Website privacy notice: how we use your personal data

Smart Home Sounds Ltd head office is located at Unit 16 Triangle Business Park Gloucester GL1 1AJ. You can contact our Data Protection Adviser at this address.

We take our data protection responsibilities seriously and we want to be transparent with you about what we do with your personal data.

Our website is an advertisement for our branded goods. You have the facility to make purchases online or over the phone. We use the data that you provide for marketing purposes to promote and sell our products. Some of the data we collect is derived from information about your activities on our website, this is supplemented with information provided to us by Google about the behaviour of people with similar browsing habits to yours.

For the purposes of applicable data protection laws, including the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) (as amended or superseded) Smart Home Sounds Ltd is the “Data Controller” for the personal information collected through our website or by phone.

 

Contents:

• Google Services
• Data profiling
• Our Marketing Activity
• Email Subscription
• Competitions
• Online Sales
• Data Retention
• Legal Obligations
• Your Data Protection Rights

 

Google services

We use integrations with Google Analytics to help us to get a complete view of our customer journey, so we’re able to connect sales, marketing, and advertising data. This allows us to engage with our customers at the right moment, opens new ways to understand how customers engage with our brand, and how shows how our marketing programs perform.

We use Google Demographics and Interest reports to provide us with information about the age ranges, gender, and interests of the people who use our website. These interests are determined by our customers behaviour patterns across all Google platforms. Profiling measures your behaviours, helping us to ensure that you receive content that is relevant to you and, we hope, of interest.

No personal or sensitive information is passed to or from Google. The information relates to the device you use and the actions you make while visiting a website.

The insights provided by Google Analytics and Google Demographics allow us to better understand who our users are and the factors that influence whether a user will make a purchase or not.

Examples of the information that Google provides to us includes:

• Traffic source data or information about where website users originate whether it is organic traffic, paid search traffic, or display traffic.
• Content data or information about your behaviour on our website including the URLs of pages that you look at and how you interact with page content.

Due to the nature of the Google Analytics service, the information we are provided by Google is also used by that company to inform its services to us and other business users.

To read more about Google’s privacy policy, please click this link.

Google data is derived from your use of our website. Google is based in the US and records will be held there, however Google publicly promotes the fact that it subscribes to Privacy Shield in the US which provides data protection like our European laws.

 

Data profiling

When shopping with Smart Home Sounds Ltd, we utilise your data to help us to profile our customer to ensure we are doing a good job, not just in the way we serve you, but to gain insights on who our customers are (eg age, lifestyle, shopping behaviour etc). We pass your transactional data (not sensitive payment information) and brand enquiry data onto 3rd parties to process on our behalf. This is done under legitimate interest of the business to help us grow and to ensure the products and services we are offering to you resonate with our customers.

Some of our third–party processors, who provide marketing analysis for us have sub-processing activities outside the UK, so your data may be passed out of Europe where strictly speaking it may be subject to less strict data protection laws. We will however ensure contractually that 3rd parties are subject to appropriate data security at all times.

 

Our marketing activity

Our marketing activity is directed towards promoting the sale of our own goods, raising awareness of our brand, and communicating any offers we may be promoting.

Marketing records include:

• Your name
• Your Title
• Your contact details
• Details of previous transactions (purchases, returns, opt-in consents, payment methods, customer account number, promotion code number)
• Entries into competitions
• Browsing data including pages and products you have viewed as well as products you have added to your basket
• IP address
• Device ID
• Email address (if required for email marketing preferences)

You should be aware that we have the functionality on our website to make session recordings that show us click-for-click how you’ve used our website in real time, tracking your mouse and cursor movements. We use this to identify any issues you may be having using our website, so we can improve your experience effectively. This does not include any record of your payment card data, or any personal data that can identify you personally.

Some of the data we hold is derived from your activity on our website includes:

• Source data
• Key words
• Clicks on adverts
• Search history

We share your information with our core service providers and third-party platforms as required for our business to function; for example, picking, packaging and processing orders, fulfilling deliveries, customer support, fraud detection, credit risk reduction checks, IT systems support, and internal audits. This sole purpose of this is to serve our customer better, more effectively, and more efficiently.

