Question

Aiden created an e-commerce website that sells men's sneakers. He wanted to collect data that will allow him to create personalized shopping suggestions that he can send to his customers. Which part of privacy statement should this information fall under?

Answer 1

That belongs in the sections of your privacy statement that explain why and how you use people’s data — in particular:

- "How we use your personal information" (or "Purposes of processing") — list “to create personalized product recommendations and targeted offers” as a specific purpose.
- "Marketing and promotional communications" — explain you will send personalized suggestions and how customers can opt in/out or manage preferences.
- "Profiling / automated decision‑making" — disclose that recommendations are produced by profiling or automated systems and describe any meaningful effects.
- "Cookies and tracking technologies" — if you use cookies, analytics, or tracking pixels to build profiles, describe that here.
- Cross‑reference: "Third‑party disclosures" (if you share profiling data with vendors), "Legal basis" (consent or legitimate interests), "Data retention," and "Your rights" (right to object to profiling, opt out, withdraw consent).

Checklist of items to include
- What data is used for personalization (purchase history, browsing behavior, searches, device identifiers, cookie data, etc.).
- The purpose: generating personalized shopping suggestions and targeted marketing.
- Whether processing involves automated profiling/decisions and any consequences.
- Lawful basis for processing (e.g., consent for marketing; or legitimate interests — and how users can object).
- How users can opt out or change preferences (account settings, unsubscribe links, contact).
- Whether data is shared with third parties (analytics, recommendation engines, ad partners) and any international transfers.
- Retention period for profiling/marketing data.

Short example clause you can adapt
"We use information about your purchases, browsing, and interactions (including cookies and device identifiers) to create personalized product recommendations and deliver targeted promotional emails. Recommendations may be produced by automated profiling. For marketing communications we rely on [consent/legitimate interests]; you can opt out or change your preferences at any time via your account settings or the unsubscribe link in our emails. We may share aggregated or necessary profile data with service providers — see 'Third‑party disclosures' for details."

If you want, I can draft a GDPR‑friendly paragraph tailored to your business and jurisdiction.