Ashley Stewart is a fashion brand for plus size women. The company is based in Secaucus (New Jersey, US); and was founded in 1991 when founder Joseph Sitt discovered that the fashion retailing business did not cater to plus-sized career women.
The company has continued ever since to serve fashion products for this niche (sizes 10 – 36). Thus, Ashley Stewart is a fashion store for big, bold and beautiful women. As long as you have the curves, Ashley Stewart has the styles. You’ll find every clothing style and fashion product in the store; from party dresses to casual wear, and from swimwear to intimates.
Unlike some stores that maintain only online operations, Ashley Stewart operates scores of physical retail stores. Their corporate office is located at 150 Meadowlands Parkway, Suite 403 Secaucus, NJ 07094, USA; and the company operates some other 88 retail stores all across the US.
The ownership of Ashley Stewart has changed hands a couple of times, and the company has gone through the highs and lows of the retail business. In their highs, they recorded annual sales as high as $400 million; and in their lows, financial difficulties forced them to even file for bankruptcy (2010 and 2014). However, Ashley Stewart stands today as a go-to destination for plus-sized fashion styles.
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Ashley Stewart is a legitimate fashion store. It is not a scam because you will receive an item you ordered from the store. They will never take your money without sending you your products.
But does Ashley Stewart offer quality products?
In a fashion world where there is scant attention to the big and beautiful, it’s good to find a clothing brand entirely focused on this niche. However, the question that needs to be asked is whether Ashley Stewart provides high-end quality fashion styles. If they have the product, what about their service; do they provide competitive pricing, fast delivery, easy returns, and the other services that we’ll expect of an ideal fashion store? In the first place is Ashley Stewart product genuine?
This Ashley Stewart review will examine Ashley Stewart in order to provide the information that will help you answer these questions.
Ashley Stewart is legit. It is not a scam fashion store. We have personally witness buyers who actually got what they ordered for. Bt that does not mean there are no negative experiences from other customers. There are many scam stores in the internet, so one cannot be too careful when shopping online.
Enter a store that is anything but legit, and you’ll only find out that you’ve been ripped off when the items that you pay for and orders are not delivered. You can determine whether a store is legit or a scam by considering some factors.
The first is legality. The online store is operated by Ashley Stewart Inc. which is a duly registered company in the US. Thus, Ashley Stewart is 100% legal. Suffice it to say that scam stores do not seek company registrations.
Another check is physical presence. Most often than not, scam stores operate only virtually with no traceable physicality. That is why they don’t deliver because they have no factory, warehouse, showroom/ stores, or no merchandise. On the other hand, Ashley Stewart has a robust physical presence. Apart from their corporate office in Secaucus, USA, they operate some 89 stores across the US.
The brand is also famous for their fashion tours and events which brings together some of the hitters in the fashion industry. Suffice it to say that a scam store will not have the physical presence and visibility that Ashley Stewart has. Also, Ashley Stewart is a store that has been recognized by a lot of industry watchers. For example, activities in Ashley Stewart have been featured in Inc. Magazine.
The work of James Rhee with Ashley Stewart fetched him the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the year in 2016, and was also recognized by the National Retail Federation’s Foundation. Suffice it to say that no scam store will gain such recognitions.
By far the most important check of legitimacy is fulfilling orders. Simply put, scam stores do not fulfill orders. On the other hand, the scores of retail stores and their fulfillment center hold millions of units of merchandise which gives the Ashley Stewart the capacity to fulfill orders. Also, Ashley Stewart has been fulfilling orders for almost 28 years. Suffice it to say that scam stores that do not fulfill orders do not continue for decades.
For being 100% legal, having a robust physical presence, earning the endorsement of industry watchers, and having the capacity and a track record of fulfilling orders, there’s no doubt that Ashley Stewart is legit.
Ashley Stewart is safe to use. The ideal store need to also be safe so that the information you share with it is protected and prevented from leaking to cyber fraudsters. You don’t want your personal information or your credit card details falling into the wrong hands, so a safe store is a no-brainer.
