • To deliver relevant website content and advertisements to you and measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you**
  • To use data analytics to improve our website, products/services, marketing, customer relationships and experiences
  • To make suggestions and recommendations to you about goods or services that may be of interest to you

** These activities require your explicit consent

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How is Your Personal Data Collected?

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

  • Direct interactions. You may give us your personal information by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, e-mail or otherwise. This includes information you provide when you:
    - purchase any of our products or services;
    - create an account on our website;
    - create an account in the WHSmith Scan & Go application on Google Play or iStore
    - join our newsletters programmes or other publications;
    - enter a competition, promotion or survey;
    - give us some feedback
    - interact with our social media channels; or
    - engage with our external advertising on third party sites.
  • Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, newsletters, or emails we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies and other similar technologies.
  • Third parties or publicly available sources. We may collect technical information about your journey through our site with Google Analytics. We and our authorised partners use this data to improve your site experience.

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Your Legal Rights

You have the right to:

  • Request to access and receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you;
  • Request any corrections to the personal data that we hold about you;
  • Request erasure of your personal data;
  • Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground;
  • Request restriction of processing of your personal data;
  • Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party; or
  • Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data.

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your access request is manifestly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request where it is manifestly unfounded, repetitive or excessive.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

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The Data We Collect About You

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

When you complete an online form, register or shop with us online, register or shop using the Scan & Go application, or engage with us in the ways identified in the ‘How is Your Personal Data Collected?’ section we may collect, use and store different kinds of personal data about you such as your name, gender, date of birth, billing/delivery address, e-mail address and telephone number. We may also collect and retain information about your interactions with us either in store, online, social media, or through our contact centres so that we can process your transactions and deal with any future queries.

We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy notice.

We do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.

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Consent

In certain situations, we can collect and process your data with your consent.

In limited situations, we may approach you for your written consent to allow us to process certain particularly sensitive data. If we do so, we will provide you with full details of the information that we would like and the reason we need it, so that you can carefully consider whether you wish to consent. You should be aware that it is not a condition of your contract with us that you agree to any request for consent from us.

When collecting your personal data, we'll always make clear to you which data is necessary in connection with a particular contractual or legal requirement.

We may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent (for example, in relation to fraud management or to assist with investigations by the police or other regulatory bodies) in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

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Opting Out

You can ask us or third parties to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by contacting us or by unsubscribing from marketing communications in any e-mail sent to you.

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data by making a 'Request for Erasure'. In order to make such a request, please write to us at support@whsmith.co.uk. Following your request, your personal data shall be removed from our database without undue delay in accordance with statutory requirements. Our DPO shall thereafter take reasonable steps to inform any third parties who may be processing any personal data they hold about you that you have requested the erasure of any links to, or copy or replication of, your personal data.

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Promotional Offers from Us While You Are On The Website

We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile Data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which products, services and offers may be relevant for you and display them to you on the website.**

** These activities require your explicit consent.

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Marketing

We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising. We may send you marketing about our own goods and services if either you have opted in to receive our marketing messages, or you have previously bought or enquired about similar goods or services from us (including by placing items in your basket but not completing an order) and you have not opted out from receiving our marketing messages. You can, should you wish, unsubscribe to any or all of our marketing material at any time. By clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ link in any email we send, you will be unsubscribed from that programme. You can also contact us at any point to opt out of any or all marketing communications, or do that by visiting the ‘preference centre’ on our site (available from February 2021).

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Off-Site Marketing

Whilst browsing other websites you may see WHSmith promotional messages, these will be displayed based on cookies placed during your recent visit to our website. Personal information is not used in the delivery of these promotional messages. Please see our Cookie policy for more detail.

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Third-Party Marketing

You are in control of any information we share with Third Parties for marketing purposes. As you go through our checkout or account creation processes you will be asked to advise us which contacts you wish to receive. If you have opted in to receive marketing from third parties you can opt out of these marketing messages at any time by contacting us or by unsubscribing from marketing communications in any e-mail sent to you.

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Third-Party Links

Clicking on links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications contained within this website, or enabling those connections, may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.

