Cookies Explained
Our websites use ‘cookies’ to help us provide users with a better experience each time they visit. A cookie is a small piece of text that is placed directly on a device when it is used to visit a website. This helps to give the user a better experience when using the website. The information gathered by the cookie stays on the user’s device.
We use information gathered from cookies to help improve users’ experience on our website, for security, and to personalise content and advertising. For example, cookies help us to identify that the device has visited our site before, allowing us to customise the experience based on previous browsing history. It also helps us to determine the most relevant, related products to show that user when they are browsing.
Cookies Policy
A cookie is a small piece of data that a website asks your browser to store on your computer or mobile device. Cookies make it easy for websites to collect precise user-specific information about their visitors. This generally makes it simpler for you to navigate the web and enjoy a personalised experience.
Many cookies do essential jobs. For example, authentication cookies identify who you are when you try to log into an account. Other types of cookies enable you to shop online, storing items as you add them to your virtual shopping basket.
Cookies can be either temporary (session cookie) or permanent (persistent cookie).
Session cookies are stored in your device’s temporary memory – not on your hard drive – while you’re browsing a website. Usually these cookies are deleted when you close the browser. If you were to reopen the browser and revisit the website, the site would not ‘remember’ that you had visited previously. Session cookies remain active only until you leave a site.
Persistent cookies remain stored on your hard drive, persisting from session to session until you delete them, or they reach a set expiration date. Persistent cookies can store information such as log-in details, bookmarks, credit card details and preferred settings and themes - resulting in a faster and smoother web journey.
You can control and/or delete cookies as you wish either via our Cookie Settings linked above or below within the website footer. You can also delete all cookies that are already on your computer and you can set most browsers to prevent them from being placed. If you do this, however, you may have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site and some services and functionalities may not work.
The cookies we use on our website can be grouped into four different categories.
Strictly Necessary Cookies: are essential in order to enable you to navigate around our website and use its features. Without these cookies, we would be unable to provide you with the services you have asked for.
Functionality Cookies: allows our website to remember choices you make and help to provide an enhanced, more personal experience on our website.
Performance Cookies: helps us improve our website and our online services. These cookies gather information about how our site is used, including which pages are visited most often. This helps us to provide a better user experience. These cookies are anonymous – which means that they won’t collect information to identify you.
Targeting Cookies: are used to help us better understand our advertising campaigns and how we can make these more relevant to you. These cookies are also anonymous, they won’t collect information to identify you.
Session cookies or persistent cookies can be functional, performance or targeting in nature.
Our website can send cookies to your web browser if your browser's preferences allow it. Many websites do this whenever a user visits their website in order to track online traffic flows. ESB’s websites, including the customer account portal, requires cookies to be enabled in order for the service to function properly. If you disable cookies, you may not be able to avail of some of our online services.