In this regard, Ashley Stewart ticks the box. The store uses the industry-standard SSL (Secure Socket Layer) technology. SSL is bank-grade and is among the best security measures available today for secure commerce transactions. It creates a secure connection between your device and the servers of the store so that data that is transmitted between both is private. The data (which include your personal data and payment card details) is also encrypted so that it cannot be read as the information travels over the Internet.
To demonstrate the commitment of Ashley Stewart to security of customers’ data, the website is a registered member of VeriSign, which is a leading provider of Internet trust services (authentication, validation and payment).
Ashley Stewart also has a “Safe Shopping Guarantee” which promises that you will not pay if unauthorized charges are made to your card as a result of shopping on their website. Though, it’s not really clear how that works; it’s safe to say that Ashley Stewart is safe.
The ideal online fashion shop should be a one-stop-shop where you can get a variety of fashion products. This does not mean that the ideal shop should be a hold-it-all. Stores can focus on a niche and still provide a variety of products in that niche. That is what Ashley Stewart has done.
Their niche is Plus Size Women’s clothing and accessories. That said, they have all the different clothing and accessories that’ll wow your curves and have you rocking your style. The different categories and the products you’ll find in each product category include:
Clothing
Intimates
Shoes
Flats, Heels, Sandals, and more
Accessories and Beauty Products
Sunglasses, Hats, Belts, Jewelry, Handbags, Gifts and Travel, fragrances etc
If you’re to buy a specific fashion item (say a T-shirt bra), you’ll want to find that the store has many T-Shirt Bras that you can choose from instead of the store holding only a few T-Shirt Bras. With a large pool to choose from, you’re more likely to find what will appeal to you and match your budget. That said, while having a wide product range is important, having a large inventory of each product type is also important.
The performance of Ashley Stewart in this regard is not particularly impressive. At the time of writing this review, the store held only moderate stock in whole product sections, which means that there’ll be fewer numbers of particular product types.
There were 192 items found in the Tops section, so there were few numbers for particular types. For example, there were 73 Shirts and Blouses, only 9 Tanks and Camis, and only 4 Tunics. It was the same for Bottoms; at the time Ashley Stewart held 68 Bottoms, consisting of 23 Skirts, 9 Skinny Pants, 8 Shorts and Capris, 11 Straight Leg Trousers, and so on. Also, the full Jeans section had only 65 items, while the full Jackets and Coats section had only 35 items.
Their Intimates category held even less stock. There were only 26 products in the whole Panties section, with fewer still Panties Styles; and there were only 24 products found in the Bras section, and for particular Bra styles, you’ll find some having as few as 3 items.
We’ve reviewed online fashion stores that have many hundreds and even thousands of particular product types; and in comparison with such stores, the stock of Ashley Stewart is relatively small.
Having a range of products and having a sizeable inventory of each product type are important considerations when looking at the products in an online store, but even more important is product quality. This is so that you’ll not have to face quality issues when you order any item from the store.
Good quality items will include items made from quality materials, items that are well made, and items that are durable. You’ll definitely find a lot of items in the store matching these descriptors. However, it should be said that just as always you’ll find some reviews reporting cases where customers were not satisfied with the quality of their Ashley Stewart orders. However, these complaints are few and far in between to constitute a theme. Thus, it’s safe to say that Ashley Stewart is not plagued with quality issues.
The prices of items in a store are some of the first things you’ll check when making your buy decision. No one will be willing to pay what is perceived as unreasonable for items, so the ideal store should offer prices that are perceived as reasonable.
In this regard, Ashley Stewart does okay. The store is not considered cheap, but it isn’t expensive either; their prices are just a little on the high side but affordable.
For example, at the time of writing, Ashley and Stewart’s Tops were priced between $16.50 and $64 with over 90% coming in under $50. Skirts were priced at $39.50 – $44.50, and you’ll find most of their Jeans between $39.50 and $59.50. Given that these items easily go into three figures in some stores, it’s safe to say that Ashley Stewart prices, though not the finest, are relatively fine.
