Cookies

Cookies are small files a website saves in your browser so it can remember things between pages and visits. This page lists the cookies this demo really sets, then explains how a retailer would use them.

Cookies this demo sets

This site is a demonstration made by CHS. It sets the four cookies below and no others, whatever you choose in the cookie banner. All four are strictly necessary. The demo sets no preference, analytics or marketing cookies.

Cookie	What it does	Type	How long it lasts
`sh_s`	Keeps you signed in to your account	Strictly necessary	Until you sign out, or 30 days
`sh_b`	Remembers what's in your basket	Strictly necessary	30 days
`sh_consent`	Remembers your cookie choice, so the banner doesn't keep asking	Strictly necessary	12 months
`sh_flash`	Carries a one-off message to the next page after you send a form	Strictly necessary	1 minute

Cloudflare, which hosts the site, may set a security cookie such as __cf_bm (30 minutes) or cf_clearance when it checks traffic for bots. These are strictly necessary too.

Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, a site doesn't need your consent for cookies that are strictly necessary to give you the service you asked for, such as signing in or keeping a basket. The privacy page says what the demo keeps about you if you create an account.

Changing your choice

Use the Cookie settings link at the bottom of any page to open the cookie banner again and change your choice. In this demo the only thing that changes is the sh_consent cookie, because there are no optional cookies to switch on or off.

Blocking or deleting cookies

Every common browser lets you block cookies or delete the ones already saved, usually from a Privacy or Security section in its settings. Your browser's help pages explain how. If you block strictly necessary cookies, you won't be able to sign in or keep things in your basket. Deleting them signs you out, and the banner will ask for your choice again.

The Information Commissioner's Office explains cookies and how to control them at ico.org.uk.

How a retailer uses cookies

The rest of this page is an example: how Swift & Hale would explain its cookies if it were a real shop. None of the cookies it describes are set by this demo.

Cookies fall into four kinds. We only set preference, analytics and marketing cookies if you say yes, and you can change your mind at any time.

Strictly necessary

These make the site work. They keep you signed in, hold your basket through checkout, protect the site from bots and fraud, and remember your cookie choice. They're always on.

Preferences

These remember choices you make. Pick your nearest shop and stock and collection times show for that shop on every product page. They also keep a list of the products you looked at recently, so you can find your way back to them. Without them you'd choose your shop again on each visit.

Analytics

These tell us how many people visit, which pages they use and where they give up, for example a checkout step that confuses people. We look at the figures in total, for the whole site, and don't use them to follow what any one person does.

Marketing

These let us and our advertising partners show you our adverts on other websites and on social media, and tell us whether an advert led to a visit or a sale. Advertising partners can use them to build a picture of your interests across different sites.

Examples (not set by this demo)

Cookie	Kind	What it would do	How long
`swh_store`	Preferences	Remembers the shop you chose, so stock and collection times show for it	12 months
`swh_recent`	Preferences	Lists the last 20 products you looked at	30 days
`swh_vid`	Analytics	A random number that lets us count returning visitors without knowing who they are	13 months
`swh_visit`	Analytics	Groups the pages you look at in one visit	30 minutes
`swh_src`	Marketing	Records which advert or email brought you to the site	30 days
`swh_ads`	Marketing	Lets advertising partners recognise your browser and show you our adverts on other sites	90 days