Hollister is an American fashion retailer that advertises that their Southern California (SoCal) inspired lifestyle brand of clothing is synonymous with quality. Is that just a marketing quirk or does Hollister really provide the quality products that’ll make the store a go-to destination for hip fashion styles? If they offer the product, do they also offer the service (such as quick delivery, easy returns, effective customer service, etc) that you’ll want of a go-to fashion destination? In the first place, is Hollister legit?
This Hollister review will examine Hollister in order to provide the information that’ll help you answer these questions and more.
Hollister is a legitimate fashion store online. They are not scam because all their customers receive the items they ordered from the store. And also your credit card details are safe with the store.
Hollister is an American fashion retailing Company that is more often advertises as Hollister Co. or HCo. The fashion brand is owned by another American fashion giant – Abercrombie & Fitch Co. Hollister was born when the parent (Abercrombie & Fitch) decided to start a brand that will cater to young fashion enthusiasts aged. Thus, Hollister Co. kicked off in July of 2000 being more of the “young clothing” section of A&F, by offering clothing and accessories for persons in the 14 – 18 years bracket; and more importantly, listing these items at far reduced rates than they would be listed in Abercrombie & Fitch.
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The store’s “young fashion” birthmarks can still be seen in that their product categories are called “guys” and “girls” instead of the “men and women” that contemporary stores use. However, Hollister has evolved over the years and now holds apparel for customers well above the teenage years.
From the first store that opened in Ohio, Hollister has gone on to open other stores all across the US. Their international expansion started with Canada in 2006; and after many shops in the North American country, they moved to the UK in 2008 starting off in London. Currently, Hollister boasts of over 550 retail outlets in prominent cities around the world which include Germany, China, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, Ireland, and the Middle East.
Yes, Hollister is safe and legit fashion store. To make purchases from online fashion stores (including Hollister), personally identifiable information will be collected which include your name, date of birth, address, phone numbers, payment card information, etc. I don’t know about you, but this is not the information that I’ll want in the wrong hands. With the exposure of information like credit card details, one will be left exposed to online fraudsters. Thus, the ideal online fashion store should ensure the protection of the sensitive information that customers share with it.
In their security statement, Hollister says that they take steps to ensure the safety of customers’ personal and transaction data. Some physical steps include limiting the number of employees that have access to databases containing customers’ data. Technical security measures include employing Transport Layer Security (TLS) technology. Without going into the technicality of TLS, know that the most used security protocol by online fashion retailing stores is SSL (Secure Socket Layer), and rightly so because it enables the creation of private connections coupled with unbreakable encryption. However, TLS is the successor to SSL, and TLS uses stronger encryption algorithms, coupled with the ability to work on different ports.
That said; the use of the “state of the art” TLS encryption coupled with other administrative measures gives confidence that Hollister is a safe online store.
You’ll want the ideal fashion store to hold a wide range of products so that you can get your related fashion needs in one place instead of having to visit multiple stores. Apart from the convenience that making all your purchases in one place provides, there is also cost savings. You may get large order purchase discounts; and you may have to pay to ship one order instead of paying differently to ship the different items from multiple stores.
In this regards, Hollister provides different types of clothing products and fashion accessories for young men and young women. The product categories and the items you’ll find in each category are as follows:
Guys
Girls
Other categories that you can shop from include:
Gilly Hicks
Jeans
The above listed products tell you that the store focuses on lifestyle inspired wears and casual wears. Thus, you’ll not find very many formal wears such as Blazers. Also, in the accessories section, Hollister offers nothing more than belts, bags, and caps. You’ll also come short in Hollister if you want to shop kids’ wear.
You want a good number of items in every product section so that you can choose from many when shopping. That way, you’re more likely to find something that matches your preferences and budget. Hollister does so-so in this regards. The store does not overwhelm with their inventory size. For example, at the time of writing this review, in the girls’ category, there were 62 different styles of dresses, 62 styles in the Shirt and Blouses section, 18 different styles in the coats and Jacket section, and 27 different styles in the skirts section and so on. Also, in the guy’s category, there were: only 25 different Coats and Jackets, and only 91 items in the Hoodies and Sweatshirts section.
You’ll easily find fashion stores that offer hundreds of items in each product section. Though, Hollister’s inventory will pale in comparison to such stores, Hollister does not leave you short. In each product section, their inventory is sizeable enough to serve your selection needs.
One of the first things customers see when making purchases is price. No one will like to pay what is perceived as unreasonable for a fashion piece; thus, the ideal fashion store should feature prices that are low and reasonable.
Hollister was established to be a cheaper alternative of Abercrombie & Fitch teen-targeted clothing; thus, you’ll expect that the store features prices that are competitive. Hollister has lived up to this. Items in the store are by about 20% cheaper than you’ll find in Abercrombie & Fitch; and they come out as low and affordable when compared to other stores in the market.
