Privacy policy

Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement — Swim Essentials

Last updated: 30/10/2025

Data protection is a matter of trust, and your trust is important to us. To ensure you feel safe when visiting our websites, we strictly adhere to applicable privacy laws when processing your personal data. This policy explains what data we collect on our websites, how we process and use it, and whom to contact with questions.

1. Controller & Your Rights

Controller:
The Essentials B.V. (hereinafter “Swim Essentials”)
Rietveldenweg 40, 5222 AR 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands
+31 (0)73-7113713
customerservice@swimessentials.nl

Your rights. You may request access to, correction of, blocking of, or deletion of your stored personal data at any time, free of charge. You may also object—entirely or partially—to the collection, processing, or use of your data as described in this policy. Please contact us using the details above.

2. Collection, Processing & Use of Personal Data

“Personal data” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (e.g., your name, phone number, address), including any data you provide when registering or creating a customer account.

2.1 Customer Account

When you register via the “Register Now” function, we create a password-protected customer account giving you direct access to your stored data (e.g., placed, pending, and recently shipped orders), and enabling you to manage your personal details and newsletter preferences.

2.1.1 Creating a Customer Account (Mandatory Information)

Email address
Password
First name
Last name
Gender
Consent to creditworthiness check and data protection terms

Your billing and shipping address are required only when you place an order. We use your email address to confirm receipt and shipment of your order, to communicate with you generally, and to identify you when you log into your account.

2.1.2 Using the Customer Account

You can use your Swim Essentials account to log into various European Swim Essentials online shops. We only transfer your data to such services when you log in. If a service is not operated by The Essentials B.V., data is transferred only with your explicit consent given during the sign-in process.

If you do not log out, you remain signed in automatically. This lets you use certain services (e.g., Wishlist) without logging in again. For security, we will still ask for your password when changing personal details or placing an order.

2.1.3 My Preferences

You can indicate which brands or categories you find interesting (or not) using “My Preferences” in your account. We use this information to personalize your homepage and make our services more relevant to you. You can view and change these settings at any time.

2.2 How We Use Your Data

We collect, process, and store your data for:

completing your purchase (including any subsequent warranties),
providing customer features (e.g., My Preferences),
technical administration,
our own marketing purposes (see 2.3), and
preventing criminal activity and fraud.

We share personal data with third parties only as legally permitted—for contract performance or settlement, for payment processing, for marketing activities, or where you have given prior consent. For example, in order processing, service providers we engage (e.g., carriers, logistics partners, banks) receive the data they need and may use it solely to fulfill their tasks.

2.3 Use of Your Data for Advertising Purposes

We also use your data to:

improve your shopping experience and make it more personal,
communicate about orders, products, and campaigns, and
recommend products or services that may interest you.

We may use available information such as email receipt/read confirmations, device and internet connection data, operating system and platform, visit date/time, products viewed, and information you provide (including automatically transmitted or generated data). We also use your purchase history. You may object to advertising use of your data at any time (entirely or for specific activities) via the contact details in Section 1; no costs apply beyond basic transmission fees.

2.3.1 Newsletter

We send newsletters to the email address you provide and require confirmation that you (as the email owner) consent. You can unsubscribe at any time (no costs beyond basic transmission fees) via the contact details in Section 1 or via the unsubscribe link in every newsletter.

2.3.2 Product Recommendations via Email

As a Swim Essentials customer, you may receive product recommendations by email even if you are not subscribed to the newsletter—based on your previous purchases. You can object at any time via the methods described above; every email contains an unsubscribe link.

2.3.3 Advertising Banners (Retargeting)

We may display targeted ads (e.g., on third-party pages) using cookies or pixels to show products you viewed or similar items. We use only pseudonymous data for this; plaintext personal data (e.g., your name or email) is not stored in cookies. See Sections 4 and 7 for details.

2.3.4 Sweepstakes, Market & Opinion Research

For sweepstakes, we use your data to notify winners and promote our offers (see each sweepstake’s terms). We also use data for market and opinion research, but not for advertising. Details are provided in each survey/form. Survey responses are not shared with third parties or published. You can object at any time (entirely or partially) via the contact details in Section 1; each survey includes an opt-out link.

3. Creditworthiness Check

To offer appropriate payment options and protect against misuse, we may transmit necessary personal data (including your address) to:

Experian NL
Online contact form: Experian Contact Page
Email: Inzage@experian.nl
Phone: 0900-EXPERIAN (0900-39737426)
Mail: Postbus 16604, 2500 BP Den Haag
Office: Kantoorgebouw ’t Schip, 9th Floor, Verheeskade 25, 2521 BE Den Haag

Experian performs an assessment based on mathematical-statistical methods; your address data may be used in calculating a probability score, which helps us decide which payment options to offer.

If you disagree with the automated decision about payment methods, you may request a manual review by emailing customerservice@swimessentials.nl or writing to us. You may object to transferring your data to Experian at any time via email, fax, or letter. Please note: if you object, prepayment will be the only available payment option.

4. Cookies

4.1 Introduction

As stated in our cookie banner, Swim Essentials uses cookies, web beacons, and JavaScripts (collectively, “cookies”). This section explains what they are, how we use them, and how you can manage your browser settings. Accepting cookies is not required to visit our website; however, the shopping cart and ordering functions only work if cookies are enabled.

