Privacy and cookies policy

About Us

Retail Week Prospect is a product of the Retail Week brand. Retail Week and World Retail Congress are brands owned by Ascential Information Services Limited, company number 7880716 (England and Wales). AISL collects or receives your data under this privacy policy as a data controller for the purposes of EU Data Protection Legislation.

AISL is an Ascential Plc group company.

Ascential Information Services Privacy Policy

At Ascential Information Services (“AISL”) we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We hold, as with most businesses, personal information about our customers and people who may be interested in our products and services.

This privacy policy explains the type of information we process, how that processing may affect you and your rights.

AISL will occasionally update this privacy policy. We will post a notice of any material changes on our website prior to implementing the changes, and, where appropriate, notify you using any of the contact details we hold for you for this purpose. We encourage you to periodically review our policies to be informed of how we use your information.

Our Data Protection Officer can be contacted at DPO@Ascential.com. Any questions regarding this policy and our privacy practices should be sent via www.ascential.com/data or by writing to Head of Legal, Ascential Information Services Limited, c/o Ascential Group Limited, The Prow, 1 Wilder Walk, London, United Kingdom, W1B 5AP.

If you wish to make a complaint about how we use your information, please contact us via www.ascential.com/data and we will do our best to help. If you are still unhappy, you can contact the appropriate data protection supervisory authority. The UK Information Commissioner’s Office can be contacted via their website .

Please see the Definitions section for definitions of terminology used in this Privacy Policy.

Information we collect

Collection directly from you

Most of the personal data we process about you comes directly from you for example:

when you contact us (by email, phone, mail or in person);
when you request a report or consume our content;
when you subscribe to our newsletter;
when you sign up to attend or sponsor an event;
when you become a designated contact and/or an authorised user on one of our platforms; and/or
when you express an interest in our products and services.

Please note that we may record conversations made with our Sales, Account Management and Customer Service teams.

Automatic collection when you contact us or engage with our websites, emails or apps

We automatically collect information about you as follows:

our websites and apps automatically log web log server information (please see the table below);
we collect data through cookies. Cookies are small pieces of information which are issued to your computer or any similar device you use to access the internet e.g. smart phone, tablet or other mobile device when you visit a website and which track and store information about your use of the website. For more information please see the ‘ Cookies ’ section below;
we also collect data through invisible images, or tracking pixels (sometimes also known as web beacons or tracking gifs), which tell us when you open our emails or view certain pages on our websites.

Information obtained from other sources

We may obtain publicly available professional information about you (as detailed in the Data Processed section below) from third parties or online publications. This information is used in the following ways:

to ensure that the information we hold about you is accurate and up to date;
to ensure that we have all the information we need to provide or offer you with a product or service; and
to help us to provide the best service possible, in the most efficient manner.

Why we process your data

This section details the information that we may we collect, the purpose for its collection and use, and the legal basis for the processing.

