IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

Marks & Spencer is committed to respecting the privacy rights of visitors to its website. This privacy policy explains how we collect, store and use personal data about you when you browse www.marksandspencer.com (the "Website").  It provides you with details about the types of personal data that we collect from you, how we use your personal data and the rights you have to control our use of your personal data. 

You must read this privacy policy carefully and we recommend that you print and retain a copy for your future reference. By accessing, browsing or otherwise using this Website, you confirm that you have read, understood and agree to this privacy policy in its entirety.  If you do not agree to this privacy policy in its entirety, you must not use this Website.

Who we are

Marks and Spencer plc is a company registered in England and Wales (registration number 00214436) whose registered office is at Waterside House, 35 North Wharf Road, London W2 1NW. Marks and Spencer plc is part of the Marks & Spencer group of companies (collectively referred to as "Marks & Spencer", "we" or "us" in this privacy policy) and is registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner's Office (registration number Z6046528).

We respect your right to privacy and will only process personal data you provide to us in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 and other applicable privacy laws.

If you have any questions about how we collect, store and use personal data, or if you have any other privacy-related questions, please contact us by any of the following means:

• phone us at: 0845 302 1234; 
• e-mail us at chairman@marksandspencer.com or
• write to us at our freepost address (no stamp required): Marks & Spencer, Chester Business Park, Wrexham Road, Chester CH4 9GA

When contacting us, please remember to quote your name and contact details along with any Marks & Spencer account number or correspondence reference you may have.

Children

We do not and will not knowingly collect information from any unsupervised person under the age of 18.  If you are under the age of 18, you must not use this Website or submit any personal data to us unless you have the consent of, and are supervised by, a parent or guardian.

The personal data we collect about you

When you make purchases from Marks & Spencer (including purchases made in-store, over the phone, or via our catalogue order forms or this Website), we may collect the following personal data about you:

• your name, age and sex;
• your billing and delivery postal addresses, phone, fax and e-mail details;
• where you have registered with us, your user name and password;
• where you place an order with us, your payment card details; and
• your communication and shopping preferences; and
• your date of birth.

We may also collect some or all of the above personal data about you when you access and browse this Website or any third party microsite (as described below), including when you sign up to receive Marks & Spencer newsletters.  We may also collect some or all of this personal data from third parties who have your consent to pass your details to us.

How we may store and use your information

Marks & Spencer (and third party data processors acting on our behalf) may collect, store and process your personal data:

•  to make this Website available to you and to provide you with content which is tailored to your individual tastes;
• to maintain any registered account that you hold with us (including pledge accounts created under the "Plan A" section of our Website);
• save where you have indicated otherwise, to contact you (including by SMS and e-mail) about promotional offers and products and services which we think may interest you and for customer satisfaction and market research purposes; and

We also process your payment card details in order to complete any purchase that you make through this Website and, in certain instances, disclose your personal data to third party credit reference agencies to perform credit checks against you. When you place an order with us, we may offer to retain your payment card details for your convenience to save you having to re-enter these details on a future occasion. However, if you prefer that we do not maintain these details, you can go to 'My Account', click on ‘Edit or delete a credit card’ and delete any card information that we hold about you.

In addition, we may collect anonymised details about visitors to our Website for the purposes of aggregate statistics or reporting purposes.  However, no single individual will be identifiable from the anonymised details that we collect for these purposes.

Except as set out in this privacy policy, we will not disclose, sell or rent your personal data to any third party. If you do consent but later change your mind, you may contact us and we will cease any such activity.

In the event that a third party acquires all (or substantially all) of our business and/or assets), we may disclose your personal data to that third party in connection with the acquisition. We may also disclose your personal data where necessary to comply with applicable law or an order of a governmental or law enforcement body.  

Microsites

Marks & Spencer has partnered with certain trusted third parties to make available certain additional third party products and services to you, including:

• M&S Money (under partnering arrangements with Marks and Spencer Financial Services plc, a member of the HSBC Group) accessible by clicking here
  
• M&S Appliances (under partnering arrangements with DRL Limited) accessible by clicking here 
  
• M&S Energy (under partnering arrangements with SSE Energy Supply Limited) accessible by clicking here
  
• M&S lunchtogo (under partnering arrangements with EWA Ltd) accessible by clicking here
  
•  M&S Made-to-Measure Shirts (under partnering arrangements with Bivolino) accessible by clicking here 
  
• M&S Personalised (under partnering arrangements with Hallmark Cards PLC) accessible by clicking here

Each of these third party products and services can be accessed online through the relevant third party's "microsite". A microsite is a website that is owned and operated by a third party but which is M&S-branded and can be accessed from links on the main M&S Website. Alternatively, you can visit a microsite by clicking on the links above.

