gdpr compliance for ecommerce

GDPR Compliance for eCommerce

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is legislation in the European Union that serves to protect the public from misuse of their personal information and gives them more power over how they opt in to the different ways that data is used. Failure to comply with the GDPR can result in huge financial penalties for businesses, so eCommerce stores everywhere are enhancing their privacy policies and providing customers with the means to review the data collected on them. For some businesses, this has been a significant obstacle.

But GDPR compliance doesn’t have to be difficult. Shift4Shop stores can get in line with GDPR policies quickly and easily thanks to Shift4Shop’s included GDPR Toolkit. The GDPR Toolkit provides a quick way to add various features to your website to improve your customers’ privacy options. The GDPR requires that website visitors are given clear “opt-in” options to control how companies use their email addresses and other personal information, and with Shift4Shop’s GDPR Toolkit, you can meet all these criteria within a few minutes.

Top Features

  • Add a Cookie Acceptance popup to your store, which requires customers to accept cookies before they can shop
  • Add a Privacy Policy acceptance checkbox wherever a customer will need to provide their email address, including account registration, email newsletter signup, product reviews and Q&As, and Email a Friend
  • Generate links to give customers to review their data or request saved data deletion in accordance with GDPR requirements, and keep a log of all these requests

GDPR Toolkit Frequently Asked Questions

  • Why should I allow customers the option to request deletion of their data?

One of the tenets of the GDPR is “the right to be forgotten.” This means customers under the GDPR have the legal right to have their personal data removed from a business’s records. To be fully compliant with the GDPR, you must give customers this option.

  • My business is located outside the European Union. Do I still have to comply with the GDPR?

If you are going to sell to any customers inside the EU, you need to have GDPR compliance in place, even if your business is not based within the EU. The regulation states that compliance is required by any website that people in the EU can access. When the GDPR first took effect, many unprepared websites in the US simply blocked access by EU visitors. Shift4Shop has implemented the GDPR Toolkit to make compliance extremely easy so you can continue to expand your customer base instead of blocking visitors for this reason.

  • How do I start using the GDPR Toolkit to get my online store into compliance?

In your Shift4Shop Online Store Manager, go to Modules in the navigation menu on the left side of the screen and enter GDPR in the search bar on the Modules page. The module will appear and you can activate it and its included features. If you’re already using a different cookie acceptance popup, you can leave that feature disabled in the GDPR Toolkit (or remove your other cookie acceptance popup).

 

GDPR Toolkit Feature Testimonials

“When I first heard news of the GDPR I was dreading it. I understand the need to protect privacy but I didn’t know how I was going to make the needed changes to my website. I’m so glad Shift4Shop came through like this and made it as simple as clicking a few check boxes in the dashboard.”