For example, at the time of writing this review, in the girls’ category: dresses were priced at $34.95 – $59.95, coats and jackets were priced at $49.95 – $79.95, Shirts and Blouses were priced at $19.95 – $39.95, while skirts were priced at $24.95 – $49.95. The items in the men category were also well priced. Coats and Jackets were priced at $59.95 – $99.95, while Hoodies and Sweatshirts were priced at $34.95 – $59.95.
When going through Hollister for this review, we didn’t find a single item in the store that was priced in three figures (that is, $100 or more). On the contrary, many of their items were less than or around the $50 mark. To put Hollister’s prices in perspective, stores that feature prices around the $50 mark are widely regarded as cheap and affordable. Thus, Hollister qualifies as a store with affordable pricing.
Promotions are cost saving opportunities, because they allow customers to obtain items free of charge or for less than the items’ full prices. As a result, customers are attracted to stores that run regular and huge promotions. Thus, when reviewing fashion stores, the size of the stores’ promotional packages (if any) is an important consideration.
Because Hollister offers very competitive prices, we didn’t expect to find many promotions. And there weren’t either. In fact, at the time of writing this review, to buy anything in Hollister for less than the full price, you’ll have to go to the sales page, where certain items had as much as 60% off.
The ideal fashion retailer is one where you’ll get the best value. One value giving feature of retailers is price adjustment. Thankfully, Hollister is one of the few fashion retailers that offer price adjustment. If within days of making a purchase in Hollister, the item is listed lower than the amount you paid for it, you can request for price adjustment and Hollister will credit you the difference.
You only have to request the adjustment within 14 days of placing your order. This is a wider window than is most often seen. Also, each Hollister item is eligible for only one price adjustment.
One of the elements of a smooth payment process is support for a wide range of payment options. You’ll want a variety of options so that no matter where you are resident, you can easily find a means to pay for your orders.
Hollister does very well in this regards. In fact you’ll be hard pressed to find a fashion retailer that support more payment options than Hollister. You can pay for your Hollister orders using: PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express, Discover, Astro Pay, Yandex, Qiwi, WebMoney, SafetyPay, and Poli.
With a lot of worldwide options supported, making payment for your Hollister order will not be a problem no matter where you are resident.
Also, Hollister supports a host of international currencies so many customers will not have to worry about currency conversions when buying from Hollister. There’s support for USD, AUD, NZD, EUR, and over 15 other currencies. Payment with SafetyPay is available in EUR and USD; payment in Poli is available in AUD, NZD and USD; payment with PayPal, Visa, and Master is available in all currencies supported by Hollister; while payment with the other methods is available in only USD.
The items you buy from an online store have to be shipped to wherever you’ll receive possession of them. Thus, shipping is an important consideration in online purchases. Some very important shipping elements are: Shipping destination, Shipping times, and Shipping Cost.
You can only buy from a store that ships to where your territory, else receiving delivery of your order will be difficult. In this regards, the ideal online store will ship you many worldwide locations so that where you are resident will most likely be covered.
Hollister does relatively well in this regards. Unlike fashion stores that serve only their domestic markets or only a few other markets, Hollister ships to many locations across the globe. The over 80 locations that Hollister ships to include: American Samoa, Aruba, Australia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Christmas Islands, Cocos Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, French Polynesia, Greenland, Grenada, Guam, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Macau, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Northern Marina Islands, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States, Uruguay, US Virgin Islands, Venezuela, and Vietnam.
That customer does not exist who, after placing an order, will be willing to wait forever for the package to be delivered. Thus, the ideal online fashion store will deliver orders quickly. Also, shipping cost adds up to the total spend on any merchandise, so even when the item is acceptably priced, high shipping cost could raise the cost of acquiring it to unacceptable levels. Thus, the ideal fashion shop should have shipping costs that are as low as possible.
In this regards, Hollister does relatively well. How long it’ll take for orders to be delivered after placement, and how much it’ll take to deliver the items to the shipping address will depend on a combination of the shipping destination and the shipping method chosen.
For delivery to the US, there are three delivery options – Standard, Two Days, and Next Day. The Standard shipping takes 4 – 9 business days to deliver to most areas while delivery to some other area can take up to 14 days. The delivery option cost $7.00. The Two Day option delivers as its name suggest (within two days), and it cost $15.00. Lastly, the Next Day delivery option cost $22.00 and will have your order at your door the very next day after placement. However, for the expedited options (Two days delivery and Next day delivery), the orders will have to be placed before 2.00pm (EST) between Monday and Friday. Also, it should be said that delivery to Hawaii and Alaska may take 10 – 15 business days, while delivery to the US Territories and APO/ FPO addresses will take up to three weeks for delivery.
