Your Privacy Matters to Us

1. Who we are

Market Window ("Market Window", "MW", "we", "us", or "our") is a marketplace-discovery service designed to help people discover physical shops, businesses and products around them before they go out to buy.

Market Window may operate through its website, progressive web application, mobile interfaces, APIs and other related services.

For questions concerning privacy or the handling of personal information, please contact:

2. What personal information we collect

Personal information is information that identifies, relates to, or can reasonably be associated with a living individual.

Depending on how you use Market Window, we may process some of the following information:

• Name and profile information.
• Email address.
• Telephone or WhatsApp number.
• Account credentials and verification information.
• Location information that you choose to provide.
• Searches, saved shops, follows, wishlists and similar interactions.
• Information you provide when contacting a shop through Market Window.
• Images or photographs uploaded by users.
• Technical information such as IP address, browser and device information where necessary.
• Information relating to shops or businesses where that information identifies an individual.

We do not require every user to provide every category of information. The information collected depends on the features you use.

3. Why we collect and use information

We use personal information for specific purposes, including:

• Creating and maintaining user accounts.
• Verifying accounts and preventing abuse.
• Showing shops and products relevant to your location.
• Providing location-based discovery features.
• Allowing users to save, follow or interact with shops.
• Allowing shop owners to manage and claim their businesses.
• Communicating with users about their accounts and requests.
• Protecting Market Window against fraud, abuse and security threats.
• Maintaining and improving the reliability of our services.
• Complying with applicable legal obligations.

We do not use personal information for purposes that are unrelated to the reason it was collected without an appropriate legal basis or, where required, your consent.

4. Location information

Location is important to Market Window because the service is designed around discovering businesses near you.

If you permit location access, we may use your location to determine nearby shops, products or areas of interest. You may also choose to provide a home or preferred location manually.

We aim to use the minimum level of location precision necessary for the feature concerned. Where precise coordinates are not necessary, we may use a broader area instead.

You can control device location permissions through your device or browser settings.

5. Business and shop information

Market Window displays information about physical businesses so that people can discover shops and products before visiting them.

This may include:

• Business name.
• Business category.
• Business description.
• Business location and address.
• Opening hours.
• Business telephone number or other contact details.
• Products and services.
• Ratings and reviews.
• Business photographs.

Where information identifies a particular individual, such as a sole trader or shop owner, that information may also constitute personal information and will be handled accordingly.

6. Publicly available and externally sourced information

Market Window may obtain certain business information from public, licensed, authorised or otherwise legitimately accessible sources. This may include publicly available business information and external business listings.

The fact that information is publicly accessible does not mean that we treat all information as unrestricted personal information. Where information relates to an identifiable individual, we consider the applicable privacy requirements and the purpose for which the information is being used.

We aim to use publicly sourced information primarily to improve business discovery and accuracy rather than to create unnecessary personal profiles.

7. Photographs and images

Market Window may display photographs of shops, products and businesses. Photographs can sometimes contain identifiable people and may therefore constitute personal information.

We take care to distinguish between a photograph primarily showing a business or storefront and information intentionally collected to identify an individual.

We do not use ordinary storefront photographs for facial-recognition or biometric identification purposes.

Where users upload photographs, they should ensure that they have the appropriate rights or permission to upload and use those photographs. Users should avoid uploading photographs containing people where they do not have a lawful basis to publish the image.

Where appropriate, Market Window may remove, restrict or modify an image where its continued publication creates a legitimate privacy or safety concern.

8. User contacts and address books

Market Window does not require users to upload their entire telephone address book in order to use the service.

If a future feature allows users to invite people from their contacts, we will seek to design that feature around data minimisation. Where practical, contact information will be processed on the user's device and only the minimum information necessary for the requested action will be transmitted.

9. Information about shop owners and representatives

A shop owner or authorised representative may provide information when creating, claiming, verifying or managing a business on Market Window.

This may include a name, telephone number, email address or other information needed to establish that the person is authorised to manage the business.

We distinguish, where reasonably possible, between information intended for public business communication and private information used only for account administration or verification.

Private verification information will not be published simply because it was provided to us for verification.

10. Cookies and technical information

Market Window may use cookies, sessions and similar technologies required for the operation, security and functionality of the service.

Depending on the features enabled, we may process technical information such as:

• IP address.
• Browser type and version.
• Operating system or device information.
• Session information.
• Security and error information.

We use such information primarily for security, authentication, reliability, diagnostics and service functionality rather than to build unnecessary personal profiles.

11. How we use third-party services

Market Window may use trusted third-party service providers to operate particular parts of the platform.

Depending on the features in use, these may include providers of:

• Cloud image storage and delivery.
• Website and database hosting.
• Email communication.
• Telephone, SMS or messaging verification.
• Maps and geolocation services.
• Authentication services.
• Search infrastructure.

Where a service provider processes personal information on our behalf, we expect the processing to be limited to legitimate service purposes and subject to appropriate security and confidentiality requirements.

12. Cloudinary and image storage

Market Window may use Cloudinary to store and deliver images uploaded through the platform.

Uploaded images may be processed to reduce file size, improve delivery performance and convert them into efficient web formats such as WebP.

Existing external business-image URLs are not automatically downloaded and copied to Cloudinary merely because they are displayed by Market Window.

When an image is replaced or removed, we aim to remove the corresponding stored asset when it is no longer required.

