GDPR and Cookie Compliance for PrestaShop: What You Actually Need

GDPR enforcement is not slowing down. In 2024 alone, EU data protection authorities issued over 2 billion EUR in fines. While the largest penalties target tech giants, small and medium e-commerce stores are increasingly in the crosshairs — especially for cookie compliance failures, which are easy for regulators to detect with automated scanning tools.

What GDPR Actually Requires from Your PrestaShop Store

The General Data Protection Regulation boils down to a few core principles for e-commerce:

• Consent must be freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous. Pre-ticked checkboxes are illegal. Cookie walls that force acceptance are problematic. Consent must be as easy to withdraw as it is to give.
• You must have a legal basis for processing personal data. For order processing, the legal basis is contract performance. For marketing emails, it is consent. For analytics, it depends on your implementation.
• Data subjects have rights. Customers can request access to their data, ask for deletion, and export their information. Your store must be able to handle these requests.

Cookie Consent: Getting It Right

The cookie banner is the most visible compliance element on your store. Unfortunately, most implementations get it wrong. Here is what a compliant cookie banner actually looks like:

• No cookies before consent. Analytics, marketing, and tracking cookies must not fire until the visitor actively agrees. This includes Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and any third-party scripts.
• Equal prominence for accept and reject. The "Accept" button cannot be a large green button while "Reject" is a tiny gray link hidden in the text.
• Granular choices. Visitors should be able to accept necessary cookies while rejecting analytics and marketing cookies.
• Remember preferences. Once a visitor makes a choice, do not ask again on every page load.
• Minimal performance impact. Heavy cookie consent plugins that load multiple JavaScript files and external resources defeat the purpose of a good user experience.

A lightweight, properly implemented cookie banner protects you legally while minimizing the negative impact on conversion rates. Heavy solutions that slow down page load or create frustrating pop-ups hurt both compliance and sales.

Customer Data Rights in PrestaShop

Under GDPR, customers have the right to:

• Access their data — Request a copy of all personal data you hold about them.
• Erasure (right to be forgotten) — Request deletion of their account and associated data.
• Data portability — Receive their data in a machine-readable format.
• Rectification — Correct inaccurate personal data.

PrestaShop has built-in GDPR functionality since version 1.7.6, and modules can extend this with hooks for data export and deletion. The key is ensuring that every module that stores customer data — comments, wishlists, reviews, form submissions — properly responds to these requests.

IP Logging and Security

Logging customer IP addresses is legitimate for security purposes (fraud prevention, brute force protection), but it is still personal data under GDPR. You must disclose this in your privacy policy and have a clear retention period. Do not keep IP logs indefinitely — 6 to 12 months is generally considered proportionate for security purposes.

Practical Steps for Your PrestaShop Store

1. Audit your cookies. Use your browser developer tools to see exactly what cookies your store sets before and after consent.
2. Implement a compliant cookie banner that blocks non-essential cookies until consent is given.
3. Update your privacy policy to accurately describe what data you collect, why, and how long you keep it.
4. Test data subject requests. Can you actually export and delete a customer's data when asked?
5. Document everything. Keep records of your compliance efforts — they matter if you ever face a complaint.

GDPR compliance is not a one-time project. It is an ongoing commitment that should be reviewed whenever you add new features, modules, or third-party services to your store.