Please note that, although M&S's third party partners display M&S branding on their respective microsites, M&S does not own or operate any microsite and each microsite is governed by its own terms and conditions and privacy policy.  Personal data that you provide or which are collected about you through a microsite will be used by the relevant third party in accordance with that microsite's terms and conditions and privacy policy.  In some cases, third party microsite operators may disclose your personal data to us so that we may use them in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

If you have any questions or concerns about the collection or use of your personal data collected through any microsite, you should contact the relevant third party microsite operator using the contact information specified in their privacy policy.

E-mail newsletter preferences and text alerts

We provide you with the ability to control whether or not to receive e-mail newsletters, or to change the types of e-mail newsletters you receive, through our newsletter preference centre which is accessible by clicking here.

Marks & Spencer will only send you text alerts with your permission. You can opt out of receiving these text alerts at any time by texting STOP to 65006. Data may be supplied to third party processors to enable the service to be provided.

International transfers

We may transfer personal data that we collect from you to third party data processors located in countries that are outside of the European Economic Area and to other Marks & Spencer group companies in connection with the above purposes.  Please be aware that countries which are outside the European Economic Area may not offer the same level of data protection as the United Kingdom, although our collection, storage and use of your personal data will continue to be governed by this privacy policy.

Cookies

This Website uses cookies to collect information about you.  Cookies are small data files which are placed on your computer by this Website and which collect certain personal data about you.  This enables us to tailor our service offering (including the Website) to provide you with products and services which are more relevant to your individual tastes.  You may change your website browser settings to reject cookies, although please note that if you do this it may impair the functionality of this Website. Marks & Spencer has relationships with carefully selected and monitored suppliers to assist in the delivery of a high quality website. Some of these suppliers may also set cookies during your visit in order to meet contractual obligations with Marks & Spencer (Supplier Cookies). Both M&S and Supplier cookies do not store any personal information relating to you or your credit cards. We also use JavaScript to speed up your online shopping experience. For further information about cookies, including how to refuse cookies, please visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

However, please note that whilst we take appropriate technical and organisational measures to safeguard the personal data that you provide to us, no transmission over the Internet can ever be guaranteed secure.  Consequently, please note that we cannot guarantee the security of any personal data that you transfer over the Internet to us.

If you are using a computer or terminal in a public location, we recommend that you always log out and close the website browser when you complete an online session for your security. In addition we recommend that you take the following security measures to enhance your online safety:

• Keep your account passwords private. Remember, anybody who knows your password may access your account.
• When creating a password, use at least 8 characters. A combination of letters and numbers is best. Do not use dictionary words, your name, email address, or other personal data that can be easily obtained. We also recommend that you frequently change your password. You can do this by going to ‘My Account’ and clicking ‘Change name, email or password’,
• Avoid using the same password for multiple online accounts.

Spoof/false e-mails

We will never ask you to confirm any account or credit card details via email. If you receive an email claiming to be from marksandspencer.com asking you to do so, please ignore it and do not respond.

Your rights

You have the following rights:

• the right to ask what personal data that we hold about you at any time, subject to a fee specified by law (currently £10);
• the right to ask us to update and correct any out-of-date or incorrect personal data that we hold about you free of charge; and
• the right to opt out of any marketing communications that we may send you.

If you wish to exercise any of the above rights, please contact us using the contact details specified above.  However, if you wish to unsubscribe from e-mail marketing communications that we send you, you can most easily do this by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any e-mail newsletter we have sent to you or, alternatively, by visiting our e-mail newsletter preference centre.

Third party sites

This Website contains links to other websites operated by third parties (including microsites, described above).  Please note that this privacy policy applies only to the personal data that we collect through this Website and we cannot be responsible for personal data that third parties may collect, store and use through their website (including microsites).  You should always read the privacy policy of each website you visit carefully.

Updates to this policy

This privacy policy was last updated in November 2009. Please check back regularly to keep informed of updates to this privacy policy.