7 Types of Website Cookies E-Commerce Sellers Should Know

If you’ve ever visited a website, you’ve encountered cookies without realizing it. Cookies are small text files sent by a website to your device to improve your online experience through personalization, convenience, and speed.

While there are many kinds of cookies out there, the two predominant types are essential and non-essential cookies. Regulators distinguish between these two types of cookies since essential cookies are required for the primary functionality of the website, and optional non-essential cookies help enhance a user’s experience. As such, you’ll need to know the difference between these two cookie types, especially when considering cookie consent banner requirements.

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Essential Cookies

The cookies below are considered essential, which means that a website doesn’t need to receive a visitor’s consent to use them. E-commerce stores will benefit from leveraging such cookies for user experience improvement and metrics gathering.

1. First-Party Cookies

First-party cookies form the backbone of a website, supporting everything from account logins to e-commerce checkouts. Only the website visited places and reads these cookies. For example, first-party cookies remember a user when they navigate to the payment gateway to complete billing. It’s important to know the difference between first and third-party cookies and what they mean for regulatory compliance.

2. Session Cookies

Have you ever wondered how an e-commerce website remembers what you added to your shopping cart? That’s how session cookies improve user experience by remembering certain actions a visitor has taken on the current visit. Session cookies are deleted after a visitor navigates away from the website, although some information collected by session cookies may persist across sessions so a visitor can pick up where they left off.

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3. Persistent/Permanent Cookies

Cookies that remain stored on a visitor’s device are called persistent cookies. Even though these cookies are called permanent, most still have expiry dates. Persistent cookies are used for many purposes, including keeping a user logged in across visits, remembering the user’s preferred language, and suggesting products based on past activity.

Non-Essential Cookies

Just because these cookies are termed “non-essential” doesn’t mean they’re not important. Non-essential cookies require user consent before the website can use them, but they’re still vital to collecting information and advertising better.

4. Third-Party Cookies

In contrast to first-party cookies, third-party cookies are placed by one website and then follow a user as they visit other websites. The other websites visited can read the cookie to retrieve certain information about the user, such as what products they viewed previously, what kinds of websites they visited, and how they behave. Most advertising networks use these for personalized targeting, and thus they require cookie consent under GDPR.

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5. Secure Cookies

Websites and visitor devices often need to transmit sensitive information to each other. This is where secure cookies come in. These cookies can only be sent across an encrypted connection to prevent anyone from intercepting and reading them. Carried information includes login details, billing information, and personal data. Remember that GDPR comes into play when transmitting personal data using cookies.

6. Flash Cookies

When a visitor’s browser requests Adobe Flash content, a cookie is stored on their browser with information such as which content has been viewed, how long it was viewed, and how the visitor interacted with it (e.g. lowering the volume level). The use of flash cookies is frowned upon due to many Adobe Flash security flaws and concerns over privacy since advertising networks use them often.

7. Zombie Cookies

These cookies are controversial and are likely not compliant with data privacy regulations. Zombie cookies use various technologies such as Adobe Flash, JavaScript, and unique IDs to “resurrect” themselves after being deleted. Most of the time, these cookies are used to track users for targeted advertising purposes. E-commerce websites should avoid using such cookies unless they want to face regulatory consequences.

Conclusion

Cookie management may seem daunting, but investing some time into creating a clear and comprehensive cookie policy for your e-commerce website is worth the effort. Because you want to be using non-essential cookies transparently, a detailed cookie consent banner is necessary to receive user consent. Take some time to educate yourself on cookie best practices, and you’ll be boosting sales in no time.

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