What is a cookie?
Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information which is downloaded to your hard disk or to your browser's memory when you visit one of our Sites. Cookies are useful because they help arrange the content and layout of our Sites and allow us to recognize those computers or other devices that have been to our Sites before. Cookies do many different jobs, such as allowing our Sites to remember your preference settings and helping us to enhance the usability and performance of our Sites and your experience using them.
Our Sites also may contain electronic images known as web beacons – sometimes called single-pixel gifs – that allow us to count the number of users who have visited specific pages. We may include web beacons in promotional e-mail messages or newsletters in order to determine whether messages have been opened and acted upon.
Categories of cookies and similar technologies that we use
The type of cookie or similar technology that may be used on our Sites can be put into 1 of 4 categories: Strictly Necessary, Performance, Functionality & Profile and Advertising.
1. Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are essential, as they enable you to move around our Sites and use their features, particularly in connection with information searches and order placement. Without these cookies, services you have asked for cannot be provided. These cookies do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing or remembering where you have been on the internet. An example of a strictly necessary cookie is a “shopping basket cookie,” which is used to remember the products that you wish to purchase when you add products to your shopping basket or proceed to checkout.
2. Performance Cookies
These cookies collect information about how you use our Sites, for example which pages you go to most often and if you get any error messages from certain pages. These cookies collect information that is used to improve how our Sites work. Without these cookies we cannot learn how our Sites are performing and make relevant improvements that could better your browsing experience. Examples of performance cookies that our Sites use include Google and Adobe Analytics (see further discussion below).
3. Functionality & Profile Cookies
These cookies allow our Sites to store information that you provide such as your site language preferences and to store technical information useful for your interactions with our Sites. For instance, they remember your user ID and elements of your user profile. They also ensure that your experience using the Sites and our marketing efforts are relevant to you. They may also be used to provide services you have asked for such as watching a video or commenting on a blog. These cookies will not be used to track your browsing activity on other websites.
Without these cookies, a website cannot remember choices you have previously made or personalize your browsing experience. For example, we use a cookie to store your language preferences, which allows us to present you with product search results in the correct language, and we use a cookie to store your choice about the appearance of the cookie information banner that we display on our Sites. This cookie will help us remember your choice about the appearance of the cookie information banner when you subsequently visit the same site where you made your choice about the banner and any other Company sites with the same domain or the same top-level domain.
4. Advertising Cookies and Similar Technologies
These cookies or similar technologies may be used to deliver advertisements that are more relevant to you and your interests. They may also be used to limit the times you see an advertisement as well as help to measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign. These cookies may track your visits to other websites. Without these cookies or other technologies, online advertisements you encounter will be less relevant to you and your interests.
We permit third-party advertising partners to use cookies and other technologies to collect information about your browsing activities over time and across different websites when you use our Sites, including products that you browse or purchase and your location. Examples of advertising cookies or similar technologies that we use include Google AdWords and Facebook Pixels.
Setting your cookie preference
You may be asked to consent to our use of cookies as described in this Privacy Statement by way of a cookie information banner upon your first use of our Sites. You can usually modify your browser settings to decline cookies and you can withdraw your consent at any time by modifying the settings of your browser to reject or disable cookies. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the features of the Sites or other websites that you visit.