13. Data security

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

Depending on the type of information, these measures may include:

• Secure password hashing.
• Authentication and access controls.
• Secure HTTPS connections.
• Restricted access to administrative systems.
• Protected application secrets and credentials.
• Controlled database access.
• Security monitoring and error handling.
• Appropriate backup and recovery procedures.

No internet service can guarantee absolute security. Nevertheless, we continuously seek to improve the technical and organisational safeguards used to protect Market Window and its users.

14. Data retention

We do not intend to keep personal information indefinitely without a legitimate reason.

Information may be retained for as long as reasonably necessary to:

• Provide an active service.
• Maintain account and business records.
• Meet legal or regulatory requirements.
• Resolve disputes.
• Prevent fraud or abuse.
• Maintain security and system integrity.

Temporary information, such as verification codes and certain security records, may be retained for shorter periods according to their purpose.

15. Your rights and choices

Depending on applicable law and the circumstances of processing, you may have rights concerning your personal information.

These may include the ability to:

• Ask whether we process your personal information.
• Request information about how your data is being used.
• Request access to personal information we hold about you.
• Request correction of inaccurate information.
• Object to certain processing.
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
• Request deletion where applicable.
• Request information about relevant recipients of your data.

Some requests may be subject to legal or operational limitations. We will explain the reason where we cannot fully comply with a request.

16. Account deletion

You may request deletion of your Market Window account and associated personal information by contacting us through the privacy contact provided on this page.

Where deletion is requested, we will review the information concerned and delete or anonymise information that no longer needs to be retained, subject to legitimate legal, security, fraud-prevention or recordkeeping requirements.

Deleting an account may not automatically remove information that another person has lawfully published as business information, where that information is independently maintained and does not constitute the requesting user's private account information.

17. Marketing and communications

Market Window may send communications necessary to operate your account, including verification messages, security notices, service notifications and important changes.

Where we send direct marketing communications, we will provide an appropriate way to stop receiving those communications.

You can contact us if you believe you are receiving marketing communications that you did not request or no longer wish to receive.

18. Children and young users

Market Window is a general marketplace-discovery service and is not designed to intentionally collect extensive personal information from children.

We encourage parents and guardians to help younger users understand what information they share online.

If we become aware that personal information has been collected in a manner that is inconsistent with applicable requirements concerning children, we will take appropriate steps to investigate and address it.

19. International processing and data transfers

Some technology providers used by Market Window may operate servers or services outside Ghana. As a result, personal information may in some circumstances be processed outside Ghana.

Where personal information is transferred to another country or service provider, we seek to use appropriate contractual, technical and organisational safeguards and to comply with applicable legal requirements.

The countries and categories of recipients involved may change as the technical infrastructure of Market Window develops. Material changes will be reflected in this policy where appropriate.

20. Data protection compliance in Ghana

Market Window recognises the importance of Ghana's data protection framework, including the Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843), and seeks to operate its personal-data practices according to applicable legal requirements and recognised data protection principles.

These principles include accountability, lawfulness, purpose specification, information quality, purpose limitation, openness, security safeguards and data-subject participation.

The Ghana Data Protection Commission is the statutory regulator responsible for data protection in Ghana. Information about the Commission and Ghana's data protection framework is available through its official website.

You can learn more from the Data Protection Commission of Ghana .

Where Market Window is required to register, maintain a data protection supervisor, complete compliance processes or satisfy other regulatory requirements, we will take the necessary steps applicable to our operations.

21. International privacy standards

Market Window is primarily designed for the Ghanaian market. However, people may access online services from other countries.

Where another privacy law applies to a particular processing activity, we will consider the applicable requirements. This may include laws such as the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) where its territorial requirements are met.

We aim to build our privacy practices around principles that are internationally recognised: transparency, purpose limitation, data minimisation, security, accountability and respect for individual rights.

22. Data accuracy

We aim to keep personal information accurate, complete and reasonably up to date for the purposes for which it is used.

Some business information may originate from business owners, users, public sources or other legitimate sources. Because business information can change, we encourage shop owners and users to report inaccurate or outdated information.

If you identify inaccurate personal information relating to you, please contact us so that we can investigate and correct it where appropriate.

23. Reviews, comments and information you publish

Some Market Window features may allow users to publish reviews, comments, photographs or other information.

Information intentionally published as public content may be visible to other users and may be copied or shared by third parties outside our control.

Before publishing information, consider whether it contains another person's private information, telephone number, home address, identity document, private photograph or other information that should not be publicly disclosed.

We may remove content that violates applicable law, our platform rules, another person's privacy, or the safety and integrity of Market Window.

24. Data breaches and security incidents

If we become aware of a security incident involving personal information, we will investigate it and take appropriate steps to contain, remedy and prevent further harm.

Where notification to affected individuals, regulators or other parties is required by applicable law, we will make the required notifications.

If you believe that your information may have been compromised through Market Window, please contact us promptly using the privacy contact below.

25. Changes to this Privacy Policy

Market Window may update this policy when our services, technology, legal obligations or privacy practices change.

When we make significant changes, we will take reasonable steps to make the updated policy visible to users.

The date shown at the beginning of this policy indicates when it was most recently updated.

26. How to contact us about privacy

We want users and business owners to feel comfortable asking questions about their information. You do not need to understand legal terminology before contacting us.