Managing Customer Privacy Settings and GDPR Compliance – SHOPLINE Help Center

The Customer privacy settings allow you to manage how customer personal data is collected and processed on your storefront. These settings help merchants configure customer consent behavior and support GDPR-related privacy compliance requirements for European customers.

Depending on your selected configuration, customer data collection behavior and tracking availability may vary.

This guide explains how to configure privacy settings and manage GDPR-related customer consent behavior for your storefront.

Notes:

Merchants are responsible for ensuring compliance with applicable privacy laws and regulations in their operating regions.
If you have questions regarding the regulations applicable to your business, consult qualified legal professionals familiar with your local requirements.

Understanding Customer Privacy Settings and GDPR Compliance

The Customer privacy settings control how customer personal data is collected before customer consent is obtained.

Under GDPR regulations, merchants must obtain customer authorization before collecting or processing certain personal data for European customers.

Depending on your business and compliance requirements, you can choose one of the following data collection behaviors:

Option	Description
Collect all personal data by default	Collects customer data before receiving customer permission. This may support analytics and marketing accuracy but may not comply with GDPR requirements.
Collect partial personal data before getting the customer’s permission	Limited data used for analytics may be collected before consent. Marketing and personalization data collection begins after customer authorization.
Collect personal data after receiving customer’s permission	Customer data is collected only after customer authorization is obtained. This option is recommended for GDPR-related compliance scenarios.

Regardless of the selected privacy setting, SHOPLINE will still collect the essential customer data required for storefront operations and checkout processes. Without this operational data, storefront purchasing functionality may not work properly.

Note: Selecting stricter consent settings may affect analytics tracking, marketing attribution, and advertising performance data.

Configuring Customer Privacy Settings

From your SHOPLINE admin, go to Online Store > Preferences.
Locate the Customer privacy section.
Under Data collection restrictions for EU customers, select your preferred privacy configuration:
- Collect all personal data by default
- Collect partial personal data before getting the customer’s permission
- Collect personal data after receiving customer’s permission
Note: For detailed explanations of each privacy option, refer to the "Understanding Customer Privacy Settings and GDPR Compliance" section in this article.
If you selected Collect partial personal data before getting the customer’s permission or Collect personal data after receiving customer’s permission, install the Privacy Banner app to display customer consent notices on the storefront. For detailed instructions, refer to the "Privacy Banner Requirements and Setup Guidance" section below.
Click Update to save the changes.

The updated privacy behavior will then apply to storefront customer data collection.

Note: These privacy settings primarily apply to customers located in:

European Economic Area (EEA) countries
United Kingdom

Privacy Banner Requirements and Setup Guidance

If you choose to collect customer data only after receiving customer permission, you must install the Privacy Banner app to display customer consent notices on the storefront.

The Privacy Banner app helps merchants:

Display cookie and privacy consent notices
Request customer authorization before data collection
Support GDPR-related storefront consent experiences

You can install the Privacy Banner app directly from the privacy settings section.

Note: For detailed instructions on configuring the Privacy Banner app and managing customer consent banners, refer to "GDPR Privacy Banner: Managing User Consent and Google Consent Mode in Your Store."

Important Notes and Best Practices for Customer Privacy Settings

Merchants are responsible for ensuring compliance with applicable privacy laws and regulations.
GDPR requirements may vary depending on your operating regions and business practices.
Restricting customer data collection before consent may affect analytics accuracy and marketing attribution data.
Some storefront consent experiences require the Privacy Banner app.
Privacy setting changes may require several minutes to take effect.
For more information about the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), refer to the official European Commission GDPR Overview.

Frequently Asked Questions About Customer Privacy Settings and GDPR Compliance

Q1: Does enabling these settings make my store GDPR compliant?

Not necessarily. These settings help support GDPR-related consent management, but merchants remain responsible for ensuring full compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

Q2: Why are analytics or marketing tools collecting less data?

If stricter consent settings are enabled, customer data may not be collected until customer authorization is received. This can affect analytics, advertising attribution, and marketing performance tracking.

Q3: Do I need to install the Privacy Banner app?

Yes. If you choose to collect customer data only after receiving customer permission, the Privacy Banner app is required to display customer consent notices on the storefront.

Q4: Why isn’t the consent banner appearing on my storefront?

The Privacy Banner app may not be installed or configured correctly. Review your Privacy Banner app settings and storefront configuration.

Q5: Which privacy option is recommended?

For GDPR-related compliance scenarios, Collect personal data after receiving customer’s permission is the recommended setting.