Uniqlo is a Japanese fashion retailer that says that they make apparel from the values of simplicity, quality and longevity. They also say that their clothing is made with modern elegance, features the best in fit and fabric and that they are affordable and accessible to all.
Yes, Uniqlo is a legit fashion store. We cannot say it is a scam because there has never been a complaint about the store stealing money from its customers. And Uniqlo, according to our finds while writing this review, delivers its customers’ orders without a problem.
But does Uniqlo deliver quality? Continue reading!
These are the attributes of the perfect clothing product – elegant styles that are of high quality and timeless, yet affordable. The question is whether Uniqlo really provide such perfect fashion products, or their statements are just advert-speak. What about their services; do they provide excellent service (such as ordering, payment, shipping, customer service etc) which makes it painless to shop from the online store? In the first place, is Uniqlo legit?
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This review will examine Uniqlo in order to provide the information that will help you answer these questions.
The company that is today known as Uniqlo started in 1949 in Japan. At the time, the company was selling only men’s clothing. In about 1984, they started selling unisex casual wear, and their new store went by the name Unique Clothing. It was not until 1988 that the name Uniqlo was birthed, and by an administrative error. The company wanted to go with a contraction of Unique and Clothing, which was supposed to give uni-clo; but in a twist of faith, the “c” was erroneously changed to a “q” and Uniqlo was birthed.
Since 2005, Uniqlo has been a fully owned subsidiary of Fast Retailing Co. Ltd. Though a chance error brought about the classy name Uniqlo, there is nothing close to chance about their operation. The company has strategically operated over the years and has grown as a result. From just one store in Japan, the company now has hundreds of store in Japan; as well as in several other countries across the world.
The website is the first contact with the customer so the ideal online store should have a website that makes a good first impression. Uniqlo aims to achieve that by developing websites that offer personalized service.
Unlike most online fashion retailers that operate one website that’ll have customers shifting through to extract information that pertains to their territory, Uniqlo operate different region-specific websites. Thus, if you’re resident in “Kafansha” and will be receiving your package there, you’ll have to go to the Uniqlo “Kafansha” website, and every detail there pertains to Uniqlo’s operation in Kafansha. All the items will be listed in your local currency, payment options will be only those available to the region, delivery options will be only those available for the region, the help lines will be those applicable to the region, and so on.
Shopping with a fashion app holds a lot of advantage; and as a result the ideal fashion retailer should develop apps. Apps provide easy access to the online store, because once the app is installed on the customer’s device, the store is just a click away. Apps also facilitate the payment process, because a customer may save certain payment data and not have to type them in every time at checkout. Most importantly, apps use push notifications to alert customers of new additions, and special offers, and this can position the customer to get exclusive products or get significant cost savings.
Thankfully, Uniqlo has fashion apps for iOS and Android. The apps can be found in their respective app store. The iOS app supports iOS 9.0 or newer, while the Android app supports Android 4.4 or higher.
The ideal fashion shop should hold a wide product range (that is, different fashion products), so that you can buy all your fashion needs in one place. There are many advantages of buying products in one place, apart from the obvious convenience of looking up only one store, there are cost savings. You’ll have to pay for one order shipment, as against paying to ship different orders from different stores. Also, when you buy all your items in one store, the order amount will be high, and you may qualify from bulk purchase discounts.
In this regard, Uniqlo is on point. The store holds a wide product range. Where many online stores specializes in fashion for just women, Uniqlo is a one stop shop for everyone, as they have a great selection of clothing and accessories for men, women, and kids. The product categories and the different items in each product category are as follows:
In the women category, you’ll find Outerwear and Blazers, Fleece, Sweatshirts and Sweatpants, Sweaters and Cardigans, T-Shirts and Tops, Graphic Tees, Shirts and Blouses, Dresses and Jumpsuits, Skirts, Jeans, Pants, New Warm-Lined Pants, Leggings Pants, Activewear, Innerwear, Bras and Underwear, Socks and Hosiery, Loungewear, Accessories and Shoes
In the Men category, you’ll find Outerwear and Blazers, Fleece, Stretch Wool Jackets, Sweatshirts and Sweatpants, Sweaters, Casual Shirts, Dress Shirts, T-Shirts, Graphic Tees, Jeans, Pants, New Warm-Lined Pants, Activewear, Undershirts, Underwear, Socks and Tights, Loungewear, Accessories and Shoes
In this category, you’ll find Outerwear, Fleece, Sweatshirts and Sweatpants, T-Shirts and Tops, Graphic Tees, Pants and Shorts, Warm-Lined Pants, Dresses and Skirts, Activewear, Innerwear and Loungewear, and Accessories
In this category, you’ll find Outerwear, Fleece, Sweatshirts and Sweatpants, T-Shirts and Tops, Graphic Tees, Pants and Shorts, New Warm-Lined Pants, Activewear, Innerwear and Loungewear
The Baby wear category has two sections – Toddler and Newborn. Toddle wear include: Outerwear, Tops and Dresses, Pants and Leggings, Innerwear and Socks, Pajamas; while Newborn wears include: Newborn Outerwear, Bodysuits, One-Pieces, Newborn Innerwear and Socks, and Accessories
The prices of items are the first thing most people look at, as people will not want to pay above what is reasonable for any product. Therefore, the ideal online fashion store should hold merchandise that are perceived as reasonably priced.
