Cookies & the cookie consent widget

When the cookie consent widget is enabled, it controls when and how cookies are set on your website to comply with UK and EU cookie laws.

When a visitor first lands on your website:

1. Display – The widget appears in the style you’ve configured (banner at the bottom of the page or centred popup)
2. Blocking behaviour – No non-essential cookies (personalisation, marketing, analytics) are set until the visitor has made a choice. Only required cookies are allowed by default
3. Visitor options – The visitor can:
   • Accept all – Immediately allow all categories of cookies
   • Decline all – Block all non-essential cookies and allow only required cookies
   • Manage – Open the preferences popup to make a category-by-category selection

If the visitor clicks Manage, the preferences popup displays four cookie categories:

• Required – Always enabled, cannot be turned off
• Personalisation – Allows features like saved preferences, recently viewed products, and live chat
• Marketing – Allows cookies used for targeted advertising and marketing campaigns
• Analytics – Allows cookies that measure website usage and performance

By default, none of the optional categories are pre-selected. The visitor must actively tick the ones they want to allow and click Save my choices to apply them. Selecting Accept all or Decline all in this popup works the same way as the banner buttons.

• The banner or popup is replaced with a cookie access icon, positioned in the bottom left or right corner depending on your settings
• This icon is always visible after the visitor has made a choice, allowing them to reopen the preferences popup at any time and change their selection
• When preferences are changed, the new settings are applied immediately

The widget prevents non-essential cookies and scripts from running until the visitor has given the required consent. If you use tracking scripts in your theme or through ShopWired’s script settings, these are automatically controlled based on the visitor’s preferences.

To enable the widget and configure its settings, navigate to Website settings > Cookie widget.

In the Cookie banner section select your settings for the following options:

• Select banner to display a cookie banner along the bottom of your website
• Select popup to display a popup in the middle of your website

Use this setting to determine the colours for the cookie banner/popup:

• Select light to display the banner with light colours (a white background and black text)
• Select dark to display the banner with dark colours (a dark background and white text)
• Select custom to select your own colours for the banner:
• Background defines the colour of the background of the banner
• Text defines the colour of instruction text of the banner
• Manage link defines the colour of the text link that allows the visitor to select the individual cookies they want to accept
• Button backgrounds defines the background colour of the accept and decline buttons
• Button text defines the text colour of the accept and decline buttons

Use the rich text editor to customise the text displayed within the cookie banner. To remain compliant with cookie consent laws you should include a link to either your privacy policy or a cookies policy so the user can read more information about cookies on your website.

In the Cookie preferences section select your settings for the following options:

This setting determines the appearance of the cookie access button, displayed to visitors once they have confirmed their cookie preferences. The cookie access button's colours are determined by the settings for the cookie banner.

• Select left for the cookie access button to appear in the bottom left of your website
• Select right for the cookie access button to appear in the bottom right of your website

• Select light to display the popup with light colours (a white background and black text)
• Select dark to display the popup with dark colours (a dark background and white text)
• Select custom to select your own colours for the popup:
• Background defines the colour of the background of the popup
• Title defines the colour of the title text
• Close icon defines the colour of the close icon in the popup
• Text defines the colour of other text in the popup
• Button backgrounds defines the background colour of the buttons in the popup
• Button text defines the colour of the text in the buttons in the popup

Use the rich text editor to customise the title of the popup.

Use the rich text editor to customise the title and main text shown for each available cookie type displayed in the consent widget. Each cookie type is described later in this help guide:

• Required cookies
• Personalisation cookies
• Marketing cookies
• Analytics cookies

In accordance with cookie consent laws, including [the GDPR](Define the GDPR in the context of cookie consent]!!, ShopWired defines the following types of cookies:

Required cookies are those that are essential for the basic operation of your website, such as enabling checkout, remembering privacy settings, and keeping visitors logged into accounts. These cookies are all set by ShopWired and visitors cannot disable required cookies. You can read more about ShopWired's cookies later in this help guide article.

Personalisation cookies store visitors preferences and customise the shopping experience.

Marketing cookies track visitor behaviour across your website and others to deliver targeted ads and measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. Marketing cookies include the Facebook Tracking Pixel.

Collect anonymised data about how visitors use your website, helping you improve functionality, performance, and content. Analytics cookies include Google Analytics 4.

If you are using Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and want to implement Google Consent Mode V2 on your website, ShopWired strongly recommends:

• Using ShopWired's built-in Google Analytics 4 feature to configure GA4 on your website
• Activating the cookie widget to require cookie consent before GA4 is run on your website
• Activating Google Consent Mode V2 on the Visitor monitoring page

For more information, read ShopWired's guidance on Google Consent Mode V2.

The ShopWired platform sets a number of cookies on visitors' browsers to provide the services of an ecommerce website. These cookies do not process personally identifiable information (including IP addresses) and therefore do not require the visitor's consent, including ShopWired's visitor statistics feature. They are always set on visitor devices, and cannot be disabled.

The following Twig variables return true if the visitor has consented to the type of cookies:

Returns true if the visitor has consented to analytics cookies (e.g. Google).

Returns true if the visitor has consented to personalisation cookies (e.g. live chat, Disqus).

Returns true if the visitor has consented to marketing cookies (e.g. Meta/Facebook, your “Marketing scripts” block).