Benefits of cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies for a wide range of purposes in our websites and email communications to deliver our services and to improve your experience. This policy describes the categories of cookies that we use, what they are used for, and how you can change your preferences.

Sony Europe B.V. is the Sony group company responsible for websites relating to Sony consumer electronics products and services in Europe. Sony Europe B.V. is incorporated in The Netherlands and has its registered office in Weybridge, United Kingdom.

This policy explains the technologies that we may put in place to collect information about the use of our websites and our email communications. These technologies are used by almost every website and are contained in almost every commercial email communication sent via the Internet and are known as “cookies” and “web beacons”.

Please note that other companies in the Sony group are responsible for websites from Sony outside Europe, such as Sony Corporation in Japan, or in connection with other Sony products and services, such as Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Mobile. These companies may have their own policies relating to the use of cookies and web beacons available on their websites.

A cookie is a small amount of data, which often includes a unique identifier. Cookies may be sent to your browser when you visit our websites. They are stored by your web browser on your device.

Some cookies are only stored for the duration of your visit to our websites. These cookies are known as session cookies. Others, known as persistent cookies, may remain stored on your computer after your visit and may be accessed by our websites every time you re-visit our websites.

Some cookies that are stored when you visit our websites may be stored and accessed by other companies. For instance:

• Where a social network’s ‘like’ or similar button is displayed on one of our websites, that social network may store and access its own cookies to provide the button’s functionality and for other purposes (see the privacy/cookie policy of that social network for more information)
• Where we use an advertising partner, that advertising partner may store and access its own cookies in order that we and they can target adverts to you about the Sony products and services you have been browsing on our websites

Essential Cookies

We may use essential cookies in order to enable you to receive the services that you request via our websites. Without these cookies, services that you have asked for cannot be provided.

For example, these cookies may be used on our websites to:

• Operate and remember the items that you place in your ‘shopping basket’ when using our online stores, such as Sony store, Online
• Allow you to access secure areas of our websites without having to continually log in to the service
• Remember previous actions you have taken (such as completing an online form) when navigating back to a page in the same session

Performance Cookies

We may use performance cookies that collect information about how our websites, advertisements and email communications are used and to flag to us if an error occurs. These cookies may be used to collect quite detailed technical information such as the last visited website, the number of pages visited, whether or not email communications are opened, which parts of our website or email communication are clicked on and the length of time between clicks. While this information may be associated with details such as your IP address, domain or browser information, it is analysed only in aggregate with information from other users and not in a way that would directly identify you.

For example, these cookies may be used on our websites to:

• Analyse and improve the performance of our websites, advertisements and email communications
• Manage the performance and design of our websites
• Calculate the number of responses to our advertisements to improve the effectiveness of our advertising
• Measure errors presented on our websites to improve our service and management complaints

Targeting or advertising cookies

Targeting or advertising cookies may be used on our websites to deliver advertisements and to contact you with marketing communications that are more relevant to you and your interests. These cookies may collect quite detailed information about your browsing habits across our websites (such as which products and services you have clicked on). They may also be used to recognise when you re-visit one of our websites and/or visit a website that is part of one of our advertising partner’s network or of one of our retailers.

For example, these cookies may be used on our websites to:

• Collect information about which Sony products and services you have browsed or added to your shopping cart, if available, across our websites so that:
• Sony group companies can provide you content, recommendations and adverts on their websites that are more relevant to you
• Sony group companies can personalise and target more effectively their email and other direct marketing communications
• Our advertising partners and retailers can provide you with adverts on their websites and/or websites in their advertising network for Sony products and services that are more relevant to you
• Limit the number of times you see an advert as well as to help measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign
• We may also access referral cookies that are sent to your device by the websites of our business partners. These cookies are used to identify each time our business partners refer someone to our websites and whether that person’s visit results in the purchase of a Sony product or service. This information may be disclosed to our business partners, but only in an anonymous manner and not in a way that would directly identify you

Social media cookies used when you share information using a social media sharing button or “like” button on our sites or apps, or when you engage with our content on or through a social site such as Facebook or Twitter. These cookies collect information about your social media interaction with Sony, such as [whether you have an account with the social media site and whether you are logged into it when you interact with Sony content].

Web beacons, also known as single pixel or clear gif technology, or action tags, may be used on our websites and communications. This technology tells us which visitors clicked on key elements (such as links or graphics) on a web page or email. When you ask us to send you promotional information or a newsletter, we may use web beacons to track which emails are actually opened. We use this information in order to optimise our content, services and communications.
Web beacons usually function with cookies and can be turned off by disabling cookies (as explained in the previous section). Some email software and web browsers can also be configured to stop pictures being downloaded automatically. This will also prevent the web beacon from functioning until you decide to download the pictures.

We keep information collected from cookies for a maximum of 2 years.