Remember that one of the promises of Uniqlo is to provide clothing that is affordable and accessible. Thus, this section of the review examines whether items in Uniqlo are affordable.
Shopping from the US website, you’ll find: women’s flannel shirts for about $15; luxe cashmere sweaters for just about $60; wind-proof pants for about $30 – $40. You’ll also find a lot of kids wear (fleece shirts, Tees, innerwear, and more) for less than $10. We can go on and on, and only one conclusion can be reached, which is that the items in Uniqlo are relatively low and affordable.
Customer reviews in independent review platforms also agree that Uniqlo provides affordable clothing. Reviews contain comments like “Prices here [Uniqlo] are reasonable”, “[Uniqlo] delivers cheap clothing to the masses”, and more.
That said; if you want to shop cheap, uniqlo is a fashion destination to head to. Apart from providing affordable prices, Uniqlo also pledge to do a one-time price adjustment. If an item purchased in the Uniqlo website is marked down within 14 days of your purchase, you can reach out to the company, and they will refund you the price difference. This is to ensure that they always provide the best competitive prices.
A review of the promotions that are offered by an online store is important because they allow customers get products for free or for less than their full prices. Most online fashion retailers run promos; and Uniqlo is no exception.
They run different promos from time to time. These promos are usually time-specific – only running for specified time periods, after which the items return to their normal prices. At the time of writing these reviews some promos being offered by Uniqlo included:
It is a fact that most customers abandon their carts at checkout after the shipping cost is added to the item prices. This shows that they perceive the total expenditure on the item as unacceptable, even though the items themselves were perceived as acceptably priced. A review of an online shop is therefore not complete until the shipping rates have been examined. Thus, the ideal online store will have shipping costs that are as low as possible.
Another shipping consideration is the time it takes for the package to be delivered – shipping times. Customers do not like to wait too long to receive delivery of their orders. Thus, the ideal online shop will have relatively short delivery times.
However, before going into shipping times and costs; it’s also important to consider the destinations that the online store ships to. This is because, if the store does not ship to where you’ll want to receive the package, there’s no point buying from them in the first place; and there’ll be no need to look shipping cost or delivery times.
In this regards, Uniqlo does not ship to as many locations as most online fashion retailers. In fact, Uniqlo does not ship internationally. They operate different region-specific websites; and when you buy from any website, they’ll ship to only the domestic market. Thus, if you’ll be receiving your package in the US, you’ll have to buy from Uniqlo US website; and if you’ll be receiving your package in Australia, you’ll have to buy from Uniqlo Australia website. The different region you can choose (and get your package shipped to) are: Australia, Canada, China, Eu, France, Germany, Hong Kong & Macau, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, UK, USA. Eu covers Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Sweden. The list of countries covered shows that customers in many locations will not be able to buy from Uniqlo, except they’ll be ready to receive their package in one of the countries covered.
In terms of shipping cost; the lowest possible cost that an online fashion store can give is zero, which is free shipping. Thankfully, Uniqlo offers that.
For US purchases, Uniqlo ships to all US states including APO/ FPO and US territories. The delivery options include “pick in store”, Standard shipping, Two Days shipping, and Express shipping. The “pick in store” option delivers the package to a Uniqlo store of your choosing and you’ll go there for collection. It takes 3 – 7 business day for the package to get to the store; and it is free for all orders. The Standard delivery option gets the package to your home in 3 -7 business days (but could take up to 7 – 11 days for Alaska and Hawaii, and up to 15 days for APO/ FPO addresses and US territories); and it cost $5.