I don’t know that shopper who’ll want to pay full price for items when it’s possible to pay less than the full price. In fact, shoppers seek out opportunities to pay less and less for items. Promotions offer such cost-saving opportunities; as such, shoppers are attracted to stores that offer regular promotions.
Ashley Stewart does well in this regard by coming out as a store that is generous with promotions. As we got to the landing page of the Ashley Stewart website, we were greeted with a promotion that promised “50% off new arrivals”. Later down on the page, we found the Diva Dollars promo which rewards customers with $25 for every $50 spent in the store. Also, if you open and use the Ashley Stewart credit card, you’ll be rewarded with 20% off your first purchase. For those who’ll like to shop in the retail stores of Ashley Stewart, there was a March in-store only promo that promises 35% off full prices of dresses.
The promotions usually runs for only specified time periods, so you’ll have to keep checking the website from time to time to know what promotion is running at any particular time. Alternatively, you may sign up for Ashley Stewart news by submitting your email, and you’ll get alerts of promotional offers, including new arrivals. You even get rewarded for signing up for the newsletter; you’ll get 15% off your next purchase. Moving to the sales page, you’ll find a lot of items with up to 40%, 50% and 75% off full price. You’ll even find steal deals – items costing only $9.98.
However, Ashley Stewart does not offer price adjustments. Some stores will issue you the balance if an item you bought from the store is almost immediately listed at a lower price. Ashley Stewart does not also offer price matching. This was not surprising as price matching is offered by stores committed to offering the best price; thus, they’ll offer to give you an item in the store at a lower price than it is listed, if you can find a similar item elsewhere going for that lower price.
You want a store with a hassle-free buying process. There’s no point having a headache when spending your hard-earned money. In this regard, the online store should have an intuitive website where getting items into cart and paying for the order at checkout is a smooth ride.
Ashley Stewart ticks both boxes. The buying process is pretty straightforward. After browsing through the product pages or using the search tool to find a particular product; getting items into the shopping cart is done by simply indicating the size, colour and quantity desired, and clicking “Add to Bag”.
There is an “MY BAG” icon on the upper right corner of the screen that you may click at any time to take you to checkout. At checkout, you’ll simply enter your information to complete payment and the checkout process.
For the payment part, you’ll want the store to support a range of payment methods so that no matter where you are resident, you’ll not have a hard time finding a method that you can use to conveniently pay for your order. In this regard, Ashley Stewart accepts payment with Visa, Master Card, Discover Card, American Express, Debit/ Check cards, Ashley Stewart Credit cards, and PayPal. With these options, paying for Ashley Stewart orders will not be a problem.
In online purchases, orders placed will be moved from the fulfilment centres of the store to wherever you select that you’ll take possession of them. Thus, shipping is an essential part of online purchases. The most important shipping considerations are shipping destinations. Shipping times, and shipping costs.
If an online store does not ship to where you are resident, it will be difficult to receive delivery of any order placed with the store (if at all the order placement will go through). Thus, you’ll want to first make sure that the store ships to your location. In this regard, the ideal online store will be one that ships to many worldwide locations so that where you are resident is more likely to be covered.
Ashley Steward ticks the box in this regard. In fact, you’ll be hard-pressed to find an online store with better coverage. The store ships to several locations all over the world; this includes 48 countries in Europe, 43 countries in Asia, 43 countries in Latin and South America, and 56 countries in the Middle East and Africa.
With this vast coverage that extends to 190 countries, many persons from all over the globe can place orders in Ashley Stewart and they can expect to get their package delivered to their door. This is unlike many stores that serve only their domestic markets or a few other territories.
One of the biggest complaints shoppers make about online stores is delays in delivery. This means that online shoppers generally do not like having to wait for too long to receive the delivery of their orders. Thus the ideal online store should offer fast delivery.
