Privacy policy

Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how SJS Marketing Ventures Ltd, trading as The Vital Earth (“The Vital Earth”, “we”, “us” or “our”) collects, uses, shares and protects personal information when you visit www.the-vital-earth.com, make a purchase, contact us, subscribe to marketing communications or otherwise interact with our website and related services.

1. Who We Are

The Vital Earth is a trading name of:

SJS Marketing Ventures Ltd
Company number: 17079711
Registered in England and Wales
Registered office: 5 Alderwood Road, London, United Kingdom, SE9 2JY

Email: info@the-vital-earth.com
Telephone: +44 (0)7737 087701

For the purposes of applicable UK data protection law, SJS Marketing Ventures Ltd is the data controller responsible for the personal information described in this Privacy Policy.

2. Personal Information We Collect

The personal information we collect depends on how you interact with us.

Information You Provide Directly

We may collect information that you provide when you:

  • Place an order

  • Create an account

  • Contact us

  • Subscribe to email or other marketing communications

  • Submit a product review

  • Participate in a promotion, survey or other feature

This information may include:

  • Name

  • Email address

  • Telephone number

  • Billing address

  • Delivery address

  • Order and transaction information

  • Account details, if you create an account

  • Marketing preferences

  • Communications you send to us

  • Product reviews or other content you choose to submit

Payment Information

Payments are processed through Shopify and/or the payment providers available at checkout.

We do not normally receive or store your complete payment card details. Payment information is handled by the relevant payment provider in accordance with its own privacy and security practices.

Information Collected Automatically

When you visit or use our website, we and our service providers may automatically collect information such as:

  • IP address

  • Approximate location derived from your IP address

  • Browser type

  • Device type

  • Operating system

  • Pages viewed

  • Products viewed

  • Products added to your basket

  • Checkout activity

  • Referring website or advertising source

  • Date and time of visits

  • Interactions with our website

  • Cookie and similar technology identifiers

We use this information to operate our website, understand how it is used, measure performance, prevent fraud and, where permitted, support advertising and marketing activities.

3. How We Use Personal Information

We may use personal information to:

  • Process and fulfil orders

  • Take and manage payments

  • Arrange delivery

  • Provide order confirmations and delivery updates

  • Manage returns, refunds and customer service enquiries

  • Create and manage customer accounts

  • Detect and prevent fraud, misuse and security threats

  • Maintain and improve our website and services

  • Understand website and customer activity

  • Measure the effectiveness of our marketing and advertising

  • Personalise website or marketing experiences where permitted

  • Send marketing communications where we have a lawful basis to do so

  • Maintain business, tax and accounting records

  • Establish, exercise or defend legal claims

  • Comply with legal and regulatory obligations

4. Our Lawful Bases for Using Personal Information

Under UK data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for processing personal information.

Depending on the purpose, we may rely on the following lawful bases:

Contract

We process information where necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you.

For example, we use your name, contact details, delivery address and order information to process and deliver your purchase.

Legal Obligation

We process information where necessary to comply with legal obligations, including tax, accounting, consumer protection and regulatory requirements.

Legitimate Interests

We may process information where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and where those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms.

These interests may include:

  • Operating and improving our business

  • Providing customer support

  • Protecting our website and business against fraud and misuse

  • Understanding how customers use our website

  • Measuring business and marketing performance

  • Establishing or defending legal claims

Consent

Where required, we rely on your consent.

This may include certain:

  • Marketing communications

  • Advertising cookies

  • Analytics cookies

  • Tracking technologies

Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

5. Marketing Communications

We may send you marketing communications where you have consented to receive them or where we are otherwise permitted to do so by applicable law.

You can unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time by:

Unsubscribing from marketing communications will not stop essential service messages relating to your orders, account, returns or other transactions.

You may also object to the use of your personal information for direct marketing at any time.

6. Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies to operate our website and, where permitted, to understand website activity and support advertising and marketing.

These technologies may include cookies, pixels, tags and similar tools.

They may be used for purposes including:

Strictly Necessary Functions

These technologies help our website operate and may be required for functions such as:

  • Keeping items in your basket

  • Enabling checkout

  • Maintaining security

  • Remembering essential settings

Analytics

Where permitted, analytics technologies help us understand how visitors use our website and how we can improve it.