Purpose	Personal data	Processing ground
To enhance efficiencies for buyers and sellers within retail and related markets by enabling buyers and sellers in the retail industry to have more relevant conversations.	First Name Last Name Job Title Company Name Country Photo Career history, including detail on current position Professional e-mail address and phone number and sometimes photograph Links to social media accounts Quotes from interviews	Legitimate Interest [1]
To provide you and your organisation with AISL products and services.	First Name Last Name Country Job Title Job Function Company Name Postal address Email address Telephone Number Authorised User Log-in Details (Email address and sometimes username; encrypted passwords) User-generated content posted by you, for example comments on an article or within our apps, or questions posted to an event app Your photograph, where you have chosen to upload this as your ‘avatar’ to be shown alongside user-generated content We may also record any telephone conversations.	Performance of a Contract
To improve attendee experience at our events and offer products and services that better meet the customer needs and desires .	Event sessions attended Traffic flow at events	Legitimate interest
To respond to your communications and to retain a record for quality and training purposes.	General: First Name Last Name Job Title Company Name Email address Telephone Number Country We may also record any telephone conversations.	Legitimate interest
To ensure network and information security.	Web log server information: IP address Browser type and operating system Pages visited during your visit Source of your visit to our websites and apps (e.g. the URL or link which referred you to our products)	Legitimate interest
To monitor the performance of our websites, emails and apps and improve user experience	Web log server information (see above); and other activity by you when you engage with our products, for example buttons and menu items clicked; files downloaded; emails opened and links clicked.	Legitimate interest
To contact you or to stay in touch with you about our products and services.	General: First name Last name Job Title Company Name Email address Telephone Number Country We may also record any telephone conversations.	Legitimate interest (for businesses); or Consent (for individuals) or Soft opt-in (for existing customers or individuals who have actively expressed an interest in the products and services.)
To send you confirmation and further event information. We will also use your name at the event to confirm attendance and ensure your health and safety when you attend in person.	First name Last Name Company Name Email address Dietary requirements Religion	Performance of a contract Legitimate interest Protection of vital interests.
Informing our product and services strategy to enhance and personalise our customer experience and offerings. Informing our marketing strategy to ensure our communications with you are relevant.	First name Last Name Job Title Organisation Email address Telephone Number Country	Legitimate interest
To determine your interest in our products and services.	First name Last Name Job Title Company Name Email address Telephone Number Authorised User Log-in Details (Email address and password) Your engagement with our websites, content, products and services	Legitimate interest

Purpose

Personal data

Processing ground

To enhance efficiencies for buyers and sellers within retail and related markets by enabling buyers and sellers in the retail industry to have more relevant conversations.

First Name
Last Name
Job Title
Company Name
Country
Photo
Career history, including detail on current position
Professional e-mail address and phone number and sometimes photograph
Links to social media accounts
Quotes from interviews

Legitimate Interest [1]

To provide you and your organisation with AISL products and services.

First Name
Last Name
Country
Job Title
Job Function
Company Name
Postal address
Email address
Telephone Number
Authorised User Log-in Details (Email address and sometimes username; encrypted passwords)
User-generated content posted by you, for example comments on an article or within our apps, or questions posted to an event app
Your photograph, where you have chosen to upload this as your ‘avatar’ to be shown alongside user-generated content

We may also record any telephone conversations.

Performance of a Contract

To improve attendee experience at our events and offer products and services that better meet the customer needs and desires .

Event sessions attended
Traffic flow at events

Legitimate interest

To respond to your communications and to retain a record for quality and training purposes.

General:

First Name
Last Name
Job Title
Company Name
Email address
Telephone Number
Country

We may also record any telephone conversations.

Legitimate interest

To ensure network and information security.

Web log server information:

IP address
Browser type and operating system
Pages visited during your visit
Source of your visit to our websites and apps (e.g. the URL or link which referred you to our products)

Legitimate interest

To monitor the performance of our websites, emails and apps and improve user experience

Web log server information (see above); and other activity by you when you engage with our products, for example buttons and menu items clicked; files downloaded; emails opened and links clicked.

Legitimate interest

To contact you or to stay in touch with you about our products and services.

General:

First name
Last name
Job Title
Company Name
Email address
Telephone Number
Country

We may also record any telephone conversations.

Legitimate interest (for businesses); or

Consent (for individuals)

or Soft opt-in (for existing customers or individuals who have actively expressed an interest in the products and services.)

To send you confirmation and further event information. We will also use your name at the event to confirm attendance and ensure your health and safety when you attend in person.

First name
Last Name
Company Name
Email address
Dietary requirements
Religion

Performance of a contract

Legitimate interest

Protection of vital interests.

Informing our product and services strategy to enhance and personalise our customer experience and offerings.

Informing our marketing strategy to ensure our communications with you are relevant.

First name
Last Name
Job Title
Organisation
Email address
Telephone Number
Country

Legitimate interest

To determine your interest in our products and services.

First name
Last Name
Job Title
Company Name
Email address
Telephone Number
Authorised User Log-in Details (Email address and password)
Your engagement with our websites, content, products and services

Legitimate interest

[1] Where Legitimate Interest is the processing Ground, the legitimate interest is provided in the Purpose column.

