Data protection: your questions, our answers

Jonathan Keller

1.3.2023

Translation: Eva Francis

In recent years, data protection has become increasingly important. Why? On the one hand, due to the new regulations in the EU and in Switzerland. On the other hand, because consumers want to better understand how their data is processed and how they can protect it. At Galaxus, we welcome this wish. According to the motto «Trust, but verify», you regularly send us questions and post comments that are undoubtedly justified. Here are the answers.

Galaxus often does things differently, acts unconventionally, communicates directly ... Why is your privacy notice so regular (boring) – one that nobody’s going to read anyway?
Privacy notices are subject to certain legal requirements. We can’t change that. That’s why we want to publish articles like this to offer readers a different perspective on the subject. Having said that, we launched a new privacy notice on March 1. You’ll find it here: Privacy notice.

Does Galaxus sell my data?
No, we don’t sell customer data. We do use certain data, as detailed in the privacy notice, to improve our Galaxus advertising, among other things. But we’d never sell detailed customer data to advertisers or other companies.

Does Galaxus share data with other Migros Group companies?

We don’t pass on any data to Migros, although this would be possible for certain purposes due to our affiliation with the Migros Group. We also describe this in our privacy notice.

Does Galaxus have to comply with Swiss data protection law or European law?
Both! Our online shops in Switzerland (digitec.ch and galaxus.ch) are predominantly governed by Swiss law. Our international websites (galaxus.de, galaxus.at, galaxus.fr and galaxus.it) must comply with EU laws. In most aspects, we comply with the stricter European regulations.

I order often on Galaxus. Is there reason to assume Galaxus will soon know more about my shopping behaviour than I do and will try to influence me?
Of course, we want happy customers who buy from us and feel good doing so. Accordingly, we recommend products that suit you and your interests. We might get this insight from your previous purchases with us or your navigation behaviour.

Are there people at Galaxus who work on data privacy and security?
Of course. There’s a data protection team as well as a second team of specialists who take care of IT security. This team work very closely with our data and our systems, and they know their trade. Their job is to keep our customers’ data secure.

•You can subscribe or unsubscribe from our newsletter in your customer account.

•You can control which notifications to get in connection with orders.

•You can choose how many notifications to get from our Community.

•You can deactivate or completely delete your customer account at any time at the touch of a button. This includes all data stored in it.

•You can request access to your data via our Help Centre. Simply submit a subject access request.

When it comes to protecting your data, there are further options available to you:

•Activate two-factor authentication. If you do this, a second factor is added to the login process, making it much more secure.

•We absolutely recommend that you choose a strong password and change it from time to time (guidelines: AaBbCc 123&#$ at least 12 characters).

Nevertheless, we’ve completely revised our privacy notice and optimised it to ensure it’s easier to understand. The new privacy notice:

•Has a simplified structure that makes it easy to see which categories of personal data are processed for which purposes.

•Includes more details and examples on how personal data is processed.

•Features a separate section that describes cookies and similar technologies.

Jonathan Keller

Data Protection Officer

Jonathan.Keller@digitecgalaxus.ch

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