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Disclosures of Your Personal Data

We may have to share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out above (in Purposes for which we will use your Personal Data'):

  • Other WHSmith group entities, details of which can be found in our Annual Reports;
  • Third party suppliers in order to fulfil orders placed by you
  • Trusted technical partners for the purposes of site development and improvements
  • We may, from time to time, expand, reduce or sell WHSmith and this may involve the transfer of divisions or the whole business to new owners. If this happens, your personal data will, where relevant, be transferred to the new owner or controlling party, under the terms of this Privacy Notice.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

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International Transfers

Some of our third party processors may transfer your data outside of the EEA. Locations outside of the EEA where your data may be transferred is/are: the United States of America. We will update this Privacy Notice if the named locations change. When we or our third party processors transfer your data outside of the EEA we ensure that it remains subject to appropriate data security arrangements at all times and implement the right safeguards with these processors.

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Data Security

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, technical partners, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have procedures in place to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

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How Long Will You Use my Personal Data For?

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

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If You Fail to Provide Your Personal Data

Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with goods or services). In this case, we may have to cancel a product or service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

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Data Protection Officer

We have appointed a Data Protection Officer ("DPO") who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact Data Protection Officer, WHSmith, Greenbridge Road, Swindon SN3 3LD or e-mail support@whsmith.co.uk.

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Contacting the Regulator

If you feel that your data has not been handled correctly, or you wish to make a complaint, you have the right to contact the Information Commissioner's Office ("ICO"), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues, at any time. You can contact them by telephone (0303 123 1113) or via their website (http://www.ico.org.uk/concerns). We would, however, be grateful for the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.

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General

It is likely that we will need to update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any significant changes via our newsletters.

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Cookie Policy

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website - when visited by a user - asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies - which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting. For our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the website will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Cookie Subgroup Cookies Cookies used
beta.whsmith.co.uk sandy-client-id , sandy-session-id First Party
whsmith.co.uk OptanonAlertBoxClosed , OptanonConsent First Party
co.uk _dc_gtm_UA-xxxxxxxx First Party
studentbeans.com OptanonConsent Third Party
nr-data.net JSESSIONID Third Party
connect.studentbeans.com OptanonConsent Third Party

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our website. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the website. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous

Cookie Subgroup Cookies Cookies used
www.whsmith.co.uk _cs_same_site , _hjIncludedInSessionSample , dw First Party
co.uk _cs_root-domain , _ga , _ga_GGMCH2WYE4 , _gaexp , _gclxxxx , _gid , _hjTLDTest First Party
whsmith.co.uk _cs_c , _cs_id , _cs_s , _ga_xxxxxxxxxx , _gat , _hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress , _hjFirstSeen , _hjIncludedInSessionSample_1503854 , _hjSession_1503854 , _hjSessionUser_1503854 First Party
fonts.net __cf_bm Third Party
nr-data.net JSESSIONID Third Party
t.contentsquare.net _cs_c, _cs_id, _cs_s, _cs_same_site Third Party
script.hotjar.com _hjIncludedInPageviewSample, _hjIncludedInSessionSample Third Party

Functional Cookies

These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.

Cookie Subgroup Cookies Cookies used
www.whsmith.co.uk _hjIncludedInPageviewSample , bc_invalidateUrlCache_targeting , bluecoreNV , checkout_data , checkout_payment , recent_views , subscription_decision_made First Party
queue-it.net Queue-it Third Party
wufoo.com ep201, ep202 Third Party
studentbeans.com _sp_xxxxxxxxxx, sp, stb_connect_usp_variant Third Party
www.whsmith.co.uk V1v4 Third Party
api.bluecore.com bc_invalidateUrlCache_targeting, bluecoreNV Third Party
spotify.com sp_landing Third Party
studentbeans.queue-it.net Queue-it-studentbeans________row, Queue-it-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx Third Party

Targeting Cookies

These cookies may be set through our website by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other websites. 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.

Cookie Subgroup Cookies Cookies used
co.uk _cs_tld , _fbp , _uetsid , _uetvid First Party
whsmith.co.uk _cs_mk_ga , _hjTLDTest , _tt_enable_cookie , _ttp , mp_whsmith_mixpanel First Party
www.whsmith.co.uk S2Sv4 Third Party
doubleclick.net IDE, test_cookie Third Party
bing.com MUID Third Party
tiktok.com _ttp Third Party
api.bluecore.com mp_whsmith_mixpanel Third Party
myunidays.com Popup, temp, UD.TID, UD.VID Third Party
www.facebook.com Third Party
youtube.com CONSENT, DEVICE_INFO, VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE, VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA, YSC Third Party

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Managing Cookies

You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly. Find out more about how to manage your cookies by browser below.

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