data-retention-policies

Start by documenting a retention schedule agreed on by legal and engineering, then configure platform-specific enforcement. Shopify uses built-in GDPR webhooks and customer anonymization, WooCommerce uses WP-Cron cleanup jobs, and custom platforms use scheduled TypeScript cron jobs with batched deletes.

Order financial records must typically be retained for 7 years to satisfy US IRS and EU VAT requirements. After that period, anonymize the customer PII (name, email, address) while preserving amounts, tax figures, and payment method details for audits.

Shopify stores order data indefinitely by default but provides built-in GDPR webhooks (customers/data_request and customers/redact) and a manual customer anonymization action. Automated list cleanup requires email provider features like Klaviyo sunset automations.

Use small batch sizes of 500 to 5000 rows with LIMIT on every DELETE or UPDATE, add a short sleep between batch iterations, and run jobs during low-traffic hours such as 2 AM UTC. This avoids table locks that impact live traffic.

Check for pending chargebacks, open orders, and active subscriptions before any purge, and implement a legal hold mechanism that blocks deletion. GDPR deletion requests must still be tracked against the 30-day statutory deadline with escalation reminders.

Customer data typically lives in multiple systems beyond the primary database, including search indexes, email platforms, analytics warehouses, and CDN caches. Maintain a registry of all systems storing personal data and use a saga-style checklist that logs completion per system for partial failure recovery.