Extended Cookie Policy
Last Updated: 2 August 2026
This Cookie Policy should be read alongside our Privacy Policy, which explains more broadly how we collect, use, and protect your personal information. Where this Policy discusses cookies and tracking technologies specifically, our Privacy Policy governs how any personal information gathered through them is used.
1. What Are Cookies and Tracking Technologies?
A cookie is a small text file or piece of information that is downloaded to your computer, mobile, or other device when you visit the SALMA MYA website (the "Site").
Cookies make your browsing experience better by allowing our platform to remember your actions, choices, and preferences (such as your regional selection, customer login status, and the contents of your shopping basket). This means you don't have to re-enter this information every time you return to the Site or move from one page to another. Cookies also provide statistical insight into how people interact with our website — for instance, whether it's someone's first visit or they're a returning customer.
In addition to traditional cookies, SALMA MYA uses other modern tracking technologies to run our storefront and marketing:
- Tracking Pixels & Web Beacons: Small, invisible graphics embedded in our web pages that monitor activity and compile statistics when a page loads.
- Server-Side Event APIs: Technical tools (such as the Meta Conversions API) that securely send user behaviour and purchase event data directly from our web server to marketing platforms, without relying solely on your browser.
- Cookieless Pings: Anonymous, non-identifiable signals sent to Google servers when a user declines cookie consent. These report high-level, functional activity without accessing or storing personal data on your device.
2. How We Collect and Use Your Data
When you first visit our Site, you'll be prompted via our consent banner to choose your cookie preferences. Non-essential cookies and tracking tools are not set on your device until you give your consent — you're always asked before anything beyond strictly necessary cookies is placed. We use cookies and tracking tools across three categories:
- Strictly Necessary Cookies: Essential for the Site to function — for example, displaying content in the correct language, managing your basket, running our checkout securely, maintaining your login session, and detecting fraud. Because these cookies are essential to providing the Service you've requested, they are exempt from the consent requirement under UK cookie law (PECR) and are used without requiring your prior consent, though you can still disable them via your browser settings (see Section 5).
- Analytical & Performance Cookies: Used to understand how visitors use the Site — for example, which pages are most visited, how people navigate between them, and how long they spend browsing — so we can improve the Site's layout and performance. These cookies require your consent before they're set, even where the data collected is anonymised or aggregated; this reflects current ICO guidance that analytics cookies aren't classed as strictly necessary.
- Marketing & Profiling Cookies: With your explicit consent via our banner, these cookies and tracking tools note your browsing preferences, habits, and past purchases. This allows us to show personalised advertising, cross-platform suggestions, and retargeting adverts on social media for products similar to those you've viewed before.
3. Sharing and International Data Transfers
To run our store, data collected through our tracking tools may be processed by our internal team, technical service providers (acting as data processors), and trusted marketing partners — specifically Google and Meta (Facebook).
Secure Data Hashing: With your consent, conversion data (such as a purchase made following an advert) and account details may be shared with Google and Meta. To protect your identity, sensitive identifiers (like your email address) are converted into hash-protected strings before being sent. This cryptographic protection means your data can't be read or decrypted without a secure key.
International Storage: Aggregate marketing and conversion data collected by these third-party tools may be transferred, processed, and stored outside the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area, including on servers located in the United States. These transfers are governed by legally recognised safeguards, including Standard Contractual Clauses, to protect your data. Aggregated tracking data is generally retained by these networks for up to 90 days.
4. The Cookies We Use
Because SALMA MYA is hosted on Shopify, our storefront uses a mix of session cookies (which last only until you close your browser) and persistent cookies (which remain on your device until they expire or are deleted). Depending on their purpose, our cookies fall into the following categories:
| Category | Purpose | Typical Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Strictly Necessary – Store & Checkout | Running your shopping cart, secure checkout, and admin access. | Session – 2 weeks |
| Strictly Necessary – Account & Security | Verifying your login and protecting against fraud during checkout. | Persistent, until logout or browser data is cleared |
| Analytics & Performance | Understanding visitor numbers, browsing patterns, and how people first arrived at our Site. | 30 minutes – 1 year |
| Marketing & Attribution | Remembering your cookie consent choices and tracking marketing referrals for advertising performance. | Up to 1 year |
Because our platform provider (Shopify) periodically updates the specific cookies it uses as part of routine technical improvements, we don't publish an exact cookie-by-cookie table here, to avoid this Policy becoming out of date. You can see the exact cookies active on your device, along with their names and expiry dates, at any time via your browser's privacy or developer settings.
5. Controlling, Disabling, and Managing Cookies
Tracking tools do not give us direct access to your computer or personal devices. You have full control over whether you accept, customise, or decline non-essential cookies. Declining marketing consent will not affect your ability to browse or purchase from our Site.
Browser Controls: Most web browsers accept cookies by default, but you can usually change this via your browser's "Tools," "Options," or "Preferences" menu, to block, filter, or delete cookies. Detailed instructions are available at www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.
Impact of Disabling: Please note that removing or blocking strictly necessary cookies can negatively affect your experience of our Site — for example, your shopping cart, saved preferences, or login sessions may no longer work correctly.
Third-Party Marketing Opt-Outs: To stop targeted advertising or opt out of behavioural profiling managed by our partners directly, you can adjust your personal privacy settings via Google's Ad Settings and Meta's (Facebook's) Ad Preferences.
6. "Do Not Track" Signals
Because there's no consistent, industry-wide standard for how to interpret automated browser-level "Do Not Track" (DNT) signals, SALMA MYA does not currently alter its data collection practices in response to a DNT signal from your browser.
7. Policy Updates and Contact Information
We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our data practices, website or app integrations, or legal and regulatory requirements.
If you have any questions about the cookies we use or how we handle your data, please contact us at hello@salmamya.co.uk.
If you're unhappy with how we handle your data preferences, you have the right to lodge a formal complaint with the UK's data protection authority, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) — ico.org.uk.