4.2 Consent

Under Dutch law, certain cookies require your prior consent. By clicking “I agree” in the cookie banner or by continuing to use our sites, you consent to placement of all cookies described below when visiting this or other Swim Essentials websites. (Clicking any part of our pages—except to open this policy or the privacy statement—or continuing to browse constitutes consent.) If you do not agree with the placement of all cookies as described, please do not use and immediately leave The Essentials B.V. websites.

4.3 What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files placed on your device during a website visit; the stored information can be retrieved during later visits.

Some cookies are necessary for the site to function.
Others improve user experience (e.g., remembering your username and language).
Some enable targeted advertising on Swim Essentials websites.

We also use:

Web beacons: small, invisible graphics measuring visits and usage.

JavaScripts: programs running on your device to determine location and actions, helping us improve the site and advertising.

4.4 Types of Cookies We Use

Functional cookies – Required for core functionality (e.g., carrying information between pages, storing preferences like language or text size). No prior consent required.
Analytical cookies – Help us optimize the site with anonymized usage insights; may be placed/read by third parties for us (e.g., Webtrekk, Google Analytics). No prior consent required due to low privacy impact.
Social media cookies – Enable sharing via platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. Consent required.
Advertising/profiling cookies – Allow Swim Essentials and third parties to display relevant ads. Consent required.
Example: DoubleClick by Google assigns a pseudonymous ID to check which ads were shown and accessed. Data in these cookies is not personal. Transfers by Google occur only as required by law or under data processing arrangements. Google does not combine this data with other Google data.

You can prevent DoubleClick processing by installing the browser plugin provided by Google or by deactivating DoubleClick cookies via the Digital Advertising Alliance site.
Affiliate cookies – Measure whether a purchase followed from an ad, so the relevant advertiser can be rewarded. No consent required due to low privacy impact.
Tracking cookies – Collect information about your browsing behavior for analytics and future advertising. Consent required.
Unforeseen cookies – Due to how the internet works, third parties may place unforeseen cookies via embedded content. If you encounter such cookies, please let us know.
Cookie list – Click here for the list of cookies we use. We strive to keep this list up to date, but it may not always be current.

4.5 Changes to the Cookie Policy

We may update this cookie section from time to time (e.g., due to site or regulatory changes). Updates take effect immediately upon publication. Please review regularly; by continuing to use our website, you accept any updates.

5. Log Files

Each time you access our sites, your browser transmits usage data that we store in server log files, including:

date and time of access,
name of the page accessed,
IP address,
referrer URL (the site you came from),
data volume transferred,
browser product and version information.

We analyze these records to improve and make our shop more user-friendly, detect and fix errors quickly, and manage server capacity. We also use them to defend against attacks (e.g., DDoS) intended to block access by overloading requests.

6. Web Analytics

We use tracking technologies to continuously improve and optimize our offering, including Google Analytics and Webtrekk.

6.1 Google Analytics

This website uses Google (Universal) Analytics, a service of Google Inc. Google Analytics uses methods like cookies to analyze website usage. Information generated about your use is typically transmitted to and stored on Google servers in the United States.

With IP anonymization activated on this site, your IP address is shortened before transfer within EU/EEA member states; only in exceptional cases is the full IP sent to a U.S. server and shortened there. The anonymized IP address provided by your browser is not merged with other Google data.

Opt-out: You can prevent Google’s collection and processing (including your IP) by installing the Google opt-out browser plugin. Alternatively, you can set an opt-out cookie to prevent future collection on this website (note: if you delete cookies, you will need to set it again).

7. Retargeting & Third-Party Providers for Advertising Banners

For retargeting and advertising banners, third parties place cookies on our site, including:

DoubleClick by Google, Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA — https://www.google.com/intl/nl/policies/technologies/ads/ 
Nugg.ad GmbH, Rotherstr. 16, 10245 Berlin, Germany — https://www.nugg.ad/en/privacy/general-information.html
Adform Germany GmbH, Gr. Burstah 50–52, 20457 Hamburg, Germany — http://site.adform.com/privacy-policy/en/
Facebook Inc., 1601 S. California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA — https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy
Criteo CIL, 32 Rue Blanche, 75009 Paris, France — http://www.criteo.com/privacy/
The Rubicon Project Ltd., Walmar House, 5th Floor, 296 Regent St., London W1B 3HR, UK — http://rubiconproject.com/privacy/consumer-online-profile-and-opt-out/
Yieldlab AG, Colonnaden 41, 20354 Hamburg, Germany — http://www.yieldlab.com/meta-navigation/data-protection/
Xaxis, Inc., 132 West 31 Street, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10001, USA — https://www.xaxis.com/static/view/privacy-policy-en

These providers collect data to serve targeted advertisements based on your previous visits to our websites.

8. Secure Data Transmission

We transmit your personal data securely using encryption—this includes your orders and customer login. We use TLS (Transport Layer Security) / SSL (Secure Socket Layer). We also protect our websites and systems with technical and organizational measures against loss, destruction, unauthorized access, alteration, or distribution of your data by third parties.

Questions?

Please contact customerservice@swimessentials.nl or write to:
The Essentials B.V., De Beverspijken 20, 5221 ED, ’s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands
+31 (0)73-7113713