There are two factors that affect a store’s delivery time, which is order processing time and package shipment time. After placing an order, the store will process it and dispatch it; it is only after it is dispatched that the carrier moves it to where you’ll receive it. If the order processing time is relatively long, it’ll take long before your package even begins its journey to you, and you’ll receive it late. Also, if the order processing time is fast, and the order is quickly dispatched to the carrier but the carrier moves slowly, you’ll also receive the package late.
Ashley Stewart has one of the quickest order processing times in the business. Provided that the order is approved, all orders placed before 2 pm EST (Mondays – Fridays) will be processed within one business day. It is orders placed after 2 pm, on a weekend or on a holiday that is processed within 2 business days.
For the transit times, there are different options available depending on where your order is shipping to. For domestic US orders shipping to the 48 mainland States, there are 4 shipping options depending on speed. These include Economy delivery which takes 5 – 9 business days; Standard delivery which takes 4 – 8 business days; Priority delivery which takes 3 – 4 business days; and Express delivery which is within 3 business days.
For orders shipping to Alaska and Hawaii, Economy delivery does not apply. The Standard delivery is typically within 6 – 10 business days; the Priority delivery is within 5 – 8 business days, and the Express Delivery is within 5 business days. For orders shipping to military addresses (APO/ FPO/ DPO) and other US Territories (Guam, Puerto Rico, USVI, etc), only standard delivery is available, and it takes 5 – 9 business days.
However, it should be noted that no matter where your order is shipping to within the US, during the Flash Sales, there’ll be huge sales volume to fulfil and delivery may require additional 2 – 3 days for all delivery options.
For international orders shipping outside the US, there are not many delivery options. Many such orders will ship through Standard delivery, and it can take between 3 – 21 business days depending on the country.
Once your order ships, you’ll get an e-mail notifying you. The email will also carry a tracking number if the order is shipping within the US. However, international orders cannot be tracked. If you’re a customer who’ll want to follow your orders all the way till it gets to your door, you’ll be disappointed that Ashley Stewart does not have tracking capabilities for international orders. You may have to look at other online fashion stores that allow you to track your orders (whether domestic or international orders), and there are a good number of them.
It is clear that customers also do not want to pay too much to ship their orders. Studies have shown that high shipping costs are one of the main reasons customers abandon their shopping carts at checkout. That the item is taken to checkout means it is perceived as reasonably priced; but after shipping costs are applied at checkout and the total amount it will take to acquire the item is revealed, sometimes the cart is abandoned and the order is not completed. That said, the ideal online fashion store should offer shipping costs that are as low as possible.
The rates of Ashley Stewart are as follows. For orders travelling to the 48 mainland US states, Economy delivery is $8.95, Standard delivery is $11.95, Priority delivery is $14.95, and Express delivery is $24.95. For orders going to Hawaii and Alaska, Standard delivery is $14.95, Priority delivery is $20.95, and Express delivery is $29.95. Standard delivery for orders going to military addresses and the US Territories cost $14.95.
For international orders, exact shipping charges are not provided. You’ll have to proceed to checkout to find what shipping options are available to your particular country, and their cost. Sometimes, there’ll be additional fees such as taxes, duty, etc billed by your local customs, and you’ll have to pay these upon receipt of your package.
However, it should be noted that the advertised shipping rates are only for packages of 50 lbs and under and with dimensions (length and girth) of less than 130 inches. Where the package exceeds these specifications (that is heavier than 50 lbs or measures more than 130 inches in length or girth), the shipping cost will be calculated separately based on the package weight, size and the delivery location.
If you’ve seen reviews of many other online fashion stores, you’ll find that the shipping costs of Ashley Stewart are relatively high. For Economy Shipping and Standard shipping, the rates of Ashley Stewart is higher than that of many other US-based online fashion retailers. It also does not help that Ashley Stewart does not offer free shipping.
At the time of writing, there was free shipping, but it was being offered as a promo. Given that promos run for only a specified period of time; it will mean that their free shipping is not perpetual. Also, the offer applies to only orders over $125.