Special Categories of Personal Data

We may collect information relating to your religion or dietary requirements to ensure that we can provide appropriate catering at AISL events.

We do not knowingly or intentionally collect any other special categories of personal data from individuals and we request that you please do not submit any other special categories of personal data to us.

How we share your data

We share your data in the manner and for the purposes described below:

AISL is part of Ascential Plc. AISL shares information within with Ascential-controlled affiliates and subsidiaries, where such disclosure is necessary to provide you with our services or to manage our business. It is our legitimate interest to process your personal data for these purposes;
with third parties who help manage our business and deliver services. These third parties have agreed to confidentiality restrictions and use any personal information we share with them or which they collect on our behalf solely for the purpose of providing the contracted service to us. These include: IT service providers, customer relationship management services and marketing automation, solutions and analytics providers;
with third parties where you have given your consent, for example when requesting selected content. Please note that some of our sponsors may collect your data at our events themselves for their own purposes;
with event sponsors so that they can better plan their sponsorship to enhance attendee experience and, where applicable, to choose invitees to private briefings, meetings or dinners. These sponsors have agreed to confidentiality restrictions and agreed to use any personal information we share with them solely for this purpose.
with our regulators, to comply with all applicable laws, regulations and rules, and requests of law enforcement, regulatory and other governmental agencies;
we may share in aggregate, statistical form, non-personal information regarding the users of our websites, emails and apps, and traffic and usage patterns, with our partners or affiliates;
if you are using the service under a corporate subscription, or through an agent, we may share personally identifiable user data with your subscribing organisation; and
if, in the future, we sell or transfer some or all of our business or assets to a third party, we may disclose information to a potential or actual third party purchaser of our business or assets.

Explaining more about direct marketing and profiling

How we use personal information to keep you up to date with our products and services

We may use personal information to let you know about AISL products and services that we believe will be of interest to you. We may contact you by email, post, or telephone or through other communication channels that we think you may find helpful. In all cases, we will respect your preferences for how you would like us to manage marketing activity with you.

How you can manage your marketing preferences

To protect privacy rights and to ensure you have control over how we manage marketing with you:

we will take steps to limit direct marketing to a reasonable and proportionate level and only send you communications which we believe may be of interest or relevance to you;
you can ask us to stop direct marketing at any time - you can ask us to stop sending email marketing, by following the ‘unsubscribe’ link you will find on all the email marketing messages we send you. Alternatively you can contact us via www.ascential.com/data . Please specify whether you would like us to stop all forms of marketing or just a particular type (e.g. email); and
you can change the way your browser manages cookies by following the settings on your browser as explained under the ‘ Cookies ’ section below.

When and how we undertake profiling and analytics

In order to understand your interest in our products and services and/or to ensure that we only send you communications which we believe may be of interest or relevance to you we analyse your engagement with our website, content, products and services. For example, your level of engagement or a specific topic of engagement will lead us to infer what is of most interest to you and if we may offer you similar further content or related services.

Cookies

When you visit the AISL websites, AISL uses ‘cookie’ technology try to make that experience simple, personalised and meaningful. Cookies are small pieces of information that are issued to your computer or any device you use to access the internet when you visit a website, and which track and store information about your use of the website. A number of cookies AISL uses last only for the duration of your web session and expire when you close your browser. Other cookies are used to remember you when you return to the website and will last for longer.

