Cookie Policy

1. What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are transferred and stored by your web browser to your computer or mobile device when you visit or use a website. Cookies contain information that is unique to your web browser, which means they can be used to distinguish you from other website users and allow the website to remember your choices and preferences during your visit.

Cookies can be considered as ‘first party’ or ‘third party’ cookies depending on the domain that places them. First party cookies are cookies set by a website visited by the user (so in this instance, are cookies placed by AOKI on our Website). Third party cookies are set by a domain other than that of the website visited by the user, so if a user visits a website and a third party organisation sets a cookie through that website, this would be a third party cookie. AOKI has both first and third party cookies on our Website.

Cookies can also be considered as ‘persistent’ or ‘session’ cookies depending on their duration. Persistent cookies remain on a user's device for the period of time specified in those cookies, and are activated each time that user visits the website that created the cookies, until the cookies expire or are disabled by the user. Session cookies allow the actions of a user to be linked during a single browsing session. A session starts when a user opens a browser window and ends when the browser window is closed, following which all session cookies are deleted.

Pixel tags and Web beacons are tiny graphic images that allow us or preferred service providers to track analytic information about your visit to our Website (such as pages viewed or links clicked) and monitor when HTML emails are opened.

2. Why Does AOKI Use Cookies?

We use cookies to collect information about your browsing activity and how you use our services as well as about the device you have used to access our Website (including in some instances the IP address, browser type and mobile device identifiers) so that we can:

・make our Website as easy and intuitive as possible for you to use;
・monitor and analyse Website usage and performance so that we can measure the effectiveness of our Website, improve how it operates (including security);
・recognise you when you return to our Website in order to improve functionality for your benefit, particularly if you have chosen to use the “My Account” service;
・for AOKI to market to you, particularly web banner advertisements and targeted updates;
・alert you to new areas that may be of interest to you;
・remember certain information about your browsing activity on our Website, such as the web pages you have viewed and what your preferences are. This information can then be used to personalise and improve the way you interact with our Website and to inform you of special offers and promotions that are tailored to your interests (where you have consented to receiving marketing communications from us).

We also permit a number of third party cookies on our website to assist and enable our marketing programes and to meet our contractual obligations to record business transactions that were driven by leads (advertisements/ links) from third party websites.

3. How Does AOKI Use Cookies?

Different cookies have different functions. Our Website uses the following cookies:

Strictly necessary cookies

These cookies are essential for our Website to operate. Some of the cookies we use help secure your browsing session and verify that the session is valid. You cannot opt out of these cookies as the Website cannot function properly without them.

These cookies are essential for our Website to operate. For example, they enable you to log into secure areas of our website (such as “My Account”, if you choose to create one) . Some of the cookies we use help secure your browsing session and verify that the session is valid. You cannot opt out of these cookies as the Website cannot function properly without them.

Analytical/performance cookies

We use some first party cookies and these allow us to measure and analyse how you use our Website so that we can measure the effectiveness of our Website and improve the way our Website works. We also use third party analytics providers to assist us with this process. Our main analytic provider is Google, Inc. through their Google Analytics platform. To find out more about Google Analytics you can follow this link: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en-GB.

You can opt-out of Google analytics. To find out how please visit: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

Functionality cookies

These cookies allow our Website to remember choices you make when visiting and recognise you when you return in order to provide functionality for your benefit. For example, functionality cookies allow our website to remember settings that are specific to you, such as your login details for “My Account” if you choose to create an account with us, so that you don’t have to log back in from the same device each time you visit (provided the relevant cookie was not disabled in the interim).

Targeting/advertising cookies

These cookies track your use of our Website, including the web pages you have viewed. This information enables us to build a profile of your preferences so that we can display content on our Website and other websites and apps that is more relevant to you and your interests. This may include delivering targeted advertising on our Website or other websites and apps that you visit, or preventing you being targeted by advertisements or limiting the number of times you see a particular advertisement.

In addition, if you have consented to receiving marketing communications from us by email we will use the information collected by these cookies to provide you with special offers and promotions that are tailored to your preferences, based on your previous activity on our Website. These cookies will also enable us to measure and analyse the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

Please note that third parties (including, for example, advertising networks and providers of external services like web traffic analysis services) may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These cookies are likely to be analytical/performance cookies or targeting cookies.

Tracking cookies

We work with a number of providers of tracking services. The cookies employed by these service providers allow them to record business transactions generated by third party leads and advertisements and allow us to pay commission to the originators of those leads. The purpose of the tracking cookies is to allocate one successful advertisement to a particular transaction and to perform the corresponding billing services. Personally identifiable information is neither collected nor processed nor used in this tracking. To find out more about these cookies please visit our providers sites : https://www.shopify.com/jp/legal/cookies

4. How Can I Manage My Cookie Preferences?

The analytical/performance, functionality and targeting/advertising cookies on our Website are not strictly necessary for our Website to function but improve the overall performance of our Website and provide you with a better user experience. You can delete or block these cookies by changing the setting on your web browser that allows you to delete or block the setting of some or all cookies. Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies. Each browser is a little different, so check your browser Help menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookie settings.

However, please note that if you do delete or block cookies, we cannot ensure that all pages on our Website will be displayed and/or that all the features and functions of our Website will be fully available.

Please note that if you use different computers or mobile devices to access and use our Website, you will need to ensure that each web browser on each device is adjusted to suit your cookie preferences.

5. How Can I Contact AOKI If I Have Questions or Complaints About This Cookie Policy?

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this Cookie Policy, please contact us.