Your information may be processed by one of our carefully selected 3rd party partners to give you the best experience of our website and the Smart Home Sounds Ltd brand. This includes partners such as our email marketing service providers, our online search functionality, and inviting you to review your purchase with Smart Home Sounds

We also use services offered by Google, social media platforms (including Facebook & Instagram), and third-party marketing partners. These enable us to tailor our communications and deliver targeted advertising based on, for example, products you have viewed through our website. Third-party or ‘Affiliate’ marketing enables us to put our adverts on certain websites in exchange for commission based on the sales we get from these referrals. To understand more about Affiliate marketing, you can view our partners privacy policy here. Affiliate marketing is done using the cookies derived from your visit to our website, this means none of the data can be used to identify you.

We receive insights from Facebook about the effectiveness of the advertising campaigns you have experienced on our website or through social media channels. These insights help us to improve how we target our advertising and ensure it is relevant. We do not sell Facebook data onto anyone.

You can read further information on Facebook’s privacy policy by clicking this link.

 

Email subscription

If you have subscribed to email marketing, we will keep a record of your email address for this purpose. When you place an order with Smart Home Sounds you will receive service e-mails (‘order confirmation’ and ‘despatch confirmation’) regarding the status of your order which includes details of what you have ordered with us and a tracking reference number upon the dispatch of your goods. After your order has been dispatched, we use a 3rd party partner to assist us with capturing product and brand reviews. This feedback is displayed on our website to assist other customers make an informed decision about buying our products.

To receive Marketing Emails from us you will have subscribed to this service. By opting in for this service you have agreed to receive marketing information from us about our products and services. You can unsubscribe from this at any time by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ link on one of the emails you have received from us, or you can amend your preferences for receiving marketing emails either through the “My Account” section our website. Alternatively, you can contact us to request to be unsubscribed by e-mailing us at: info@smarthomesounds.co.uk

 

SMS subscription

If you have opted in to receive SMS marketing, we will keep a record of your phone number for this purpose. By opting in, you agree to receive SMS messages from us about our products, services, and promotions.

You can unsubscribe from SMS marketing at any time by replying ‘STOP’ to any SMS you receive from us, or by contacting us at info@smarthomesounds.co.uk. We use third-party providers to send SMS messages, and your data is protected under GDPR-compliant agreements. SMS subscription data is retained only as long as needed or until you unsubscribe. You also have the right to request access to or deletion of your SMS data at any time.

 

Additional data sources

We may also receive information from third parties such as fraud detection agencies when we transact with you, so we can verify that you are actually you.

 

Competitions

We run competitions through our website, in-store, and at events that we attend. It is not necessary for you to make a purchase to enter. Sometimes (but not always), we collaborate with like-minded companies to create prizes we feel would be enjoyable based on our knowledge of our customers - Prizes include things we think you’ll love.

Each of these competitions will have unique terms and conditions relating to that competition and we will ask for your consent if you wish your information to be shared with this third party (if applicable), so you can choose to opt-in or opt-out. Neither Smart Home Sounds, or any third party partnered with in these selected competition, will use personal details for future marketing purposes, unless express permission is given by then entrant via the opt in boxes at the sign-up point. Consent can be withdrawn at any time by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link on any of our marketing emails.

Alternatively, you can choose to opt-out of this at any time by emailing info@smarthomesounds.co.uk at any time.

You can opt-in or opt-out of marketing activity at any time you wish:

• Click the “unsubscribe” link in any marketing email communication that we send you.
• You can manage your preferences and consent of our cookies through our cookie policy page, or through the settings on your device.

Every external company we work with has a contract with us which clearly sets out our expectations and requirements in handling personal information to ensure we always adhere to GDPR regulations and standards, so our customers can feel confident in how and why we use their data.

We do not seek to collect sensitive or personal information including:

• Information relating to race or ethnic origin
• Political opinions
• Religious or other beliefs
• Trade union membership
• Physical or mental health
• Sexual orientation
• Criminal records

We ask that you do not provide such information to us.

 

Online sales

Our website provides information about our brand and is an online store, meaning you can view and buy our products from the comfort of your home. The sale process requires information from customers which is used to fulfil the contract of the sale, so we can take payment, arrange the delivery of the goods to the correct address, handle returns, compliments, and complaints.

To process a sales order, we collect information directly from you, including:

• Your name
• Delivery address
• Billing address (where different from delivery address)
• Your email address
• Telephone number
• Payment card details (which are always held in encrypted form)
• Details of the size, colour and type of product you have selected

We do pass your name and address details to our selected logistics partners so that they can deliver your parcel.

When you place an order through Amazon marketplace or Ebay for any of our products, we are sent your order securely from these marketplaces, so we can process your order. This includes all data listed above, except for your payment details as the sale is processed through Amazon or eBay.

Details of Amazon’s privacy policy can be found here.