AISL uses cookies to:

i. create a specific login session for a visitor to the AISL website in order for that page requested to be delivered in an effective, secure and consistent manner;

ii. recognise when a visitor to an AISL website has visited before; this means AISL can identify the number of unique visitors AISL receives to the website and allows AISL to make sure AISL has enough capacity for the number of users that AISL gets;

iii. recognise who you are, so that we can customise elements of the layout and/or content of the website, including promotions;

iv. store your product selections to the shopping basket;

v. collect statistical information about how AISL visitors use the website(s) so that AISL can improve the Website(s) and learn which parts are most popular to visitors; and

vi. gather information through AISL’s advertising partners, about the pages on the AISL website(s) that you visit, and also other information about other websites that you visit, so as to place you in an ‘interest segment’. This information is then used to serve interest-based advertisements that it is believed will be targeted to your interests. For more information about this type of interest based advertising, and about how to turn this feature off please visit www.youronlinechoices.com/uk or follow some of the links to the website of AISL’s advertising partners shown below. Without these cookies, advertisements you encounter will be less relevant to you and to your interests.

vii. Some of the cookies used by AISL websites are set by AISL, and some are set by third parties who are delivering services on AISL’s behalf. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies but, if you prefer, you can change your browser to prevent that or to notify you each time a cookie is set. You can also learn more about cookies by visiting www.allaboutcookies.org , which includes additional useful information on cookies and how to block cookies using different browsers. Please note however, if you block or delete cookies used on an AISL website(s) you may not be able to take full advantage of the website(s).

Our cookies

We have described the main cookies AISL uses and what AISL use these for below:

Cookie name	Purpose
ASPXAUTH	Indicates the user is logged in. Contains user specific information such as user ID in encrypted form
ADFEAuthCookie	Used to authenticate user when they log in to the site
ADmessage_4	related to subscription renewal message
ADmessage_session_4	related to subscription renewal message
ASP.NET_SessionId	Used for managing the user’s session while browsing around the site
AgentCookie	When logged in, used to identify user’s browser and device
AnonUserCookie	Managing session state when not logged in
CT_CookiePolicyAccepted	Dropped when cookie policy has been seen / accepted
_ga	Used by Google Analytics
_gat	Used by Google Analytics
ai_session	Application Insights – helps to monitor site performance
ai_user	Application Insights – helps to monitor site performance
sp_	Spam filter
_AntiXsrfToken	Stores session information used to guarantee the origin of JavaScript request
SESSxxx (for example SESSfc6466156d1e1a7118bf568399df91b7) session_api_session has_js (checks if the client browser supports javascript)	These are Drupal and javascript operational cookies essential to the operation of Retail Week Prospect
cookie-agreed-en cookie-agreed-en-open privacy-agreed-version	These cookies let us know whether or not you have agreed to our cookie and privacy policies on Retail Week Prospect and stop the reminder from appearing once you have agreed.
rwi_remember_mail rwi_remember_me rwi_remember_pass	These cookies help us to operate the 'Remember me' rapid login process on Retail Week Prospect.
dtCookie dtLatC dtPC	These are Dynatrace cookies. Dynatrace helps us to manage the performance and security of the websites.
__cfduid	This is a CloudFlare cookie that helps us optimise performance on our websites. Dynatrace cookies. Dynatrace helps us to manage the performance and security of the websites.
NSC_wtfswfs_xfcgbsn98-99_sxq	This is a NetScaler load-balancing cookie that helps us to keep our websites available and performing well.

Third party cookies

Certain cookies are either set by third parties on the websites or these are set by AISL using the third parties’ cookie code. More information about cookies placed by third parties and how to restrict or block cookies can be accessed by following the link to the third party’s website. In addition to cookies, invisible tracking pixels, sometimes known as web beacons, may be set by AISL or third parties in respect of your use of the website. Tracking pixels are small image files within the content of AISL’s site or the body of our emails so AISL or third parties can understand how customers are engaging with our website and emails and whether particular content is of interest.