Granted, many online stores set these minimum purchase requirements for their free shipping offers; but many have a lower threshold. We’ve seen free shipping offers for orders over $50 or $100. Thus, the $125+ qualifying amount for Ashley Stewart is relatively high. This means that buyers will have to push a little higher in their spending just to qualify for free shipping.
It also does not help that the free shipping offer only applies to domestic US orders. For US buyers, this is good news, but for any other buyer, it won’t be pleasant, especially as there are online fashion stores (having plus items) that offer free shipping to all locations that they serve.
We cannot recommend an online fashion store that does not accept returns. First, online purchase is characterized by blind purchase where the buyer does not get to physically assess the item before completing the transaction, and there is the possibility that when delivered the item might not have the same appeal as it did when being seen in the product images provided.
That is, on seeing the item, it might not meet certain expectations the buyer had of it and will want to return it to the store. Also, fashion pieces are largely sized products, and there is the possibility that the wrong size is ordered.
Thankfully, Ashley Stewart allows returns. What follows here is a detailed look at the returns policy, because sometimes it’s not enough that a store simply allows returns.
Where a return process is cumbersome you may decide not to face it, and you’ll be forced to hold on to items that you’ll rather return. Thus, you’ll want a return process that’s a breeze.
Ashley Stewart returns can be done in-store or online. In-store returns simply entail walking into any Ashley Stewart retail store closest to you with the item you’ll want to return and its receipt. In most fashion stores, only items bought in-store can be returned in-store, while all items bought online must be returned online (by post).
However, Ashley Stewart comes good in that where items bought in-store must be returned in-store, there are many items bought online that can also be returned to their retail stores.
However, it should be noted that not all products bought online can be returned to the store. We’ve found customer reviews where customers expressed dissatisfaction at not being able to return online purchases to the store.
The product description of Ashley Stewart is termed Style Notes, and it’s at the end of it that you’ll find if an item is “web exclusive”; and where an item is web exclusive, it can be returned only online. Some buyers have claimed that citing the “web exclusive” at the bottom of the page makes it easy to be missed. Well, maybe they did miss it; but we don’t think it should be missed if one actually goes through the product description (Styles Notes).
For the online returns, after packaging the items to be returned, you’ll have to mail them to Ashley Stewart’s distribution centre at: Ashley Stewart Warehouse, 300 Nixon Lane Edison, NJ 08837 USA. To make such returns easy, Ashley Stewart put the necessary returns instructions at the back of the order form which goes with every shipment. They also include returns labels in domestic orders that can be used for easy returns.
For return items to be accepted they must be in their new and unused condition in original packaging and with all tags attached. Any item that shows signs of wear, use, wash, that is damaged, or that has been altered will not be accepted. Also, the invoice number and billing name must appear in the return form that accompanies your return package.
It should be noted that clearance items are final sales and they will not be accepted when returned. It should be said that this is one area that has frustrated a lot of Ashley Stewart’s customers. As documented, the store runs a lot of tantalizing promos; you’ll not want to pay full price when you can apply a promo offer and get it for even less than the full price.
The catch is that most of those items so gotten become final sales, and cannot be returned. So if it happens that you’re not totally satisfied with what the item delivered, you’ll be stuck with it.
For this reason, we like stores with low full prices and not stores with slightly steep prices that then use promos to bring their prices low. Ashley Stewart falls in the latter category, and because you’ll only get low prices in the store after applying promotional offers, you’ll find that the store has a lot of disgruntled customers who’re forced to keep items that they’ll rather return.
Granted in many of the fashion stores, discounted/ sales items are final sales and cannot be returned; but there are some stores where sales items can be returned, albeit with a reduced return window, and there are other stores where you’ll get store credits when you return sales items.
Returns are accepted only if made within a period of time. Therefore, you’ll want an extended time so that your returned item will not get to the store late and be rejected. Ashley Stewart does okay in this regard. They accept all returns made within 30 days of the delivery date. This is on par with many other stores in the online fashion retailing business. In fact, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a store that offers a wider window.
