Privacy & Security

Protecting your privacy

The Blanket Shop Ltd: Trading as The British Blanket Company

 

  1. Introduction

This Privacy Notice explains in detail the types of personal data we may collect about you when you interact with us. It also explains how we’ll store and handle that data and keep it safe.

We know that there’s a lot of information here, but we want you to be fully informed about your rights, and how The Blanket Shop Ltd uses your data.

For example, we will explain things such as our fraud prevention procedure and how we combine data across The Blanket Shop Ltd to build a picture of how we can serve you best.

We hope the following sections will answer any questions you have but if not, please do get in touch with us.

It’s likely that we’ll need to update this Privacy Notice from time to time. We’ll notify you of any significant changes, but you’re welcome to come back and check it whenever you wish.

 

  1. What is The Blanket Shop Ltd

'The Blanket Shop Ltd' is a UK registered limited company trading as 'The British Blanket Company'

This Privacy Notice applies to international orders, but there are additional terms for some countries. You’ll find more information below.

For simplicity throughout this notice, ‘we’ and ‘us’ means The Blanket Shop Ltd and its brands.

 

  1. Explaining the legal bases we rely on:

The law on data protection sets out several different reasons for which a company may collect and process your personal data, including:

Consent

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

For example, when you tick a box to receive email newsletters.

When collecting your personal data, we’ll make clear to you which data is necessary in connection with a particular service.

Contractual obligations

In certain circumstances, we need your personal data to comply with our contractual obligations.

For example, we will collect your contact details in order for us to fulfil your order and hold your personal data should we need to contact you with any updates or issues.

 

Legal compliance

If the law requires us to, we may need to collect and process your data.  

For example, we can pass on details of people involved in fraud or other criminal activity to law enforcement.

Legitimate interest

In specific situations, we require your data to pursue our legitimate interests in a way which might reasonably be expected as part of running our business and which does not materially impact your rights, freedom or interests.

For example, we will use your purchase history to send you personalised offers.

We combine the shopping history of many customers to identify trends and ensure we can keep up with demand or develop new products/services.

We may use your email address to send you direct marketing information by email, telling you about products and services that we think might interest you, follow-up on abandoned carts and request feedback.

We may use your mobile number to send you direct marketing information by SMS, telling you about products and services that we think might interest you, follow-up on abandoned carts and request feedback.

  1. When do we collect your personal data?
  • When you visit any of our websites, and use your account to buy products and services, on the phone or online.
  • When you make an online purchase and check out as a guest.
  • When you create an account with us. 
  • When you engage with us on social media. 
  • When you contact us by any means with queries, complaints etc.
  • When you use a tool on our website to request notifications about a product or service.
  • When you choose to enter prize draws or competitions.
  • When you ask a question using live chat.
  • When you choose to complete any surveys we send you.
  • When you review our products and services.
  • When you’ve given a third party permission to share with us the information they hold about you.
  • When you request notification of an item returning to stock.
  1. What sort of personal data do we collect?
  • If you have a web account with us: your name, billing/delivery address, orders and receipts, email and telephone number. For your security, we’ll also keep an encrypted record of your login password.
  • Details of your interactions with us using email, telephone, live chat or social media.

    For example, we collect notes from our conversations with you, details of any complaints you make, details of purchases you made, items viewed or added to your basket, brands you show interest in, web pages you visit and how you contacted us.
  • Details of your shopping preferences.
  • Details of your visits to our websites or apps, and which site you came from to ours.
  • Information gathered by the use of cookies in your web browser.
  • Personal details which help us to recommend items of interest.


For example, if you search for products in a particular colour and we may use this information to suggest other products in the colour you like.

  • Payment card information. Payment information is encrypted and never stored by us.
  • Your comments and product reviews.
  • To deliver the best possible web experience, we collect technical information about your internet connection and browser as well as the country and telephone code where your computer is located, the web pages viewed during your visit, the advertisements you clicked on, and any search terms you entered.
  • Your social media username, if you interact with us through those channels, to help us respond to your comments, questions or feedback.