Cookie name	Purpose	More Information
Adtech	Adtech is AISL’s online ad server used for serving and tracking advertisements across the AISL websites.	Adtech Cookie opt-out
WebTrends WT.FPC	WebTrends uses a cookie to track the number of unique users of this website. It basically tells us whether the website has a small number of regular visitors or a large number of infrequent visitors. The cookie only relates to what goes on in this website.	WebTrends Privacy Policy
Google Analytics _utma _utmb _utmc _utmz	These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. AISL use the information to compile reports and to help AISL improve the website. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the website, where visitors have come to the website from and the pages they visited.	Google Analytics Privacy Policy
comScore	comScore help AISL provide online surveys and video content through AISL’s websites. comScore use cookies so that it can provide anonymous statistics on the interaction of users with these online surveys or video content.	comScore Privacy Policy
AddThis	AddThis helps AISL to integrate social media sharing tools such as Facebook and Twitter into AISL’s websites, and to measure the effectiveness of these sharing tools.	AddThis opt-out
DoubleClick (Google)	DoubleClick use a cookie when it serves advertisements in order to deliver reports on the effectiveness of these advertisements on AISL’s websites. The cookie records what advertisements the user has seen and how often.	Google Privacy Policy
Optify _opt_gvi	Optify collects information about End User activity on the website, including a unique Optify Customer ID, the End User’s IP address, the URL of the ‘referring’ Web page (i.e., the page viewed by the End User prior to visiting the tracked page on your Site), the title and URL of tracked pages on the website, and information about pages visited and actions taken. The Javascript code contacts AISL’s Software Services where, relying on third party service providers, AISL use the IP address to identify company name and approximate geographical location for the End User.	Optify Privacy Policy
Feathr f_id _cfduid feathr_session_id	Feathr uses cookies and web beacons (pixels) to collect anonymised information such as your IP address, in order to recognise which of our products you have interacted with, to then serve you with related advertisements on our and other websites that you visit.	Feathr Privacy Policy
Hotjar _hjClosedSurveyInvites _hjDonePolls _hjMinimizedPolls _hjDoneTestersWidgets _hjMinimizedTestersWidgets _hjIncludedInSample _gid _ga _hstc _hssc _hssrc hubspotuk	Hotjar uses cookies and log information to manage your interaction with surveys, feedback polls and tests that help us to optimise our websites’ user experience. Hotjar respects ‘Do not track’ and you can also choose to disable Hotjar cookies at https://www.hotjar.com/legal/compliance/opt-out	Hotjar cookie information
Guidebook	Guidebook provides the platform on which our Event apps are built and collects information in order to provide you with the services requested in the app and to help optimise the user experience. For more information please see the ‘End Users’ and ‘Visitors’ information in the Guidebook Privacy Policy.	Guidebook Privacy Policy
Twitter guest_id personalization_id _gid _ga	When you view pages on our websites containing embedded Twitter content or buttons, you may receive Twitter cookies.	Twitter cookie information
Facebook	When you view pages on our websites containing embedded Facebook content or buttons, you may receive Facebook cookies.
LinkedIn JSESSIONID bcookie bscookie lang lidc	When you view pages on our websites containing embedded LinkedIn content or buttons, you may receive LinkedIn cookies.	LinkedIn cookie information
YouTube (Google) .SSID PREF SAPISID LOGIN_INFO YSC VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE HSID	When you view pages on our websites containing embedded YouTube videos, you may receive YouTube cookies. YouTube is a Google service and is covered by the Google Privacy Policy.	Google Privacy Policy
Marketo mkto_trk	AISL uses Marketo to manage and serve our email newsletters, marketing, and some operational emails and so you may receive Marketo cookies while using our websites, emails and apps.

Data Retention

We retain your information for no longer than necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. In determining how long your information will be stored, we will consider:

the purpose(s) and use of your information both now and in the future;
what information we need to:
- best provide you with products and services;
- manage your relationship with us;
- meet our statutory obligations;
- develop our products and services; and
- meet our customers’ and previous customers’ reasonable expectations.

Geographic Data Transfers

AISL may need to transfer your personal data outside the EEA to provide the best service possible to our customers and in the most efficient manner. In all instances, we take steps to ensure that transfers of personal information are in accordance with applicable law and carefully managed to protect your privacy rights and interests and transfers are limited to countries which are recognized as providing an adequate level of legal protection or where we can be satisfied that alternative arrangement are in place to protect your privacy rights. To this end:

where we transfer your personal information outside the Ascential Plc group or to third parties who help provide our products and services, we obtain contractual commitments from them to protect your personal information. Some of these assurances are well recognized certification schemes like the EU - US Privacy Shield for the protection of personal information transferred from within the EU to the United States; or
where we receive requests for information from law enforcement or regulators, we carefully validate these requests before any personal information are disclosed.

