Why does Radio Shack ask for your phone number when you buy batteries?

For some reason, that quote from Seinfeld’s Kramer has always stuck with me. Perhaps due to my short career as a retail sales staff at a Radio Shack owned store and having to listen to fat guys wearing suits that flew in from Texas lecture us on the importance of selling batteries, batteries, batteries…

Or maybe because it’s a damn good question. WHY do stores annoy you with silly quizzes before you can hand them your money? No, I don’t want fries with that. No, I don’t want the extended warranty. No, I don’t want to fill out a customer satisfaction survey…JUST GIVE ME MY PURCHASE!

Of course, shopping online makes the whole process easier, right? Then why are we still asked to create an account before we can hand over our money? You want my money, right? I want your product, right? Then why put this wall in between us?

The argument for this is usually to make our lives easier. We now have this simple login to make our future purchases that much easier! But it fails to account for the reality of the situation:

  • Lots of purchases are one-offs. I’m in, I’m out. See ya! Granted one-offs aren’t want retailers are looking for, but a sale is a sale, is it not?
  • People can remember their shipping address. People can’t remember the 300th login/password combo they’ve been asked to create. As such, they spend more time on their return visit remembering their username/password than they would have just being able to buy yet another item from you.
  • Filling out one’s shipping information really isn’t that hard to begin with. My browser has auto-fill built in.

A modest proposal to online retailers: let me give you my money first, THEN ask me to create an account. I may, or I may not, but at least I got what I wanted, and you got my money. I’m happy, you’re happy. Isn’t that a nicer way to handle the experience?