There’s a Two Day Delivery option which will deliver the package to your home in two working days if the order is placed before 12PM (but in 3 working days if the order is placed after 12PM EST or on weekends); and it cost $17. There’s also an Express Delivery option which will get the package to your door in 1 – 2 working days for orders placed by 12 PM EST (Monday – Friday); and it cost $22.The Two Days and Express Delivery options are only available to the 48 contiguous US states.
When you shop from the UK site; there are a couple of delivery options. The free delivery option is an in-store delivery called “Click and Collect”. The package will be shipped to a Uniqlo store of your choosing where you can pick it up; but the good part is that the package will be ready for collection the very next day after placing the order (minus weekends). The Standard delivery option will get you the package in 2 – 4 working days, and it cost £3.95. There is a Next Day delivery where the package will be delivered to your home the day following your order placement (minus weekends); and it cost £5.95. You can also use the Nominated Day Delivery to select a particular day that you’ll want the package delivered, at a cost of £5.95. Lastly, you can have your Uniqlo purchase sent to a nearby Convenience Store for pick up the next working day, at a cost of £4.95. However, it should be noted that for orders to ship as stated, they must be placed before 6PM.
To the region/ countries in the Uniqlo Eu website, there are just two delivery options – the standard delivery and the express delivery. The standard delivery takes 2 – 4 working days for Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, and Luxembourg) and takes up to 5 working days for the others; while the express delivery takes 1 – 2 working days for all. The standard shipping cost range from €3.95 to €11.95; while the express shipping cost range from €9.95 to €19.95.
For other countries that Uniqlo operate in, you can go to the country specific website for the shipping cost and times, or you can view the information at checkout.
The review of Uniqlo shipping policy reveals some good and ugly things that are worth highlighting. For the good part; Uniqlo’s free shipping, where it is offered, is for all others. Unlike most online fashion retailer that will only offer free shipping for orders up to a high amount, Uniqlo will ship free no matter the order amount. This means that you don’t have to spend more than you intended just because you want to chase free shipping. The ugly part is that Uniqlo does not offer free shipping for home deliveries. To get free shipping, you’ll have to ship the package to a Uniqlo shop and go there to pick it up. To many customers (me inclusive), this removes the convenience of online shopping. The whole essence of online shopping is to click and have the items at your doorstep – abracadabra-style. If I’ll have to go to the store for pick-up; I’ll rather go to the store in the first place for the original purchase. It also does not help that Uniqlo does not offer this constrained free shipping in all the regions that they operate in.
It must be said that at the time of this review, there were some shipping promos delivered items free of charge to customers’ door. On the EU website, there was a promo of free standard shipping for orders above €50, and on the UK website there was also a promo of free standard shipping for all orders over £20. But being promos, after the promo period, delivery will go back to status quo.
Also, it is well known that many fashion retailers do not live up to their advertised delivery times. Fortunately, it seems that Uniqlo is not plagued by this problem, and that in majority of cases, they deliver as expected. This can be attributed to their mode of operation; as they do not technically ship internationally, but will ship from the local distribution center/ store to the destination address.
When you purchase any item online, you are relying on product descriptions and images in assessing the product. The fact that the item was not physically seen and assessed leaves a risk, that when it is actually received, it might not be totally satisfying. There is even the possibility of the item being damaged in transit. Thus, it is important that the store you buy from allow you to return items to them for a refund or an exchange.
Like most other online fashion retailers, Uniqlo allows returns for refund or exchange. The returns policy of Uniqlo differs significantly depending on the Uniqlo website you are shopping from.
For the US website, they allow a returns window of 60 days. This means that you have 60 days from the time of receiving the package to return any item you opt to return to their warehouse. If you’ve checked other reviews of online fashion retailers, you’ll find that the industry average is 30 days, because that is how much time most of the retailers in the industry allow for returns. However, Uniqlo doubles that for US returns. This means that you won’t have to run against time, or worry about not getting your returns to their warehouse on time and being ineligible for a refund or exchange. When the returned items are received by Uniqlo, they’ll be processed and if approved, your refund will be issued. Uniqlo says that you should allow up to 28 days to receive your refund. In my opinion, this is too long a time.
For orders purchased from the Uniqlo “Eu” website, the returns window is 30 days, which is on par with the industry standard. Also, the returns/ refund processing time is relatively shorter, and you will get your refund in 15 working days after the returns get to Uniqlo. That said, for any particular country, you’ll have to check the appropriate Uniqlo website for the returns window, and returns/ refund processing times.
