Data Retention Policies

Overview

Data retention policies define how long each category of data is kept, when it is archived, and when it is purged. E-commerce stores must balance legal obligations (tax records must typically be kept 5–7 years) against privacy regulations (GDPR's data minimization principle requires deleting data that is no longer needed). The right approach depends on your platform — Shopify handles some retention automatically, while WooCommerce/custom stores require explicit implementation.

When to Use This Skill

• When implementing GDPR data minimization requirements for a new or existing e-commerce platform
• When legal or compliance teams request a documented data retention policy
• When preparing for a data protection audit or SOC 2 Type II assessment
• When storage costs are growing due to uncontrolled data accumulation
• When a customer submits a Subject Access Request and you need to know exactly where their data lives

Core Instructions

Step 1: Document your retention schedule first

Before configuring any tool, document a retention schedule. Legal, compliance, and engineering must agree before implementation. This Register of Processing Activities (RoPA) is required under GDPR Article 30 for large processors and recommended for all: