Even worse than retail sites who won't allow me to browse are the ones that insist I register for their stie before I can look around. What? How many people do you want to discourage from looking around? Do they not realize that causal lookers can become shoppers?
If I really want to see a site and it insists I register, I usually go to bugmenot.com and get the anyone can use it login. Most of the time, though, I don't bother. I just write that site off my list and never visit it again.
These two items sound like huge fails to me. I understand why they do it. Analytics, mailing lists, etc, but is it really worth the customers that feel disenfranchised? And really, allowing people like me in isn't that big a deal because most people don't bother to turn off their cookies. Besides, if I turn on my cookies, I'll probably get ad-stalked on Facebook. (I'm looking at you Overstock and Wayfair.) Is there anything creepier than seeing a product you looked at in your FB feed?
I can't really say I'm more apt to buy from a site that doesn't lock me out because of cookies, but I can guarantee that I'm not turning cookies on to browse a site. So yeah, I'll be buying what I'm looking for elsewhere.
