I am surprised they would go live with a website that still has so many bugs and hiccups. Having created a few websites myself, it's possible to create and test a new website in "stealth mode" while still having the old one available to customers. I would have taken this tack with the SC update -- the number of problems cropping up are not helping their customers keep a warm fuzzy feeling about their business.
In looking at the new website, I think it's unfortunate that they've entirely given up on the shopping list style of ordering AND that they require a login before one can see prices.
One big problem with their new requirement to create an account is that the notice is ONLY on their home page. Does every potential customer enter their site via the home page? I kind of doubt it. So if someone doesn't see the home page first, they won't know why they can't see prices and why they can't order. I guarantee this is not a way to attract new customers.
If they absolutely want people to create an account, make that a requirement at
checkout, not just to visit the website! But if they're determined to force casual visitors to register before seeing prices, I'd have the notice plastered on every product overview and product detail page so non-registered people KNOW the score rather than blunder about and get annoyed.
And the loss of the shopping list is a disappointment. On the old website, I could see the entire list of products and their prices and enter my order all in one go. Now I have to view an overview list, go to each individual product, and place my order for that one product. I understand this method is more educational and more typical of most e-commerce sites, but it has some annoying limitations for those who know what they want and just want to get 'er done.
It's possible to set up ordering on a product overview page as well as on a product detail page, and I wish they'd do that. That way the folks who want more info can get it and the ones who want to just place an order can get that done quickly. I'd happily give up on the rather repetitive pictures of nuts and seeds to get better efficiency.
Edit: And why, oh, WHY do they need my gender and my birthdate to create an account??? For this kind of commerce, this kind of personal info is utterly unnecessary. These should be optional fields, not mandatory. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. edit: Actually these fields are optional ... but they don't say that up front right on the form, as they should.
Another edit: Sent an edited version of this to
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