 

  1. How and why do we use your personal data?

We want to give you the best possible customer experience. One way to achieve that is to get the richest picture we can of who you are by combining the data we have about you.

We then use this to offer you promotions, products and services that are most likely to interest you.

The data privacy law allows this as part of our legitimate interest in understanding our customers and providing the highest levels of service.

Of course, if you wish to change how we use your data, you’ll find details in the ‘What are my rights?’ section below.

Remember, if you choose not to share your personal data with us, or refuse certain contact permissions, we might not be able to provide some services you’ve asked for.

For example, if you’ve asked us to let you know when an item comes back into stock, we can’t do that if you’ve withdrawn your general consent to hear from us.

Here’s how we’ll use your personal data and why:

  • To process any orders that you make by using our websites, apps or in store. If we don’t collect your personal data during checkout, we won’t be able to process your order and comply with our legal obligations.

For example, your details may need to be passed to a third party to deliver the product that you ordered and we may keep your details for a reasonable period afterwards in order to fulfil any contractual obligations, such as refunds.

  • To respond to your queries, refund requests and complaints. Handling the information you sent enables us to respond. We may also keep a record of these to inform any future communication with us and to demonstrate how we communicated with you throughout. We do this on the basis of our contractual obligations to you, our legal obligations and our legitimate interests in providing you with the best service and understanding how we can improve our service based on your experience.
  • To protect our business and your account from fraud and other illegal activities. This includes using your personal data to maintain, update and safeguard your account. We’ll also monitor your browsing activity with us to quickly identify and resolve any problems and protect the integrity of our websites. We’ll do all of this as part of our legitimate interest.

For example, by checking your password when you log-in and using automated monitoring of IP addresses to identify possible fraudulent logins from unexpected locations.

  • To process payments and to prevent fraudulent transactions. We do this on the basis of our legitimate business interests. This also helps to protect our customers from fraud.
  • If we discover any criminal activity or alleged criminal activity through our use of fraud monitoring and suspicious transaction monitoring, we will process this data for the purposes of preventing or detecting unlawful acts. We aim to protect the individuals we interact with from criminal activities.
  • With your consent, we will use your personal data, preferences and details of your transactions to keep you informed by email, SMS, web and social media about relevant products and services including tailored special offers, discounts, promotions, competitions and so on.

    Of course, you are free to opt out of hearing from us by any of these channels at any time.
  • To send you communications required by law or which are necessary to inform you about our changes to the services we provide you. For example, updates to this Privacy Notice, product recall notices, and legally required information relating to your orders. These service messages will not include any promotional content and do not require prior consent when sent by email or text message. If we do not use your personal data for these purposes, we would be unable to comply with our legal obligations.
  • To display the most interesting content to you on our websites or apps, we’ll use data we hold about your favourite brands or products and so on. We do so on the basis of your consent to receive app notifications and / or for our website to place cookies or similar technology on your device.

For example, we might display a list of items you’ve recently looked at, or offer you recommendations based on your purchase history and any other data you’ve shared with us.

  • To administer any of our prize draws or competitions which you enter, based on your consent given at the time of entering.
  • To develop, test and improve the systems, services and products we provide to you. We’ll do this on the basis of our legitimate business interests.

For example, we’ll record your browser’s Session ID to help us understand more when you leave us online feedback about any problems you’re having.

  • To comply with our contractual or legal obligations to share data with law enforcement.

For example, when a court order is submitted to share data with law enforcement agencies or a court of law.

  • To send you review requests to help improve our services. These messages will not include any promotional content and do not require prior consent when sent by email. We have a legitimate interest to do so as this helps make our products or services more relevant to you.

    Of course, you are free to opt out of receiving these requests from us at any time by emailing us or clicking the unsubscribe link in the communication.
  • To build a rich picture of who you are and what you like, and to inform our business decisions. We’ll do this on the basis of our legitimate business interest.

