Since being introduced three months ago the implementation of GDPR has had some serious repercussions on the UK retail industry.

Retail Week has investigated the impact of GDPR and the various repercussions, which include a surge in data requests, a withdrawal of international retailers from UK trading, and potentially the looming threat of legal action.

GDPR’s objective of greater privacy has been broadly welcomed by business and consumers alike, but there is no doubt it is causing some serious headaches.

Surge in data requests 

GDPR is placing administrative strain on retailers because of the ease with which it is now possible to make a ‘subject access request’.

A subject access request allows anyone to ask what data a company holds on them. Under GDPR, retailers are forced to respond in 30 days. People are no longer charged a fee for making the requests, and can ask for their data to be deleted.

“It is coming as quite a shock to clients because they’ve not had to deal with that sort of process before nor the volume”

Robert Bond, Bristows

“It is coming as quite a shock to clients because they’ve not had to deal with that sort of process before nor the volume,” says Robert Bond, partner and notary public at law firm Bristows. “They are struggling to deal with the volume and to do it in the time and to understand whether they really have to erase everything.”

Bristows has recently had to deal with a case where a customer wanted all their records deleted, which would have conflicted with the retailer’s requirement to keep certain data for warranty purposes.

Bond estimates the clients he is dealing with have seen a 50% increase in subject access requests since GDPR was introduced. This is on top of a significant increase in the requests already being made prior to GDPR as consumers become more aware of how their data is being used and their rights.

Bristows has even been asked to outsource the process by clients because they do not have enough people to deal with the incoming requests.

Bond predicts that such requests could become an entire business in themselves as retailers struggle to cope.

It appears there could still be some teething issues with how retailers are currently dealing with the requests.

A Retail Week staff member submitted a subject access request to Tesco, which the retailer failed to respond to within the 30-day deadline.

When Tesco did respond it said it could not provide the data unless Clubcard details were provided, despite the retailer’s website not stipulating a Clubcard number is required when making a request.

This requirement was impossible to comply with because the consumer had no Clubcard, but had shopped online with Tesco and provided the grocer with their email and home address.

Bond believes retailers such as Dixons Carphone that are victims of data breaches could be flooded with subject access requests by concerned customers.

International retailers stop selling into UK

Sephora Virtual Artist mobile app

Sephora is directing UK customers to its French website

Brands snapped up in Walmart’s recent acquisition spree are no longer selling into the UK.

Any UK visitors to the websites of Bonobos, Modcloth, Moosejaw and Shoes.com are met with a near-identical message. It reveals the Walmart-owned companies are no longer offering products to EU/EEA countries because of GDPR.

Messages on the websites suggest the measure is only temporary while “new features” are introduced. Walmart has not responded to a request for comment about the halt in trading of its newly acquired businesses.

Walmart is not the only retailer that has decided to alter its operations as a result of GDPR.

“A Sephora spokesman confirmed the decision to reroute customers to its French website was a result of GDPR”

Beauty specialist Sephora now directs its UK and Dutch customers to its French rather than US website.

The change has caused consternation among customers because the retailer’s French website does not stock as many products and has a different loyalty points system.

A Sephora spokesman confirmed the decision to reroute customers to its French website was a result of GDPR, but declined to further elaborate on why the measure was necessary.

However, the decision of some non-EU retailers such as the Walmart brands to stop selling in the region could be more the exception rather than the rule.

Bond says none of Bristow’s US retail clients have taken the Walmart approach yet.

Walmart’s decision to block EU customers from buying from its brands is puzzling because of its experience of operating in the UK through Asda.

Sacha Wilson, partner at law firm Harbottle & Lewis, believes the decision could be influenced by the potential levels of liability it could face.

“Even if one entity within a group isn’t caught but another one is, the assessment of the fine of the one that is can be against the whole group,” explains Wilson. 

The GDPR can theoretically lead to fines of up to 4% of revenues. Based on its most recent annual revenues of $500.3bn, Walmart would be potentially liable for a $20bn fine if it was found to have broken GDPR.

The likelihood of such a fine is extremely small, however, because the UK’s data regulator has hinted it will take a pragmatic approach.

“The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has been very vocal that they will not increase the fines disproportionately just because there is a theoretically much higher maximum fine under the GDPR,” says Wilson.

However, other regulators in EU member states could take a more robust approach.

France’s CNIL regulator and some of the regional German data protection authorities have a reputation for being much more conservative in their interpretation of compliance and are more aggressive in their enforcement.

Wilson speculates that other factors playing into the Walmart decision could be fears about the additional administrative burden of complying, and concerns that GDPR could restrict how they use data for their marketing activity.

And even if US retailers do not comply with GDPR now they could be compelled to deal with strict data privacy regulations in the future. 

GDPR has already influenced lawmakers elsewhere and will soon impact Walmart’s home country.

“California has introduced laws around the Consumer Privacy Act 2018, which comes into effect in January 2020, which people are saying is actually more stringent than GDPR,” says Oli Freestone, principal at consultancy Elixirr.

Marketing concerns

How retailers are grappling with the use of data in digital marketing in a post-GDPR world is a key concern for retailers internally, according to Wilson.

“The retail sector has some of the most poorly governed internal marketing teams that I’ve seen”

Sacha Wilson, partner at law firm Harbottle & Lewis

“The retail sector has some of the most poorly governed internal marketing teams that I’ve seen,” says Wilson. “A lot of in-house legal counsel are trying to get more visibility on what their digital marketing teams are doing, particularly on social media, and GDPR has focused their minds. 

“Retail generally has been a bit laxer in the way it has done its digital marketing and the teams will do anything without good governance and internal regulation of what they are doing.”

Threat of class action lawsuits and major fines

Dixons Heathrow 4

A data breach at Dixons Carphone is currently being investigated

The threat of potentially eye-watering fines under GDPR are well-documented, and on top of that retailers could also be faced with the additional financial risk of class action lawsuits.

Retailers will have their eyes on a couple of potential test cases when it comes to the levels of fine under GDPR.

“[Ticketmaster and Dixons Carphone] will be an acid test on how heavy the ICO will come down, what the fines will be and that might set the precedent”

Oli Freestone, Elixirr

Major data breaches at Ticketmaster and Dixons Carphone are currently being investigated, and the ICO is yet to announce if the breaches will be dealt with under the more stringent GDPR rules.

“That will be an acid test on how heavy the ICO will come down, what the fines will be and that might set the precedent,” says Elixirr’s Freestone.

If the ICO does end up taking a more pragmatic approach to GDPR fines then the greater financial risk could potentially come from the emergence of “quasi class action lawsuits”.

Bond predicts that GDPR could encourage the public to take up the services of ‘no win no fee’ lawyers that will target companies that have suffered a data breach.

This could have serious financial implications. A precedent has already been set when a court ruled that Morrisons was liable for a data leak – which occurred before the implementation of GDPR – about staff and would have to offer them financial compensation.

“We are still waiting for the court to come out with the quantum of damages that Morrisons will have to pay to every employee,” says Bond. “It could be £10 or £1,000 for each employee. What if it was not just 3,000 people affected but three million?” 

The level of fine in the Morrisons case could make data breach lawsuits an extremely profitable pursuit.

Upside

The introduction of GDPR is causing retailers many challenges, and is likely to continue to do so while they streamline their procedures and audit their practices.

More stringent data regulations need not only be seen as a negative, though; they also provide opportunity. Retailers are acting to get their houses in order and truly understand their data.

When they do that they can put it to good use to ensure they are benefiting not only themselves, but also the customer.