FAQ Cookies on Boots.com

What are cookies and how are they used?

Cookies are small useful text files that are stored on your computer when you visit some websites. They are used to remember useful information that allows certain functionality to work, for example cookies can be used to remember what's in your shopping basket while you browse or if you're logged in or not. Cookies can't harm your computer, and are active for differing lengths of time, some are stored until you close your browser, while others may last for several weeks or more.

How does Boots.com use cookies?

The Boots.com website has a variety of useful features and tools, and to make best use of them your computer, tablet or mobile device will need to accept cookies. We can only provide you with certain features by using cookies, for example, to place orders on our website, it's necessary to use cookies to remember your basket and promotions. If you have chosen to disable cookies you will still be able to browse the website, look at and search for products and read content but some functions may be unavailable, such as logging in to your account.

We have partnerships with organisations that may also set cookies as you use Boots.com. These are normally used to help keep advertising relevant and to ensure marketing tools work correctly such as cash-back websites (e.g. Quidco)

In the coming months we will be providing you with extra control, by giving you the option to consent to cookies when you visit Boots.com.

Boots.com uses cookies in a number of ways:

1. Strictly necessary cookies:
   These cookies are essential in order to enable you to move around the website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the website. Without these cookies, services you have asked for, like shopping baskets, cannot be provided.


2. Performance cookies:
   These cookies collect information about how visitors use our website, for instance which pages visitors go to most often, and if they get error messages from web pages. These cookies don't collect information that identifies you. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. It is only used to improve how our website works.


3. Functionality cookies:
   These cookies allow our website to remember choices you have made (such as your user name, or the region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personal features, for instance, they may be used to provide services such as watching a video, commenting on a blog or adding product reviews. The information these cookies collect may be anonymised and they cannot track your browsing activity on other websites.


4. Recommended marketing cookies:
   These cookies are used to deliver adverts more relevant to you and your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement and measure the effectiveness of the campaign. They remember that you have visited a website and this information is shared with other organisations such as advertisers. They're also used to enable tools like price-comparison sites to work.

What cookies are used on Boots.com?

Below is a list of the cookies that maybe stored on your computer when visiting Boots.com. From time to time we may make changes to this list as we introduce or remove functionality from our website.

1. Strictly necessary cookies:

Function	Purpose	Name of Cookie(s)
Website management system	Our website management system uses a number of cookies to make sure that pages load quickly and correctly for each visitor whether guests or registered users. Cookies are also used to ensure that each visit remains secure and that users are logged out after a period of inactivity.	WC_SESSION_ESTABLISHED, WC_ACTIVEPOINTER, WC_USERACTIVITY_ID, WC_GENERIC_ACTIVITYDATA WC_AUTHENTICATION_ID, JSESSIONID, WCDC_CACHEID4, Apache, UserType, origin, saved
User name	When returning customers log-in to Boots.com, we temporarily remember and display the customers name at the top of the screen, and remember the email adddress to help confirm the correct login.	DISPLAYNAME
Shopping basket and promotions	When you shop on Boots.com, we need to use a cookie to remember: basket price, number of items in basket, VAT exemptions and Advantage Card points.	_bdccookie_bsktSumm, _vol_promoDateSearch, _vol_promoSearch, _bdccookie_xsell
Treat Street	If you use Treat Street to earn Advantage Card points on partner sites, we use a cookie to temporarily remember your customer number and Advantage Card number.	ADOL_AUTH
Healthcare	For our healthcare pages work effectively, we use cookies to temporarily and securely remember medicine searches and a unique prescription identifier.	_vol_eos, _vol_pid
Checkout	We use a temporary cookie to remember your previous web page whilst you use the Boots.com checkout in case you need to go back.	coRetURL
Tony Ferguson	If a customer chooses to answer the Tony Ferguson (weightloss programme) questionnaire, this cookie will temporarily remember the answers between screens.	tfstate
Website display	These cookies help to remember which country version of Boots.com to display and if customers have shown any preference in page layout.	cookiePrefDomain, boots_pd_listType
Container tag	Boots.com uses a tool to manage most of the tags (and cookies) used across our website. This tool will also soon provide customers with a convenient way of managing which types of tags (and cookies) are used during their visit.	st_inferredConsent st_bootsPrivFPC st_bootsPrivTBC st_bootsPriv-v2.0 st_sessionCookiePopUp st_inferredChecker st_sessionCookieTest testcookie



2. Performance cookies:

Function	Purpose	Name of Cookie(s)
Website statistics (analytics)	Collecting website statistics helps us understand website traffic and visitor activity. This provides us with information about how our site is being used and any errors, so we can make suitable improvements.	CM_REG_CONV, _coreConvEvt, CM_REG, _bdccookie_cm_data, _bdccookie_cm_explore, _bdccookie_cm_newRefinement



