WHAT ARE COOKIES?
Websites use techniques that increase the ease of use and make the site as interesting as possible for each visitor. The best known examples of these techniques are cookies and scripts (together referred to as “cookies”). Cookies are small files that are sent with pages of our websites and are stored on your computer and recognised by the website when you return. We talk about “cookies” here, but our definition of cookies also includes tags, beacons and JavaScripts. Cookies can be used by website owners or by third parties – advertisers for example – who communicate through our website.
The use of cookies is safe. A cookie does not store your name, address, e-mail address, age or any other personal information. Cookies remember, among other things, your preferences, settings and interests based on your surfing behaviour on our websites.
We use cookies to optimise the operation of our website. The website can therefore be adjusted to your preferences. This enables us to record the activities of our visitors on our websites and we can evaluate and improve the website so that it suits your needs better.
WHAT DO OUR COOKIES DO?
Most of our cookies store information about your interests. We may know this information, for example, because we have derived your interests from the way you use our websites. Certain data are also recorded, such as URL, fully anonymised IP addresses, browser type and language, and the date and time of your visit to our website. On the basis of this data, we create a profile so that we can tailor the website to your interests even better.
We collect this information in order to make you offers or to show you advertisements for a product in which we presume, on the basis of the information we process, that you are interested, to analyse, maintain, optimise and secure our websites and associated technologies, to combat fraud, to comply with laws and regulations and to conduct market research. In principle, we retain data for as long as is necessary for the above purposes.
Below you can read more about the types of cookies used by and through our websites and for what purposes.
FUNCTIONAL COOKIES
We use technically necessary cookies to ensure that our website is displayed properly and that you can therefore browse our website easily. For example, the cookies remember a particular layout or setting that you have made yourself.
We use cookies for this purpose:
- Storing preferences, such as language, location, desired number of search results to be shown, etc.
- Saving settings for optimal video playback, such as the desired buffer size and the resolution data of your screen;
- reading your browser settings to optimise the display of our website on your screen;
- Tracking abuse of our website and services, for example, by registering a number of consecutive failed login attempts;
- Evenly load the website, so that the site remains accessible;
- Offering you the option of saving your login details so that you do not have to enter them again each time;
- remembering information that you enter on a page of a website (for example during checkout or ordering), so that you do not have to enter all your details again each time;
- passing information from one page to the next, for example if you are completing a long survey or if you have to fill in a lot of data;
- enabling you to respond to our website.
The use of these cookies does not require your consent. These cookies cannot be disabled.
STATISTICS
To see whether parts of our website are of interest to you, we continuously measure, with the help of third-party software, how many visitors come to our website and what is viewed most often. We use third-party cookies for this purpose.
We use the information collected by these cookies to compile statistics. These statistics give us insight into how often our website or a specific page of the website is visited, where exactly you spend the most time, and so on. This enables us to make our website as user-friendly as possible for you. The information in the statistics and reports cannot be traced back to you as a person.
We use cookies for:
- tracking the number of visitors to our website
- keeping track of the time each visitor spends on our website
- determining the order in which a visitor visits the various pages of our website
- assessing which parts of our site require adjustment
- optimising the website
Below is a list of the cookies we use, what data they collect and for how long they are used. However, this list may change from time to time.
ADVERTISEMENTS
Our websites display advertisements in certain places. These advertisements are a necessary source of income for us, with which we finance our website. They allow you to continue visiting our website. This way we can continue to make our website free and offer it to you. These advertisements (or video messages) make use of various types of cookies. These ads are placed on our websites by us and by third parties.
Amongst other things, advertising cookies make it possible that:
- an advertisement is shown
- track which advertisements you’ve already seen, to prevent you from seeing the same ones over and over again
- track the number of visitors who click on the advertisement in order to determine our advertising revenue together with the advertiser.
- information is collected about whether the advertisement is successful.
If such cookies are not used, you will still see advertisements. You may also be shown advertisements that do not use cookies. These advertisements may, for example, be tailored to the content of the website.
HOW CAN I DELETE COOKIES?
You can decide whether you want to accept or refuse cookies or whether you want your browser to notify you when a cookie is placed.
To do this you will need to change the settings in your browser. As each browser is different, we refer you to the “help” menu of your browser to adjust your cookie preferences. If you do not accept cookies, we cannot guarantee that the website will function properly. The refusal of cookies does not mean that advertisements will no longer be shown.
MODIFICATION OF COOKIE STATEMENT
We amend this cookie statement from time to time. We will change this cookie statement without prior warning. We advise you to consult this cookie statement regularly for the latest version.