For example, by combining this data, this will help us personalise your experience and decide which inspiration or content to share with you. We may also use anonymised data from customer purchase histories to identify trends in different areas of the country.

  • For newsletter subscribers, to decide which information to show you, with the help of computer algorithms. We do so on the basis of your consent when you sign up.

For example, we may use your shopping preferences to offer you tailored discounts.

Sometimes, we’ll need to share your details with a third party who is providing a service, such as delivery couriers. Without sharing your personal data, we’d be unable to fulfil your delivery.

 

  1. How we protect your personal data

We know how much data security matters to all our customers. With this in mind we will treat your data with the utmost care and take all appropriate steps to protect it.

We secure access to all transactional areas of our websites and apps using ‘https’ technology.

Access to your personal data is password-protected, and sensitive data, such as payment card information, is secured and tokenized to ensure it is protected.

 

  1. How long will we keep your personal data?

We keep your personal information to enable your continued use of The Blanket Shop Ltd, for as long as it is required in order to fulfil the relevant purposes described in this Privacy Policy, as may be required by law such as for tax and accounting purposes, or as otherwise communicated to you.

For example, we retain your transaction history so that you can review past purchases (and repeat orders if desired) and what addresses you have shipped orders to, and to improve the relevancy of products and content we recommend.

At the end of that retention period, your data will either be deleted completely or anonymised, for example by aggregation with other data so that it can be used in a non-identifiable way for statistical analysis and business planning.

 

  1. Who do we share your personal data with?

We sometimes share your personal data with trusted third parties. 

For example, the company that picks and packs our online orders, and our delivery couriers.

 

Here’s the policy we apply to those organisations to keep your data safe and protect your privacy: 

  • We provide only the information they need to perform their specific services.
  • They may only use your data for the exact purposes we specify in our contract with them.
  • We work closely with them to ensure that your privacy is respected and protected at all times.
  • If we stop using their services, any of your data held by them will either be deleted or rendered anonymous.

Examples of the kind of third parties we work with are:

  • IT companies who support our website and other business systems.
  • Operational companies, such as delivery couriers.
  • Direct marketing companies who help us manage our electronic communications with you.
  • Google/Facebook to show you products that might interest you while you’re browsing the internet. This is based on either your marketing consent or your acceptance of cookies on our websites.
  • Data insight companies to ensure your details are up to date and accurate.

 

Sharing your data with third parties for their own purposes:

We will only do this in very specific circumstances, for example:

  • With your consent, given at the time you supply your personal data, we may pass that data to a third party for their direct marketing purposes.

For example, if you enter a competition and the terms state that the prize giver can send you promotional information directly. Or if we run a joint event and you agree to receive direct communications from the co-host.

  • For fraud management, we may share information about fraudulent or potentially fraudulent activity in our premises or systems. This may include sharing data about individuals with law enforcement bodies.
  • We may also be required to disclose your personal data to the police or other enforcement, regulatory or Government body, in your country of origin or elsewhere, upon a valid request to do so. These requests are assessed on a case-by-case basis and take the privacy of our customers into consideration.
  • We may, from time to time, expand, reduce or sell The Blanket Shop Ltd and its associated brands. 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.
  • 3rd party tools like Hotjar are used in order to better understand our users’ needs and to optimize this service and experience (e.g. how much time they spend on which pages, which links they choose to click, what users do and don’t like, etc.). This enables us to build and maintain our service with user feedback. This includes a device's IP address (processed during your session and stored in a de-identified form), device screen size, device type (unique device identifiers), browser information, geographic location (country only), and the preferred language used to display our website. Hotjar stores this information on our behalf in a pseudonymized user profile.

To help personalise your journey through our brand websites we currently use the following companies who will process your personal data as part of their contracts with us:

  • Shopify
  • Allegro Logistics
  • Google
  • Twitter
  • Shopify Payments
  • PayPal
  • Google Pay
  • Apple Pay
  • Hotjar
  • Reviews.io
  • Klaviyo
  • Gorgias
  • Now In Stock
  • Trustpilot
  • Clearpay
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram (Meta)
  • YouTube
  • Facebook (Meta)
  • Royal Mail
  • DPD
  • Local couriers delivering international orders.