Details of eBay’s privacy policy can be found here

In addition to placing an order on the Smart Home Sounds website, we will also collect selected, relevant information when you:

• Create an account on our website and place an order
• Subscribe to our email marketing list
• Fill in forms, such as to leave feedback, contact our customer services team, enter a competition, or to respond to a survey

Your information may be processed by our staff to the extent necessary to fulfil your order. By submitting your personal information to us you agree to the transfer of your personal information, its storage, and processing.

We will keep the data which we collect from you on a secure server. Any information you give us relating to credit card details is handled by a PCI DSS compliant third party and encrypted using secure server technology. Once we have received your information, we use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of security standards designed to ensure that ALL companies that accept, process, store, or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment.

You can access the Privacy Policy’s of our payment gateway providers by the links shown below:

• SagePay
• Amazon Pay
• PayPal
• Dekopay
  
  

Where you have set up a password to access certain parts of this website, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask that you do not share a password with anyone, and we do not have access to this password.

 

Data retention

We only keep your personal data for as long as is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected (subject to any legal requirements). Once it is no longer necessary, we will either delete the data, or anonymise it. The use of anonymised data helps us to optimise our customer service and for analytical benefits and will be non-identifiable.

By law, we must keep transactional data (for HMRC purposes) for 7 years – this is the maximum length of time we will keep this data, after which this data will be anonymised.

If you have not interacted with Smart Home Sounds through the website, or through marketing communication for a period of 2 years, we will anonymise your data.

If we cease to use a third-party supplier, your data held with them will either be deleted or anonymised at that point.

This does not affect your statutory rights as a consumer in any way.

 

Legal Obligations

The processing of your personal information to comply with legal obligations to which we are subject applies to legal obligations of other countries where they have been integrated into the legal framework of the United Kingdom, for example in the form of an international agreement which the United Kingdom has signed. Where the legal obligations of another country have not been so integrated, we will process your information to comply with such obligations where it is in our legitimate interest to do so. This includes:

• Enforcing our legal rights. This is necessary for our legitimate interest of protecting our business and enforcing our contractual and other legal rights.
• Indicating possible criminal acts or threats to public security to a competent authority. This is necessary for our legitimate interest of preventing crime, for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, in the general public interest or for the legitimate interests of governmental bodies and competent authorities that prevent crime.
• In connection with any legal or potential legal dispute or proceedings. This is necessary for our legitimate interest of resolving disputes and making such disclosures as are required by law or which we consider, acting reasonably, are required by law.
• Complying with laws, regulations, and other legal requirements. We may need to use and process your personal information in order to comply with legal obligations to which we are subject. For example, we may require your personal information pursuant to a statutory obligation to conduct anti-money-laundering checks or to disclose your information to a court following receipt of a court order or subpoena. We may also need your personal information to comply with ongoing legal obligations, such as tax laws and regulations to which we are subject (where you have placed an order for goods or services with us for example).

 

Your data protection rights

You have the right to ask for a copy of all your personal data that we hold. If you think that information about you which we hold is incorrect or misleading you have the right to have the information corrected, provided you can demonstrate that it is incorrect. You can also request the erasure of personal data relating to you in certain circumstances, where we do not require it to meet a legal obligation. You can request restriction of processing so that your records are maintained beyond our usual retention period. You have the right to object to processing on the grounds that it causes you damage or distress and you have the right to take away a copy of your personal data in electronic format in certain circumstances.

Where you request access to personal information, we are required by law to use all reasonable measures to verify your identity before doing so. Where we possess appropriate information about you on file, we will attempt to verify your identity using that information. If it is not possible to identity you from such information, or if we have insufficient information about you, we may require original or certified copies of certain documentation in order to be able to verify your identity before we are able to provide you with access to your personal information.

These steps are necessary to verify your identity in order to reduce the risk of identity fraud or identity theft by persons other than yourself asking for access to your personal information.

If you are unhappy about the way we use your personal data or the way in which we respond to your request to exercise your data protection rights, you can contact the Data Protection Advisor at info@smarthomesounds.co.uk but you also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, the Information Commissioner at:

The Information Commissioner’s Office,

Wycliffe House,

Water Lane,

Wilmslow,

Cheshire,

SK9 5AF

 

Alternatively, you can visit these web pages for further information

• ICO guide to GDPR
• ICO – Your Data Matters

 

If you have any questions about this policy and the practices of this website, please contact our Data Protection Adviser at info@smarthomesounds.co.uk