# Consent Options

## Overview

When end-users do not give consent for cookies or personal data, recommendation strategies that rely on these signals cannot run.\
Until now, this resulted in **empty banners** and a **poor user experience**.

The new **Consent Options** feature lets you define how Reco & Merch should behave when consent is missing — ensuring your website always displays meaningful product recommendations, while remaining fully GDPR/CNIL compliant.

## Where to Find It

You can configure this setting in **App2 → Settings → Privacy**.\
Two options are available for Reco & Merch:

1. **Reco & Merch without personal user data**
   * Uses at least one non-personal information algo in a rule as a fallback for each strategy (for example: best-sellers, new arrivals, manual merchandising).
   * Always works, even if the visitor refuses consent.
   * No user tracking or storage in the browser.
2. **Reco & Merch with personal user data**
   * Uses personal data such as viewed items, add-to-cart, or purchase history.
   * Works only when consent is given.
   * Automatically falls back to the “without personal data” mode if the visitor refuses consent.

## How does it works?

### 1. When consent is granted

Recommendations & Merchandising can use behavioral data (viewed items, cart, purchases) to personalize recommendations. The strategies behave as usual.

### 2. When consent is denied

Recommendations & Merchandising automatically switches to the fallback mode.\
The system displays recommendations based on global or catalog data (for example: best-sellers or most viewed products), so that no banner appears empty.

### 3. Data processing rules

* No personal data is stored or sent without explicit consent.
* Only contextual information (page type, product category, product ID) is used in fallback mode.
* JSON responses are always valid and contain products, even without consent.

## Example Scenarios

| Visitor Consent         | Active Mode                   | Type of Data Used              | Example Strategy                 |
| ----------------------- | ----------------------------- | ------------------------------ | -------------------------------- |
| ✅ Consent given         | With personal data            | Viewed items, cart, purchases  | Personalized “You may also like” |
| ❌ Consent refused       | With personal data (fallback) | Category context, best-sellers | “Popular in this category”       |
| — No personal data mode | Without personal data         | Catalog & page context only    | “New arrivals”                   |

## Tips for Best Results

* Always include at least one **catalog-based fallback strategy** (such as best-sellers or new arrivals).
* In the **Strategy Builder**, if a rule uses personal data, a banner will remind you to add a fallback.
* Use clear messaging in your banners to maintain consistent UX across consent states.

## Compliance and Coverage

* The feature is designed for websites subject to **GDPR/CNIL** or similar privacy frameworks.
* Clients operating **outside the EU** (for example, US-only websites) are not impacted.
* No additional integration is required — the behavior is handled automatically by the **unified tag**.

## Summary

| Benefit            | Description                               |
| ------------------ | ----------------------------------------- |
| Better UX          | No empty banners when consent is refused  |
| Compliance         | Fully aligned with GDPR/CNIL              |
| Automatic fallback | Seamless switch between modes             |
| Easy setup         | Configure once in App2 → Privacy Settings |


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