 

  1. Where your personal data may be processed.

Sometimes we will need to share your personal data with third parties and suppliers outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

International orders

If you are based outside the UK and place an order with us, we will transfer the personal data that we collect from you.

Protecting your data outside the EEA

The EEA includes all EU Member countries as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

We may transfer personal data that we collect from you to third-party data processors in countries that are outside the EEA such as Australia or the USA.

For example, this might be required in order to fulfil your order, process your payment details or provide support services.

If we do this, we have procedures in place to ensure your data receives the same protection as if it were being processed inside the EEA. For example, our contracts with third parties stipulate the standards they must follow at all times. If you wish for more information about these contracts please contact us.

Any transfer of your personal data will follow applicable laws and we will treat the information under the guiding principles of this Privacy Notice.

 

  1. What are your rights over your personal data?

An overview of your different rights

You have the right to request:

  • Access to the personal data we hold about you, free of charge in most cases.
  • The correction of your personal data when incorrect, out of date or incomplete.
  • That we stop using your personal data for direct marketing (either through specific channels, or all channels).
  • That we stop any consent-based processing of your personal data after you withdraw that consent.
  • Review by an employee of any decision made based solely on automatic processing of your data (i.e. where no human has yet reviewed the outcome and criteria for the decision).

You can contact us to request to exercise these rights at any time as follows: 

The British Blanket Company: support@thebritishblanketcompany.com

If we are unable to action your request we will explain to you the reasons for our refusal. 

Your right to withdraw consent

Whenever you have given us your consent to use your personal data, you have the right to change your mind at any time and withdraw that consent.

Where we rely on our legitimate interest

In cases where we are processing your personal data on the basis of our legitimate interest, you can ask us to stop for reasons connected to your individual situation. 

We must then do so unless we believe we have a legitimate overriding reason to continue processing your personal data.

Direct marketing

You have the right to stop the use of your personal data for direct marketing activity through all channels, or selected channels. We must always comply with your request.

Checking your identity

To protect the confidentiality of your information, we will ask you to verify your identity before proceeding with any request you make under this Privacy Notice. 

If you have authorised a third party to submit a request on your behalf, we will ask them to prove they have your permission to act.

 

  1. How can you stop the use of your personal data for direct marketing?

There are several ways you can stop direct marketing communications from us:

  • Click the ‘unsubscribe’ link in any email communication that we send you. We will then stop any further emails or SMS from that particular division.
  • If you have an account, log in into your ‘My Account’ area and change your preferences.
  • Email us and ask us to update your preferences.

Please note that you may continue to receive communications for a short period after changing your preferences while our systems are fully updated.

 

  1. Payment Security Policy

Shopify Payments

Shopify is certified Level 1 PCI DSS compliant. This compliance extends by default to all stores powered by Shopify.

For information about Shopify's PCI Compliance reports, see Viewing Shopify’s compliance reports.

PayPal

You may also pay securely through PayPal. If you would like more information about PayPal's security procedures please read their Privacy Policy.

Amazon Payments

We also offer secure payment through Amazon Payments. If you would like more information about Amazon Payments’ security procedures please read their Privacy Policy.

HTPPS

In addition, you know that your session is in a secure encrypted environment when you see https:// in the web address, and/or when you see the locked padlock symbol alongside the URL. So when buying through our site, you can be sure that you are completely protected.

 

  1. If you live outside the UK

For all non-UK customers

This Privacy Notice will be available in English.

By using our services or providing your personal data to us, you expressly consent to the processing of your personal data by us or on our behalf. Of course, you still have the right to ask us not to process your data in certain ways, and if you do so, we will respect your wishes.

Sometimes we’ll need to transfer your personal data between countries to enable us to supply the goods or services you’ve requested. In the ordinary course of business, we may transfer your personal data from your country of residence to ourselves and to third parties located in the UK.

