Published on May 17th, 2019 | by Guest

Comprehensive Guide To GDPR Compliant Magento Store

“Personal Data” was considered a vague term once but with the implementation of GDPR, it is expanding its boundaries. Today, any information, literally any which can relate to a person and help to identify is included in the extended definition set by GDPR.

It is now vital to consider the website security concerning every nook and corner of the online business related to Magento development. GDPR has been much of hype since the last year, but very little of it is known to the Magento merchants. This post promises you to shed light on the basics of GDPR and its effects on the Magento store.

Web Data was never this valuable before GDPR implementation. The official resource states GDPR as,

“The EU brings General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which is the most important change in data privacy regulation in the last 20 years. After four years of preparation & debate, the GDPR was finally approved by the EU Parliament on 14 April 2016 & set enforcement date to 25 May 2018. The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) replaces the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and was designed to harmonize data privacy laws across Europe, to protect and empower all EU citizens data privacy and to reshape the way organizations across the region approach data privacy.”

The way companies gather and manage user information is completely changed by the Game changer, introduction of GDPR compliance. Now, Magento merchants cannot simply dive into the business without abiding by the new set of rules for data collection.

Though Magento is ready for GDPR, Magento development company needs to understand the rules at a stretch to continue online business in European countries. The two primary goals behind these guidelines implementations are:

Personal data of any individual should be handled with respect and care.
To mitigate the obstacles faced during data sharing between different regions and following standard regulations across nations.

The term GDPR revolves around collection and utilization of any personal data like name, location, IP, address, date of birth and also biometric. The rules also state that the collected data should be kept only for a certain period of time after taking permission.

The thumb rules for data collections are as mentioned below:

Only collect Relevant Data that is absolutely required

The myth about collecting more data leads to more business shall not be followed under GDPR and is burned to ashes. Business owners who have the habit of acquiring more personal data for doing business would be in danger under GDPR rules.

Just for creating a huge database, businesses are violating the user’s privacy. Magento eCommerce owners should now refrain themselves from asking irrelevant information from the users.

For example, if the user is signing up for a newsletter from your store, there is literally no need of asking them their phone number.

Such practices would be stopped under GDPR compliance.

Deactivate default Opt-Ins:

With GDPR, users have the right to give explicit permission for data sharing. This further can be extended as the presence of opt-in by default processes such as pre-checked boxes violates the new GDPR regulations.

A silent user should never be compromised nor should be an inactive user as passive acceptance. It is also your responsibility to let your customers know where your data is going to be stored and used any further. The potential customer then gives the consent and confirms the activity.

Update Notification policy and disclosures:

With the implementation and the changes brought by GDPR, many of the older privacy policy is going to change.

The store owners need to update the policy and let their customers know how personal data are going to be collected and stored.

This practice will help you build transparency and trust and help you bring more cautious customers to the store. The store owner should be ready to answer the following questions:

What information is collected?
How will the data be used?
Who it be shared with?
Provision of Easy-to-locate links to privacy policies and Unsubscribe button:

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Many users don’t subscribe to the store’s newsletter because the unsubscribe button is not easily available and it becomes a hassle task for them to clean up their inboxes filled with newsletters.

So under GDPR compliance, the information collected should not be buried somewhere and the user should not feel being punished for no good reason.

There should be ease of accessibility for finding the privacy policy access and the unsubscribe button should also be readily available which helps in maintaining the transparency.

This act will show that you respect your customer’s private information shared with you and strengthens the bond shared with them.

Ensure the security of the collected data:

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Hackers are constantly hovering over the personal information shared by the users online. And if your store violates any of the regulations regarding the security breaches online, you probably are under GDPR legal wrath. This can in return cause more damage than you ever thought.

For avoiding such breaches and violation, you need to ensure strict data protection measures that should be taken for the store. So if you are opting for making your store GDPR compliant answer the following question for yourself;

What type of information are you collecting?
Where and when did you collect the data?
The purpose behind data collection?
With whom the data will be shared with?
What is the procedure for opt-in customers?
Is an easy opt-out option available?

Notify users regarding the data breaches:

It is of vital importance to notify the users in a timely manner if the website is affected by any security breaches.

If the user is sharing the personal data with your store, they have the right to get notified in such situations. You should enable an automated notification process for doing the same.

The data breaches should be reported in 72 hours and so it is important for the Magento owners to have a strong security and incident management policy in place.

Use GDPR compliant third-party tools and vendors:

While maintaining the GDPR compliance practices what if any tools or vendors violate the rules and ruin your store reputation?

Third-party vulnerabilities should not be a reason for GDPR non-compliance. To ensure this, it is advisable to use extensions and services from the third-party who also maintain GDPR compliance.

Keep up the latest Magento version update:

Magento is continuously evolving and releases security and data management patches regularly. It is important as a store owner not to miss out on any of the security updates which will protect your store from the potential hackers.

If you are using any third-party extension, ensure that their updates are also tracked and installed.

GDPR compliant finally!

Transparency is what GDPR most concerned with. The regulations if followed ensures clear, concise and simple communication between the store owner and the user.

Every information regarding the store or the privacy policy should be represented in a way that every person understands it.

Magento development services should try to maintain the documentation of the data collection process.

The regulations intend to improve the current data collection process and guarantees a more secure environment for the users.

Hope this article was useful in guiding you and showing you the roadmap to make your Magento store GDPR compliant.

Author Bio:

Harshal Shah has countless experience in the field of Information Technology. Also, he is the CEO of Elsner Technologies Pvt Ltd. Magento development company that offers various Magento Development services to the clients across the globe. Mr. Harshal is a huge tech enthusiastic person who has written major & genuine articles as well as blogs on topics that are relevant to various CMS platforms.

Tags: GDPR, Internet, magneto development