That the returned items are inspected after reaching Uniqlo website means that there are some conditions that must be met for them to be accepted. All merchandise to be returned must be in their original selling condition, and must have their original product packaging, tags, and labels. They items must not be worn, washed or damaged. For hygiene reasons, certain items will not be accepted. These include inner/ underwear which are not in their original packaging, and swimwear which do not have the plastic sticker.
When you choose to return an item, how you go about the return also depends on your shipping destination. In some destinations (such as Netherland and Belgium), Uniqlo allows purchases made online to be returned to Uniqlo stores. But in others (such as the US), you cannot return online purchases to stores; online purchases must be returned directly to their warehouse, while in-store purchases only can be returned to stores.
When making US online returns, there is a returns packing list and prepaid returns label that you’ll have to print from the Uniqlo website for easy returns. All you need do is pack your items appropriately, attach the returns label and drop it off at any United States Postal Service or FedEx location. However, returns are not free, and $7.00 will be deducted from your refund as the returns shipping cost.
Part of the stress-free service that the ideal online shopping site should offer is convenient payments. In other to achieve this, the store has to support a wide range of payment options, so that customers can easily find one for use in paying for their orders.
In this regard, Uniqlo ticks the box. As a typical online fashion retailer, they do not break the roof with a long list of options; rather they support just a few options that are readily available and that afford convenience for online payments. Also, the options available to any customer at checkout depend on the Uniqlo website being used. For the US website, payment options supported include PayPal, ApplePay and the major credit/ debit cards (such as Visa, MasterCard, American Express, DISCOVER and JCB). They do not accept Bill Me Later, C.O.D. or checks. When using the EU website; in addition to Visa, Master card and American Express, you’ll find other options like, Visa Electron, Visa Delta, CartaSi, Dankort cards. They also do not accept payments by cheque or by phone.
That said, you’ll have to get to checkout to know what options are available depending on what Uniqlo website you are shopping from; alternatively, you can look up the information on the appropriate page in the website. However, you can be rest assured that Uniqlo supports generic options that affords convenient payments.
It is not enough that an online fashion shop is legit. The store should also have an efficient customer support service so that customer queries and issues can be swiftly answered/ resolved. No customer plans to have issues; but issues are inevitable, and it is good to know that the store will quickly resolve them when they do arrive.
When you have questions, the first place to go is the website. Uniqlo have an elaborate FAQ page that is divided into categories such as payment, ordering, promotions, delivery, returns, my order, miscellaneous, and more. Each category holds series of questions that are adequately answered. For example, in the payment section; some questions that are answered include: What payment methods are accepted? What currency can I pay in? Can I have a different billing address to my delivery address? What information is required for payment? How safe is it to shop in Uniqlo? Why has my payment been refused? When will I be charged for my order?
The FAQ resources in the Uniqlo websites are detailed and you’ll find answers to most of the questions that you have about Uniqlo. Also, the categorization aids easy navigation to the appropriate support article. However, if you still need to contact Uniqlo, they provide direct contact channels. These include telephone, email, and online contact form.
However, the particular option you may use and when such option is active depends on the Uniqlo website you’re using. US Customers have all options available. They can use the online contact form in the Uniqlo website, and the company will reply via mail. Alternatively, they can contact Uniqlo directly from their email account using the email address WeCare@MAIL.Uniqlo-usa.com. The response is not instantaneous with the email service; thus, customers might want to use the telephone service to get instant feedback. There are two phone lines provided; one (1-855-486-4756) is for store related inquiry, and the other (1-877-486-4756) is for online related inquiry. Both phone lines are available 7 days a week, but only between 9am – 9pm EST.
UK customers only have the option of telephone and the online contact form. The telephone number to call is 0207 886 4930; the service is active between 8am – 10pm GMT (Monday – Friday) and 10am – 7pm GMT (Saturday and Sunday). One downside of the UK telephone service is that it is not toll free, and you’ll be charged at the local telephone rates. Another small annoyance with the Uniqlo customer support service is that it is not available round the clock (24/ 7).
Uniqlo is a legit and safe online fashion retailer. They operate over a thousand shops in different parts of the world, with over 700 of those in Japan where the company is headquartered. For almost 70 years the company has been operating, and since they started online business they have been fulfilling orders.
Uniqlo’s unique region-specific operation means that they effectively serve each region that they operate in. It also means that policies and service offerings are different from region to region. Generally, they provide good quality clothing for everyone – women, men, boys, girls and babies. Their prices are also in the acceptable range. They provide free shipping to some locations; they allow returns if you are not totally satisfied with the item; and they have a responsive customer support service.
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