By dealing with us, you are giving your consent to this overseas use, transfer and disclosure of your personal data outside your country of residence for our ordinary business purposes.

This may occur because our information technology storage facilities and servers are located outside your country of residence, and could include storage of your personal data on servers in the UK.

We’ll ensure that reasonable steps are taken to prevent third parties outside your country of residence using your personal data in any way that’s not set out in this Privacy Notice. We’ll also make sure we adequately protect the confidentiality and privacy of your personal data.

We’ll ensure that any third parties process your personal data only in accordance with their legitimate interests. These third parties may be subject to different laws from those which apply in your country of residence.  Please note that we do not take active steps to ensure that any overseas recipient of your personal data complies with the laws which apply in your country.


Australia

For the purposes of this Privacy Notice, ‘personal data’ means any information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether or not the information or opinion is true, and whether or not the information or opinion is recorded in a material form.

If you are in Australia you may submit any questions, comments or complaints to our UK-based team who will come back to you within 30 days.

If you are contacting us to complain about an alleged breach of this Privacy Notice or our legal privacy obligations, please provide us with as much detail as possible in relation to your complaint.  

We will take every privacy complaint seriously and assess it with the aim of resolving all issues quickly and efficiently.  We’d be grateful for your cooperation with us during this process by providing us with any relevant information that we made need.

If we have not come back to you within 30 days, or you are not happy with the response that you’ve received, you may submit a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

We are committed to keeping your personal information secure and will take all reasonable precautions to protect it from loss, misuse or unauthorised access or alteration. However, except to the extent liability cannot be excluded due to the operation of statute, we exclude all liability (including in negligence) for the consequences of any unauthorised access to, disclosure of, misuse of or loss or corruption of your personal information.

Nothing in this Privacy Notice restricts, excludes or modifies or purports to restrict, exclude or modify any statutory consumer rights under any applicable law including the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth).  

 

USA

To learn more about our cookies and website ‘track’ and ‘do not track’ practices please see our Cookies Notice.

 

  1. LINKS

When you click on links on our store, they may direct you away from our site. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites and encourage you to read their privacy statements.

 

Cookies Notice

The Blanket Shop Ltd trading as The British Blanket Company Cookie Policy

By visiting this website with your browser settings adjusted to allow cookies, you are consenting to The Blanket Shop Ltd using cookies for the purposes outlined below in order to provide you with a fully functional shopping experience.

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small text file which is downloaded and stored on your computer or mobile device by websites that you visit. Where cookie technology is not available, an anonymous identifier may be used. An anonymous identifier is a random string of characters used for the same purposes as a cookie.

Your browser accesses the cookie file only when you visit the website that generated it. This helps to ease your navigation by automatically logging you in and remembering things like your preferences and what’s in your shopping basket. Cookies allow sites like The Blanket Shop Ltd to deliver you a personalised shopping experience.

The information stored within any given cookie can only be accessed by the website that created it and cookies are limited to communicating only the information that you have disclosed to the site.

We use the following types of cookie:

  • Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website, use a shopping cart or make use of e-billing services.
  • Performance cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.

The list below details the cookies used on The Blanket Shop Ltd. We have outlined who sets these cookies and their purpose. If the party reads something other than 'The Blanket Shop Ltd', these are our third party business partners who help us to enhance your browsing experience.

 

Category

Party

Purpose

Strictly necessary

Decorator’s Notebook

The British Blanket Company

Shopify

Our online shops are powered by the Shopify platform which uses cookies to enable some of the basic functionality that is required for you to browse and shop on our website, such as remembering which products you have added to your basket. The information collected through these cookies is only used for this purpose and is never shared or sold on.

Strictly necessary

Cloudflare

Used by the content network Cloudflare to identify trusted web traffic. These cookies relate to our SSL security certificate which helps to keep our website secure.

Strictly necessary

PayPal/Amazon

Customers on our sites are offered the opportunity to pay via PayPal or Amazon Payments. Cookies are required to track your journey to their check-out sites and return you safely to confirm your purchase.

