Cookies policy
For cookie preferences, please refer to our cookie preferences at the foot of the page.
This Cookie Policy explains how B&Q Limited uses cookies and similar technologies when you use our Digital Services.
Who we are
In this notice, references to:
- “we”, “us”, or “our” means B&Q Limited, a limited company registered in England (company number: 00973387), whose registered office is B&Q House, Chestnut Avenue, Chandler's Ford, Eastleigh, Hampshire SO53 3LE, United Kingdom (“B&Q Limited”);
- “you” or “your” means you, the user;
- ”Digital Services” means our website, our digital app and any software and web-based applications that we make available for your use; and
- “Digital Technologies” means cookies, pixels and similar technologies, including those placed by third party service providers that appear on our Digital Services.
What are Cookies
Cookies are small text files that are stored on your device when you visit our Digital Services. They help our services function properly, remember your preferences, and understand how they are used. We use the term “cookies” to also refer to similar technologies, such as pixels, local storage or tags, which may collect information from your device or browser, which perform similar functions.
Some cookies are set by us, and others are set by third parties who provide services on our behalf.
Types of cookies we use
Strictly necessary:
These cookies are essential for the use of the features and services on our Digital Services. They are required to enable core functionality such as security, network management and accessibility. If you block these cookies we cannot guarantee access to the services provided or be sure how they will perform during your visit. These cookies are set in accordance with the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) and do not require your consent.
Functional:
Functional cookies allow our Digital Services to remember choices you make, such as your user name, log in details or language preferences, and any customisations you make to pages on our Digital Services during your visit.
Performance and analytics:
These cookies help us understand how people use our Digital Services. They collect information such as which pages visitors go to most often, which features they use, and which websites people have visited before they visit ours. We use this information only where you have provided consent to improve our Digital Services and provide a better user experience.
B&Q’s Marketing and advertising:
These are cookies that we use with your consent to remember which pages you’ve viewed (including which adverts you’ve been shown),, and to show you adverts that we think might be of interest to you, based on your browsing history on our Digital Services. We also use these cookies to limit the number of times you’re shown a particular advert, and to follow up with you if you partially complete an order for products or registration on our Digital Services
B&Q Partners' Marketing and Advertising Cookies:
These cookies are used by other companies we work with to deliver you relevant advertising on our Digital Services and on other websites. They are sometimes called "third party cookies" because they are set by other companies when you browse our Digital Services, rather than by us. These cookies are only set if you consent and may involve those third parties acting as independent controllers.
We regularly review our cookie categorisation and update this notice as required.
How we use cookies
We use cookies for a range of purposes, including to ensure our Digital Services work properly and to improve your experience.
Examples include:
- enabling you to sign in securely and use “My Account” features, such as viewing orders and making payments
- remembering items you place in your shopping basket as you browse our Digital Services
- maintaining your session and keeping you logged in while you browse
- improving the performance, reliability, security and functionality of our Digital Services
- distributing website traffic efficiently to support faster page loading
- detecting and preventing fraudulent or unauthorised activity
- understanding which pages and products are viewed and how customers use our Digital Services, so we can present relevant products, services and advertising, and measure how effective our marketing is
Cookies used on diy.com
The table below sets out the cookies used on our Digital Services, their duration and purpose.
Strictly necessary cookies
These cookies are essential for our Digital Services to function properly and to provide the services you request. If you block these cookies, we cannot guarantee that all features will work as intended.
Some cookies will be used to track interactions with affiliate partners to enable cashback rewards. This includes:
- Affiliate Tracking Cookies – placed when you click on a partner link, allowing us to track purchases and ensure cashback eligibility.
Cashback Tracking Cookies – Used to confirm qualifying transactions and apply cashback rewards to user accounts. The following cookies do not require consent under PECR as they are essential to deliver the service you have requested.
| Name | Duration | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| ktlvDW7IG5ClOcxYTbmY | 365 Days | Ensures security across our digital services. |
| __cf_bm | 30 Minutes | Used to help manage our Digital Services security. |
| _cfuvid | Only lasts while you are browsing our Digital Services | Used to help manage our Digital Services security. |
| dd_cookie_test_* | Only lasts while you are browsing our Digital Services | Checks whether your browser supports cookies. |
| AWSELBCORS | Only lasts while you are browsing our Digital Services | Distributes traffic across servers so our Digital Services loads reliably. |
| optimizelyRumLB | Only lasts while you are browsing our Digital Services | Balances traffic across servers. |
| utag_main__pn utag_main__se utag_main__ss utag_main__st utag_main_ses_id | 30 Minutes | Used to manage your visit to our Digital Services. |
| utag_main__sn | 365 Days | Used to manage your visit on our Digital Services. |
| _gdprCookie | 400 Days | Used to remember your cookie preferences. |
| cmapi_cookie_privacy | 394 Days | Remembers your cookie choices and manages the consent notice display. |
| cmapi_gtm_bl | 394 Days | Stores cookie preferences so your choices are remembered. |
| notice_behavior notice_gdpr_prefs notice_preferences | 394 Days | Manages consent preferences |
| TAconsentID | 394 Days | Records consent decisions. |
| TAsessionID | 30 Minutes | Maintains your consent session while you browse our Digital Services. |
Functional cookies
These cookies are only set where you have provided consent and allow our Digital Services to remember choices you make, such as your preferences or whether you have already completed a survey.