You also do not want to return an item only to be put off by the high cost of doing so. Thus, you’ll want cost of returns to be as low as possible. The cost of returns is mainly the cost of shipping back the returned item to the store (return shipping); however, there are stores that also charge you a fee for restocking the item.
As a rule, we’ll like the former (return shipping cost) to be as low as possible, with free returns being the winner any day; and for the latter (restocking fee), we don’t like stores that charge it. Ashley Stewart does not appear to charge a restocking fee, but you’ll have to bear the cost of return shipping.
For domestic returns where returns labels is provided, the cost of the pre-paid label is $8.00, and it will be deducted from your refund. Since the rates of return labels are usually discounted, you’ll find that making international returns to Ashley Stewart can be pretty expensive.
From the customer’s perspective, a return of an item to the store is not successful until a refund or replacement item has been received. Also, no one will want to wait forever to receive a refund; thus the ideal fashion store should process returns and issue refunds quickly.
Ashley Stewart takes 10 – 14 business days to process returns after receiving the returned item in their fulfilment center; after which they’ll issue the refund via your original payment method, and it’ll reflect in your statement in one or two billing cycles.
This means you may have to wait three full weeks or a full month before you’ll receive your Ashley Stewart refund. This is a relatively long waiting time, and we’ll like to see this time reduce by the store reducing the refund processing time. However, we like that Ashley Stewart issues refunds as cash to the original payment method, and not as store credits; that way the customer may decide to go to another store for his/ her purchases.
Customers will always have one or more questions about a store, its offerings and operation; and sometimes, customers will have issues with their orders. Thus, the ideal online store will provide for answering customers’ questions and resolving customers’ issues.
The first check is the channels that the store provides for getting assistance. The first stop to getting help in Ashley Stewart is an FAQ page on their website. You’ll find that the page answers a lot of questions relating to creating an account, shipping and tracking, ordering and returns, payment information, and more.
If you still need to contact a customer support rep of the store, Ashley Stewart provides email service and telephone service. You may send them an e-mail by filling out a “Contact US” form that can be accessed on their website. The company replies to submissions in a few hours.
However, if you’ll want instant feedback, you may use the telephone service. The phone number to call (844-327-4539) is toll-free in the US, but international customers may have to pay international call charges.
The support service is not available 24/ 7; the customer service hours of operations are 9 am – 9 pm EST (Monday – Friday), and 10 am – 4 pm EST on Saturdays. We like that a support service is available 24/ 7, especially for an online store serving a global market because the downtime of the service corresponds to the uptime of customers in the other part of the zone. Thus, it was disappointing that Stewart customer service is not available round the clock, and is even comatose the whole of Sundays.
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It must also be said that the most scathing reviews of Ashley Stewart have been about her customer support service. In the online reviews found on the independent review platforms, it’s almost like a theme that Ashley Stewart customer service is anything but helpful.
Pros:
Cons:
Ashley Stewart is a legitimate and iconic brand for plus-sized women’s clothing and fashion accessories. You’ll find a range of clothing types and styles to rock your curves; including dresses, tops, bottoms, and intimates, as well as beauty products. However, you may find only a few items to choose from in some product sections.
In terms of service, the prices of Ashley Stewart are not the best but still affordable, and there are lots of cost-saving promotions. Ashley Stewart provides an easy ordering process backed by a range of payment methods; orders are processed quickly, they ship around the world, and shipping times are relatively fast.
The return process is easy; though the absence of return labels for international returns may make returning such orders a bit expensive. Another ugly spot of the return policy is that clearance sales cannot be returned.
Since prices are not the best and promotions are very generous, it’s easy to see why customers will go for such discounted items and get caught in not being able to return such items.
We also didn’t like that customer support service is not 24/ 7, or that there were too many complaints that the supposed help given by the customer support department is largely unhelpful.
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Was trying to order some shoes but it wont let me in the site