Necessary

iStock

Some of our visitors will choose to interact with our iStock app to receive notifications when sold-out products are returned to stock.

Performance

Google Adwords; Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest

Google Adwords, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, use cookies (or, if applicable, anonymous identifiers) to track our own paid advertising activity. We use the information collected by these cookies to help us determine where our ads will be most effective online. Each individual advertiser uses its own tracking cookies and the data taken is not confidential data or interchangeable.

Performance

Google Analytics (including Universal Analytics and Google Analytics for Display Advertisers)

Google Analytics use cookies (or, if applicable, anonymous identifiers) to collect data that helps us understand how people are using the site. We use this information to identify how and where we can improve the customer experience, and to help us determine where our ads will be most effective online. The data collected through these cookies is anonymous, does not collect specific customer data and is never shared with other third parties, other than Double Click Campaign Manager, which is a fully owned Google product.

Performance

Nosto

Nosto uses cookies to track the activity of customers on the site in order to help us provide the most relevant product recommendations to you based on the products you have previously viewed or purchased and the categories in which you have previously expressed an interest.

Performance

Privy

We use Privy to offer on-site messages, deals and promotions to our customers. Privy collects cookies to analyse the performance of the promotions we run.

Functionality

Yotpo

Yotpo allows our customers to leave reviews about our products and the service we provide. They use cookies to allow visitors to leave reviews and to authenticate reviewers.

Functionality

AddThis/Share This

AddThis and Share This allows customers to share content, products and web pages from our website with other websites and social networking sites. The cookies used by AddThis and Share This allows us to track the type of content, products and pages that our users are sharing to help us better understand which content is most engaging for our customers so that we can improve the content and customer experience in other areas of the website.

Performance

Social Media plugins

Sites such as Facebook and Pinterest, serve cookies in order to be able to share and discuss Decorator’s Notebook/The British Blanket Company products on social networks.

 

Duration of cookies:

Session (or Transient) Cookies

Session cookies are stored in your computer's memory for the length of your browsing session. They become inaccessible after the session has been inactive for a time and are automatically deleted from your computer when the browser is closed. They allow you to move from page to page without having to log-in repeatedly.

Persistent (or Permanent) Cookies

Persistent cookies are stored in your computer memory and are not deleted when the browser is closed. They are used to keep your preferences for the website, so they will be remembered for next time you visit the website. They are also used to collect information about the numbers of visitors, the average time spent on a particular page and analyse shopping behaviour on the website. This information is used to find out how well the website works and where it can be improved.

Flash Cookies (or Locally Shared Objects)

You probably have Adobe Flash installed on your computer. Websites that contain Flash can also store small files on your computer that are used in the same way as cookies.

Flash cookies can also back up the data that is stored in other cookies. When you delete cookies, your Flash cookies are not affected. So a website may still recognise you if it backed up the deleted cookie information on a Flash cookie.

Sharing with social networks

If you use the buttons that allow you to share products and content with your friends via social networks like Twitter and Facebook, these companies may set a cookie on your computer memory. Find out more about these here:

https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/

http://twitter.com/privacy

http://www.google.com/intl/en-GB/policies/privacy/

Managing cookies:

If cookies aren't enabled on your computer, it will mean that your shopping experience on our website will be limited to browsing and researching; you won't be able to add products to your basket or buy them. To enable and manage cookies, you can use your browser to do this. Each browser is different, so check the 'Help' menu of your particular browser (or your mobile phone's handset manual) to learn how to change your cookie preferences.

 

Changes to the Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to modify this privacy policy at any time, so please review it frequently. Changes and clarifications will take effect immediately upon their posting on the website. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated, so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

If our store is acquired or merged with another company, your information may be transferred to the new owners so that we may continue to sell products to you.

Questions and Contact Information

If you would like to access, correct, amend or delete any personal information we have about you, register a complaint, or simply want more information contact us at support@thebritishblanketcompany.com.

Last updated 17/07/2023