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Cookie Policy

About Cookies

The Thorntons website uses cookies (this is standard practice for most websites). By continuing to use the Thorntons website you are giving consent for cookies to being used.

What Are Cookies?

As well as being a yummy biscuit, a ‘cookie’ is a small file that can be stored on your computer. Thorntons uses cookies to provide features like auto-log-in and to determine when customers have previously visited our site. Our cookies do not contain any personal information about you, so only Thorntons will be able to use the cookies to determine your identity.

They are designed to hold a small amount of data specific to the Thorntons website, and can be accessed either by computer or handheld device such as a smart phone or tablet. The cookies on this website enable you to shop online with us and this is why they are essential.

In May 2011, the rules about information (including cookies) being stored on your computer or accessed by our websites, changed. We are required to ask your permission to use this technology where its use is not strictly necessary to provide web services requested by you.

For further information please visit:

What Cookies Are Used For

Cookies are a convenient way to carry information from one session on a website to another. Storing the data on our server without using cookies would cause problems because it would be difficult to retrieve a particular user's information without requiring a login on each visit to our website.

  1. For technical purposes essential to effective operation of website in relation to transactions that are made online.
  2. To allow Thorntons to collect information about the browsing and shopping activities of our customers so we can improve their customer journeys.
  3. To ensure Thorntons meets its contractual obligations to make payments to third parties when a product is purchased by someone who has visited our website from another website that is run by these third parties.

Can i disable cookies?

Yes, you can disable cookies by changing your web browser settings to reject cookies. Below is a short tutorial from which you can reject cookies in your web browser, easy as 1, 2, 3:

For Microsoft Internet Explorer:

  1. Choose the menu "tools" from the top bar, above or below the address bar, depending which version you are using
  2. Click on "Internet Options" at the very bottom of this new tab Privacy and Security

For Microsoft Internet Explorer:

  1. Choose the menu "tools" from the top bar, above or below the address bar, depending which version you are using
  2. Click on "Internet Options" at the very bottom of this new tab
  3. Click on the tab "privacy"
  4. Select the appropriate setting for how you would like cookies to act on the Thorntons website

Why we would like some information about you

When you register on www.thorntons.co.uk, we ask for your full name and email address so we can contact you with our great chocolate offers and competitions. If you don’t want to receive these and other money off offers and competitions, it’s a simple process to say ‘no thanks. See the next section.

When you place an order for any product you first create a new user account at Thorntons.co.uk, we then collect your credit card billing address, credit card information, and telephone number, as well as the address details of the lucky person who’s about to receive your gift. We use this information to process your order and, if necessary, to contact you about your order.

Sometimes we ask for a little more information from you to make sure we only send offers that are relevant and really interesting to you. When its personal, it can be fun; you may be a secret treacle toffee fanatic, but not really like fudge, so we’ll try to make sure you only receive our stickiest, toffeeist emails!

You can always ask us what information we hold about you. Please contact us on 44 (0) 845 121 1911 if you wish to enquire about the data we hold and we’d be very happy to send this through to you. Remember there is a small fee. For more information on your rights, visit the Information Commissioner’s website.

‘No thanks, I don’t want to be contacted for promotional purposes’

We want you to be comfortable with how, when and why we contact you. It’s simple to choose. How would you like to tell us your preferences?

  • Online: simply visit the Email Preferences page within My Account.
  • By post or by phone contact info

Other things you may want to know:

Purchase History

A record is kept of your purchases. Your previous orders may be used to present you with the most relevant products and gift ideas and to provide you with a better overall user experience.

What is an IP address and how does Thorntons use them?

An IP address is a number that is assigned to your computer when connected to the Internet. The servers that serve our website automatically identify your computer by its IP address. This is used exclusively to highlight orders that appear abnormal, (e.g. multiple credit card numbers being used) in order to identify the source of fraudulent orders.

Are my personal messages private when I purchase gifts?

When you add a personal message to an order, your message will be printed on a gift card that is part of the dispatch stationery. This is positioned so the message cannot be read during transit.

What is profiling?

In order to develop our business, we use some of the collected data including recipient details to profile you and your order profile. This data is used to improve our service to you and identify new customers who we should be marketing to. This involves passing information onto selected third party companies.

Opting-in to emails

To process your order on the Thorntons.co.uk site, we gather electronic mail information from you which we will use to send marketing communications from Thorntons (for example, text messages, emails and catalogues). Should you wish to opt-out at any time, simply call 0845 121 1911 or visit our self-service unsubscribe webpage.

Does Thorntons ensure the privacy practices of other sites to which it provides links?

While we carefully select the websites to which we link, we are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of these websites.

How will I know when Thorntons.co.uk changes its privacy policy?

Our privacy policy is regularly reviewed to make sure we continue to serve the privacy interests of our customers. We reserve the right to change and update the privacy policy and these changes will be posted on our web site. We encourage you to visit this page from time to time to ensure you are aware of any changes we may have made.

Sharing your information with other companies

We do not disclose your information to third parties for marketing purposes. We do share information with some companies, but they act for us under contract and must not use your information for any purpose that we have not agreed here.

Thorntons reserves the right to co-operate with law enforcement officials in the investigation of alleged unlawful activities of our customers or relating to our customers. We will have no legal liability for such disclosures.