Sobeys
Retail · sobeys.com
15 out of 20 Trust-aware
A cookie banner whose categories arrive switched off, in front of the third-hardest policy in the index.
How many clicks to find the privacy policy from the homepage?
One click, from the footer. Opens as a web page. No last-updated date appears on it.
Is there a meaningful choice about cookies and tracking before data is collected?
A settings link in plain text, and defaults that refuse. “Cookies on Sobeys” offers a solid green “Accept All” with “Cookies Settings” as an underlined text link beneath it, which is the weaker presentation and is what holds this at 3. Behind the link the Cookie Preference Center is better than the banner suggests: Performance and Functional categories arrive switched off, so “Confirm My Choices” refuses by default, and only Strictly Necessary is always active. A first load sets thirteen cookies and one tracker, which is light for a grocery chain. Where the policy separately addresses opting out, it still sends you to Google’s own help pages and to ad network sites.
How hard is the policy to read, how much of it is there, and can you get it in one piece?
Grade 15.5 across 5,764 words, in one place. Difficulty 0, length 2, access 4. The third-hardest prose measured anywhere in the index, behind The Body Shop and Tip Top, at a grocery chain. Measure it yourself.
How many clicks to reach data settings, and can you delete your account yourself?
A privacy address, and a list of provincial offices. privacy@sobeys.com is published, and the footer carries a “Privacy Policy Offices” page listing provincial contacts, which no other brand in the index does. Nothing self-serve exists.
Find the support page. How many clicks, and is there a way to speak to a human?
Contact Us and a live chat in the header. Both sit in the top navigation rather than the footer.
Overall finding
15 out of 20 Trust-aware
Sobeys reads at grade 15.5, harder than any bank in this index, which is a strange thing for a grocery store to require of its customers. The consent gate is the opposite story: the categories arrive off, so a shopper who confirms without reading has refused rather than agreed, which only Desjardins, Vancity and Couche-Tard also manage. The provincial privacy offices page is a genuinely good idea that nobody else here has had. The gap is the document, not the gate.
- Scored
- 8 August 2026
- Region
- Canadian site, private window
- Session
- Logged out throughout
Scored from public evidence only. No company can pay to change a score, and paid relationships are disclosed here. Read the independence statement.