I was trying to buy a pair of shoes from a one-stop-shop that shall go nameless. I had money in my pocket and two pairs of feet. (Ok, I had my two rapidly growing boys with me, and a desperate need for new shoes). As I went along the shoe aisles in this mega-store, there was not a soul in sight to help me as I faced disorderly piles of shoes of different sizes in different places.

It was a definite do-it-yourself moment. And I thought, what was this store’s marketing team thinking? Had their corporate mar com folks thought up how a typical customer would navigate this section of the store? Had anyone with a communications background or marketing mindset even been in the shoe section lately? Apparently not.

Because when I finally did grab a pair of shoes that actually fit, there was an anti-shoplifting tag that took over the entire opening of the shoe. In other words, this store was so afraid their customers might steal, they were doing their darnedest not to let us buy. I literally could not get my son’s foot past the anti-shop lifting tag.

Now I understand there’s a give-and-take in play here. According to the National Retail Federation, retailers lost about $40.5 billion in 2006 because of shoplifting, employee theft and other losses. So loss prevention is not a trifle. But still…if you can’t try on the merchandise, then haven’t you given up on making the sale? What kind of message are you sending your customers? No matter how fresh your ad copy is or how moving you make your marketing communications, if a customer can’t try it on before they buy, it’s going to seem like a bit of a bait and switch. We’ve got shoes aplenty, but none that you can try on without injuring yourself and others.

To be fair, these tags took up prime real estate in only some of the shoes. Other tags were placed in a different portion of the shoe—ensuring loss prevention and the chance to actually let a buyer buy. And because the tags were placed on just one shoe, you could take a chance that if it fit one foot, it might fit the other. But my son couldn’t go for a test drive of walking around the store. Or, in his case, running…really…fast.

If I may be so bold, it’s time for marketing teams and other communications folks (let alone store managers) to come out and see the products they’re trying to move with email marketing campaigns, Web writing and more. Because the best marketing in the world won’t work if customers can’t touch, feel and try on what they’re trying (desperately) to buy.