3. Functionality cookies:

Function	Purpose	Name of Cookie(s)
Ratings and reviews	Boots.com uses a tool to manage the collection, storage and display of product ratings and reviews. Ratings and reviews give you a way of viewing what other customers thought of products you're interested in. It also provides a good way for you to give feedback on products you've purchased.	rfv_11710108_Helpfulness, ARPTH, Ai, BIGipServerprod-c5c-prr-http, bvgacefRatingsAndReviews, bvgacefAskAndAnswer, ai, rm, prr-sip, qa-sip, sy-sip, cp-sip, pfv_(ID), rfv_(ID), rhf_(ID), rif_(ID), qfv_(ID), qhf_(ID), qif_(ID), afv_(ID), ahf_(ID), aif_(ID), abaf_(ID), sfv_(ID), shf_(ID), sif_(ID), srf_(ID), cfv_(ID), chf_(ID), cif_(ID) "r-commented-(ID) s-commented-(ID)", social-answering, goto, scroll-to-story-id, bvReturnPosition, bvOpenedQ(ID), bvProfileActiveTab_(ID), bvScrollPositionX, bvScrollPostitionY, bvScrollToElementID, bvScrollToElementOffset displayTypePreferredRR, displayTypePreferredQA
Community message forums	The Boots.com website uses a message forum tool so that people with shared interests can have discussions (Parenting, Stop Smoking, Weight loss). When you post on the forums, these cookies temporarily remember information including; your display name, email address, first name, last name, gender, the date and time.	at, SiteLifeHost
Health assessments	Boots.com health assessment tool enables customers to better understand their current health, learn how healthy they could possibly be and then help them achieve it. These cookies temporarily remember and display your name and what page you're on.	BootsRTHUserId, RTHBreadcrumb
Payment Processing	Boots.com uses an industry leading payment processing system which provides us with fast and secure payment processing and fraud checking functions. Cookies used contain no information about the transaction, or personally identifiable information, they simply ensure that the checkout screens are correctly displayed, and are usable.	GateKeeperUserTimeZone, pnl_TransactionDetails_Rules_Tab, TransactionDisplay, dvTransactionDetails, dvCustomerDetails, pnl_TransactionDetails_Address, pnl_TransactionDetails_Payment, dvOrderDetails
Page Testing	Boots.com uses a tool to test different website functionality to a select proportion of users. We can then decide which type of change will make the customer experience better. The temporary cookie stops users seeing the wrong pages.	BCSI-CS-07DEA0F8AD1AC32C (or similar)
Health Information (bootsWebMD)	BootsWebMD is a partnership between Boots.com and WebMD to provide the very best health information. These cookies help make moving between Boots.com and Boots.webmd.com, and remembering your status, as seamless as possible.	MDURL, NGUserID, bootsRef, ctr, prop29, s_vi, ac_points
Product images	Boots.com uses an industry leading tool to provide better product images. It provides interactive functions such as zooming and viewing larger images.	storage lastPurgeTime
Product recommendations	Boots.com uses an industry leading tool to display a list of recommended products that we think may be of interest to you. Items displayed are based on what products you and other customers have viewed on our website.	uc, m, n, catvhc, s, cv, pv, sthc, catvhc
JSESSIONID	Until browse is quit	Requires for the publication / viewer to work for the user
ARPT_SERVICES	Until browser is quit	Used by the load balancer due to publications sitting on a cloud network
ARPT_STATS	Until browser is quit	Used by the load balancer
zmagsLastVisit_{obfuscatedPublicationID}	90 days	Logs visitor stats such as pageflips, visitor location but doesn't store data that can be classed as PII (Personally Identifiable)
ZmagsMobileVisitorID	10 years	Logs visitor stats such as pageflips, visitor location when a publication is viewed on a mobile device. Doesn't store data that can be classed as PII (Personally Identifiable)



4. Recommended marketing cookies:

Function	Purpose	Name of Cookie(s)
Digital Advertising: Yahoo AOL DoubleClick AdJug SpecificClick Tribalfusion Advertising.com	Sometimes we advertise our products on other websites. Each individual advertiser uses its own tracking cookies which provide information that improves the relevancy of adverts you might see on other sites.	uid, bh C2 id AJUserGUID, AJRBDs JSESSIONID, Ug ANON_ID ACID
Price Comparison: Shopzilla (inc. Bizrate) PriceGrabber ChannelAdvisor	We provide information about our products to price comparison sites. Cookies associated with price comparison sites allow us to see which website customers have arrived from, and what products they have purchased. This information helps us to ensure that the products our customers want to find appear on comparison websites.	yes_email_invite, Apache, PGLB, traffic, newUser, ut_cookie, ut_timestamp, dw_s_not_log, dw_s_id, dw_s_epoch_time, dw_expire, SM
AddThis	AddThis button makes it easy for you to bookmark and share content with other people using tools from other websites such as Facebook and Twitter. It also provides statistics about bookmarking and sharing activity.	xtc, uvc, ssh, sshs, uit, uid, psc
Scorecard Research	ScorecardResearch conducts research by collecting internet web browsing data and then uses that data to help show how people use the Internet, what they like about it, and what they don't. No personally identifiable information is ever transmitted by, or linked to, the web tags.	UID, UIDR
Criteo	Criteo help create relevant advertisements that you might be interested in based on your recent visit to Boots.com. These are displayed in banners that you may see while visiting other websites that have advertising. Cookies are used to help provide this feature, they're anonymous and no personal data is collected.	ASP.NET_SessionId, X-Mapping-hmeipdnj, uid, uic, evt, udc, dis, udi, CRITEO5, CRITEO2, eyecriteotag, criteo_OCT11_one

How do I change my cookie settings?

By default, cookies should be enabled on your computer or device. If not, your experience on Boots.com will be limited to browsing, viewing and searching for products. You will not be able to purchase products or use other helpful tools. If you'd prefer to restrict, block or delete cookies from Boots.com or any other website, you can use your internet browser to do this. Each browser is different, so check the "help" menu on your browser to learn how to change your cookies preferences, or visit www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies. In the coming months we'll be providing tools to help give you extra control of the cookies used on our site.

Flash Cookies (or local shared objects)

Boots.com uses Adobe Flash Player to deliver video content and interactive product images. Flash cookies are stored on your device in a similar way to usual cookies, but they're managed differently by your browser. If you wish to disable or delete Flash cookies, see Adobe Flash Player security settings. If you disable Flash cookies for Boots.com, you maybe unable to view certain types of information and content on the site, such as videos and interactive product images.

Further information about cookies

To find out more about cookies, how they work and how to manage them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.