Data Subjects’ Rights within the EEA

In the EEA, data subjects have the following rights:

to request access to your information and information related to our use and processing of your information;
to request the correction of your information (we may seek to verify the accuracy of the personal information before rectifying it);
in certain situations to ask us to erase, block or restrict the personal information we hold about you, or object to particular ways in which we are using your personal information; and
in certain situations, you can also ask us to send the personal information you have given us to a third party.
to ask to obtain a copy of, or reference to, the safeguards under which your personal information is transferred outside of the EEA.
to withdraw your consent to our use of your information at any time where we rely on your consent to use or process that information. This will not affect the lawfulness of our processing of your data prior to your withdrawal;
to object to the processing of your information for certain purposes, namely:
- in certain circumstances to us using or processing your information where we use or process it in order to carry out a task in the public interest or for our legitimate interests;
- to object to us using or processing your information for direct marketing purposes. You may also exercise your right to object to us using or processing your information for direct marketing purposes by clicking the unsubscribe link contained at the bottom of any marketing email we send to you and updating your preferences, or as a subscriber by visiting the preference centre on our website and changing your preferences.

For more information on how to object to our use of information collected from cookies and similar technologies, please see the ‘ Cookies ’ section above.

You can exercise your rights by writing to us at Head of Legal, Ascential Information Services Limited, C/O Ascential Group Limited, The Prow, 1 Wilder Walk, London, United Kingdom, W1B 5AP or by contacting us via www.ascential.com/data .

You have a right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority if you have concerns about how we are processing your personal information. We ask that you please attempt to resolve any issues with us first, although you have a right to contact your supervisory authority at any time.

Do not Track

Some browsers offer a “do not track” (“DNT”) option. For information about Do Not Track, please visit www.allaboutdnt.org .

At this time we do not respond to DNT signals. For information on how to block and opt out from tracking technologies used on our website, please see the ‘ Cookies ’ section above.

Third Party Websites

Please be aware that AISL does not control and is not responsible for websites that are referred to or linked from its own websites and that use of your personal information on these websites is not subject to this Privacy Policy.

Registration

To access certain parts of the AISL websites, AISL may require you to register and provide certain information about yourself.

You are reminded that where you register you agree to:

(a) provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself as prompted by the relevant registration form (such information being the “Registration Data”); and

(b) maintain and promptly update the Registration Data to keep it fully up to date

Persons 18 or under

We are concerned to protect the privacy of children. We do not knowingly contact or collect information from persons under the age of 18. The website is not intended to solicit information of any kind from persons under the age of 18.

If you believe that we have received information pertaining to or from persons under the age of 18 please contact us via www.ascential.com/data . If we become aware that a person under the age of 18 has provided us with personal information, we will take steps to delete such information.

Definitions

Compliance with a legal obligation - processing is necessary to ensure we comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

Consent – you have given specific consent to the processing of your personal data.

Data Controller – the entity that determines the purposes and means of processing personal data.

EEA – the European Economic Area which comprises countries that are members of the European Union and Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

Identifiable natural person - a person who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person

Legitimate Interests - processing is necessary for our or a third party’s legitimate interests in carrying on, managing and administering our respective businesses effectively and properly (except where our or the third party’s interests are overridden by your own interests, rights and freedoms).

Performance of a Contract – processing is necessary to carry out our contractual duties, exercise our contractual rights or otherwise perform our Contract with you, or to take steps at your request to enter a Contract.

Personal Data - any data relating to an identified or Identifiable Natural Person.

Processing - means any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data or on sets of personal data, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction.

Special categories of personal data - personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade-union membership, genetic or biometric data processed for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning Vital Interests – processing necessary protect an interest which is essential for the life of the data subject or that of another natural person.