Advertising and Marketing

Where required consent has been provided, advertising and marketing technologies may help us:

  • Measure advertising performance

  • Understand whether an advertisement resulted in a website visit or purchase

  • Build audiences for advertising

  • Show more relevant advertising on third-party platforms

Depending on the services we use, these technologies may involve advertising and analytics providers such as Google and Meta.

You can manage your cookie preferences through the cookie consent tool available on our website.

You can also control certain cookies through your browser settings. Disabling some cookies may affect website functionality.

For more information about the cookies and technologies used on our website, please see our Cookie Policy or cookie settings tool.

7. How We Share Personal Information

We may share personal information with service providers and other organisations where necessary to operate our business.

These may include:

  • Shopify and e-commerce service providers

  • Payment processors

  • Banks and payment service providers

  • Delivery and logistics companies

  • Customer service providers

  • Email and marketing service providers

  • Website hosting and technology providers

  • Analytics providers

  • Advertising platforms

  • Fraud prevention and security providers

  • Professional advisers, including accountants and legal advisers

  • Government bodies, regulators, courts or law enforcement authorities where required by law

We only share personal information where necessary for a legitimate purpose and subject to applicable legal requirements.

We do not sell personal information in the ordinary meaning of selling customer details in exchange for money.

8. Advertising and Analytics

We may use advertising and analytics services to understand website performance, measure advertising results and promote our products.

Depending on your cookie choices and applicable law, information about your device and interactions with our website may be shared with or collected by advertising and analytics providers.

These providers may use cookies, pixels, tags or similar technologies.

Where consent is required, non-essential advertising and analytics technologies should only be used after you have made the relevant choice through our cookie consent tool.

You can change your cookie preferences using the cookie settings available on our website.

9. International Transfers of Personal Information

Some of our service providers may process personal information outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, we take steps intended to ensure that appropriate safeguards are used as required by applicable data protection law.

Depending on the destination and service provider, these safeguards may include:

  • A country recognised as providing an adequate level of data protection

  • Approved contractual protections

  • Other lawful transfer mechanisms available under applicable data protection law

Our service providers may operate data centres and processing facilities in multiple countries. We do not therefore state that all personal information is stored exclusively in one country.

10. How Long We Keep Personal Information

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including to meet legal, accounting, tax, fraud prevention and reporting requirements.

The appropriate retention period depends on factors including:

  • The type of information

  • The reason it was collected

  • Legal and regulatory requirements

  • Whether the information is needed to resolve a dispute or legal claim

When personal information is no longer required, we will delete, anonymise or otherwise securely dispose of it where reasonably practicable.

11. Your Data Protection Rights

Depending on the circumstances and applicable law, you may have the right to:

  • Request access to your personal information

  • Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information

  • Request deletion of your personal information

  • Request restriction of processing

  • Object to certain processing

  • Object to direct marketing

  • Request transfer of certain information to you or another organisation

  • Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent

  • Make a complaint about how your personal information has been handled

These rights are subject to certain legal conditions and exceptions.

To exercise a data protection right, contact:

info@the-vital-earth.com

We may need to request information to verify your identity before completing a request.

12. Data Protection Complaints

If you have a concern or complaint about how we use your personal information, please contact us first so we can investigate and respond.

Email: info@the-vital-earth.com

You also have the right to complain to the UK data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), if you are unhappy with how your personal information has been handled.

13. Children’s Privacy

Our website and products are intended for a general adult audience and are not specifically directed at children.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children where doing so would be unlawful.

If you believe that a child has provided personal information to us inappropriately, please contact us at info@the-vital-earth.com so we can investigate and take appropriate action.

14. Third-Party Websites

Our website may contain links to websites or services operated by third parties.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third-party websites. We recommend reviewing the privacy information provided by any third party before providing personal information to them.

15. Security

We use reasonable organisational and technical measures intended to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure.

However, no method of internet transmission or electronic storage can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Please do not send sensitive personal information through unencrypted or inappropriate communication channels.

16. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our business, services, technology or legal obligations.

When we make changes, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page.

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically.

17. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, want to exercise a data protection right or wish to raise a privacy concern, please contact:

SJS Marketing Ventures Ltd
Trading as The Vital Earth
Company number: 17079711
Registered in England and Wales
Registered office: 5 Alderwood Road, London, United Kingdom, SE9 2JY

Email: info@the-vital-earth.com
Telephone: +44 (0)7737 087701