| Name | Duration | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| confirmit_survey_feedback_given | 45 Days | Helps collect customer feedback without asking repeatedly. |
Performance and analytics cookies
These cookies help us understand how visitors use our Digital Services so we can improve performance, usability and content. These cookies are only set where you have provided consent and are used to generate aggregated and statistical reporting.
| Name | Duration | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| ab._gd | Only lasts while you are browsing our Digital Services | Used to help our Digital Services run smoothly across different sections. |
| _cs_c | 13 Months | Stores a visitor’s consent preference for analytics. |
| _cs_id | 13 Months | Analyses our Digital Services usage to improve performance and usability. |
| _cs_mk | 30 Minutes | Helps us understand how customers find our Digital Services and keeps our analytics accurate. |
| _cs_root-domain | Only lasts while you are browsing our Digital Services | Helps us understand how customers use our Digital Services. |
| _cs_s | 30 Minutes | Helps us understand how customers use our Digital Services during their visit so we can improve the site experience. |
| _cs_same_site | Only lasts while you are browsing our Digital Services | Checks if the browser supports the SameSite flag |
| _ga _ga_* | 400 Days | Helps Google Analytics recognise returning visitors and understand how our Digital Services are used. |
| sgtm_visitor_id_cookie | 400 Days | Used to recognise returning visitors for analytics purposes |
| _gtmeec | 90 Days | Tracks interactions with products on our Digital Services to help us understand how customers shop. |
| _hjHasCachedUserAttributes | Only lasts while you are browsing our Digital Services | Remembers information about how visitors use our Digital Services |
| TAPID | 365 Days | Helps recognise a visitor so we can understand how our digital content is used |
| utag_main_dc_event | 30 Minutes | Records visits and interactions to help analyse how Digital Services are used. |
| utag_main_dc_region | 30 Minutes | Stores general location information to support website analytics |
| utag_main_dc_visit | 365 Days | Keeps track of user visits to help us understand our Digital Services usage patterns |
| utag_main_v_id | 365 Days | Helps recognise returning visitors for analytics purposes |
B&Q marketing and advertising cookies
These cookies are used only with your consent to show you adverts that are relevant to you and to measure the effectiveness of our marketing.
| Name | Duration | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| ab.storage.deviceId.* | 400 Days | Helps us improve our marketing by understanding how our Digital Services are used. |
| _dlt | 1 Day | Helps us measure our Digital Services activity during your visit. |
| mc | 396 Days | Helps show more relevant ads and measure ad performance. |
B&Q partners’ marketing and advertising cookies
These cookies are set by third-party partners and are used only where you have consented to deliver personalised advertising on our Digital Services and elsewhere. They may track your activity across Digital Services and devices for advertising and measurement purposes and may share information with other members of the Kingfisher Group in accordance with our Privacy Notice.
| Name | Duration | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| citrusAdSessionId | 30 Days | Used by CitrusAdj to recognise your browsing session and measure how advertising performs on our website. This helps us improve the relevance and effectiveness of adverts. This cookie does not directly identify you. |
| IDE | 390 Days | Used by Google to show personalised ads and measure how well our advertising performs. |
| test_cookie | 15 Minutes | Used by Google to check whether your browser accepts cookies so we can display our Digital Services correctly. |
| _gcl_au | 90 Days | Used by Google to understand which of our ads brought you to our Digital Services and measure the effectiveness. |
| FPAU | 90 Days | Used by Google to helps us understand how you arrived at our Digital Services so we can improve our marketing. |
| ar_debug | 365 Days | Used by Google to test and improve how ads are shown. |
| _fbp | 90 Days | Used by Facebook to show relevant adverts. |
| _uetsid | 1 Day | Used by Microsoft Ads to show relevant adverts. |
| _uetvid | 390 Days | Used by Microsoft Ads for marketing and advertising. |
| MR MUID | 1 Hour | Used by Microsoft for marketing and advertising. |
| _pin_unauth _pinterest_ct_ua | 365 Days | Used by Pinterest to measure advertising performance and improve the relevance of adverts shown to visitors. |
| __qca | 392 Days | Used by Quantcast to understand audience activity and measure the effectiveness of advertising and website content. |
| _dlt | 1 Day | Used by Quantcast to support advertising measurement and help deliver more relevant advertising content |
| mc | 396 Days | Used by Quantcast to collect analytics and advertising measurement information to improve marketing performance |
| _tt_enable_cookie _ttp ttcsid ttcsid_* | 90 Days | Used by TikTok for marketing and advertising. |
| _twpid | Only lasts while you are browsing our Digital Services | Used by TikTok for marketing and advertising. |
| guest_id guest_id_ads guest_id_marketing muc_ads personalization_id | 400 Days | Used by X (Twitter) to recognise your browser, measure ad performance and show personalised ads across the platform. |
Managing your cookie preferences
You can enable or disable nonessential cookies at any time using the cookie preferences link in the footer of our Digital Services.
You can also manage cookies through your browser settings. Please note that blocking some cookies may affect how the Digital Services functions. If you withdraw consent, this will not affect the lawfulness of any use of cookies before consent was withdrawn.
Further information
We may update this policy periodically to reflect legal and operational changes. The latest version will also be available on this page.
For more information about how we use your personal data, please see our Privacy Notice.
For any questions about our cookie usage, please contact B&Q’s Data Protection team (dataprotection@b-and-q.co.uk)