When shipping to Canada, there are only two options – Standard Shipping which takes 5 – 7 business days, and Express Air Shipping which takes 3 – 5 business days. However, the cost of the shipment is also influenced by the order amount as follows: For orders less than $100, Standard shipping cost $15, while Express Air shipping cost $20; for orders of $101 – $300, Standard shipping is $25, while Express Air shipping is $30; for orders of $301 – $500, Standard shipping is $30, while Express Air shipping is $35; and for orders over $500, standard shipping cost $35, while Express Air shipping cost $40.
For almost every other international location that Hollister ships to, the store offers Economy shipping which takes 7 – 11 working days, and Standard shipping which takes 5 -8 working days. For Australia and South Korea, Economy orders cost $15 while Standard orders cost $20; but for the others locations Economy orders cost $20, while Standard orders cost $35.
When it comes to shipping costs, the lowest possible cost is zero, which is free shipping. Thankfully, Hollister offers free shipping. Hollister does better than most stores because their free shipping offer is not restricted to their domestic US market. Often we find that fashion stores who trumpet free shipping restrict the offer to only domestic orders, while shipping must be paid for all international orders. But is Hollister free shipping is available for every location that the store ships to. For all US orders, the free shipping offer is for the Standard shipping; while for all international orders, it is for the Economy shipping option.
However, as typical of fashion stores, the free shipping offer comes with minimum order requirement. You’ll only get free shipping in Hollister if your order is above $99.00. While you can find stores that’ll ship free of charge with order qualifying amount of only $50, the $99+ requirement of Hollister is not too high. Thus, you won’t have to overspend just so your order can qualify for free shipping.
It’s no news that customers return a chunk of purchases back to the retailers. There are so many reasons customers will have for returning merchandise, which range from receiving a defective item, to ordering a wrong size, to buyers’ remorse (buyer having change of mind about the purchase). Thus, the return policy of an online fashion store is an important consideration. The important things to look out for include: return window, returnable items, cost of return, and refunds processing.
Like any serious fashion retailer, Hollister accept returns of their merchandise if the customer is not totally satisfied with it. The process is relatively easy. Returns can either be done in-store or via mail. For in-store return, you only have to take the unwanted merchandise (along with its invoice) to any of the many Hollister retail outlets. For returns via mail, you only have to package the unwanted merchandise, and send it to the return address. You’ll also have to include your order invoice and the reason for returning the item. The return address for the return shipment is:
Hollister Co. Returns Department
100 Hollister Co. Way
New Albany, OH 43054, US
While the return process is relatively easy, the easiest process will be the provision of prepaid and pre-addressed return labels that the customer can simply attach to the return package before dropping it off with a courier.
However, customers don’t have forever to make the return. Only returns made within an allowed time frame are accepted by the store. Thus, from the customers’ perspective, the ideal store will offer an extended time so that customers will not be pressed with time when making their returns.
Hollister’s return window makes for good reading. Returns for refunds are accepted if made within 60 days of the order shipment date. Before getting excited at the 60 days window and comparing it with the 30 days that is most often seen on offer; it should be noted that the 60 days window of Hollister starts from the date the order ships from their facility. Thus, when the package is enroute to but yet to be received by the customer, the return window has started closing. However, since it would not take 30 days for shipped packages to arrive at the shipping address, the “60 days from shipment date” that Hollister offers is still better than the “30 days from delivery date” that many other stores offers.
That said, you’ll not be pressed with time when making returns, so there’s less risk of your returns getting to the store late.
However, even if your package gets to the store late (after 60 days from shipment date); it will still be accepted, but Hollister will issue your store credits. This is relatively fine because many of the fashion retailers, even with smaller return windows, will not accept returns reaching their facilities late.
If you receive merchandise from a retailer that you are not totally satisfied with, you do not want to be put off returning the items to the retailer because of the cost of making the returns. Thus, you’ll want a store that features costs that are as low as possible.
The lowest possible cost is zero, that is free returns; and there some fashion stores that offer this by assuming the cost of return shipping. However, Hollister does not offer free return. Thus, the customers will bear the cost of returns.
You may find that the return shipping costs in Hollister will be relatively higher than return shipping costs in stores where return labels are not provided. This is because with return labels the return shipping is discounted. However, though customer bear return shipping costs, and they might not be the lowest possible, at least it’s good that in Hollister, there are no such charges as restocking costs.
It should be said that in online independent platforms, you’ll find a lot of negative customers’ reviews of Hollister, and a lot of these has to do with returns especially the cost of returns.
Hollister issues refunds to the original means of payment if the items are received within the return window. However, for items received late, stores credits will be issued, which will come as e-gift card to the email used for registration. Hollister also advertises that refunds are processed and issued quickly. However, the numerous customer’s reviews in independent platforms seem to disagree, as they are rife with customers who, after returning a Hollister order, have had to wait for too long to receive their refunds.
It’s inevitable that customers will have questions and/ or complaints; thus, the ideal online fashion store should provide for handling these questions and complaints.
The first stop to getting answers in most online platforms is an FAQ page. However, we didn’t find any link to an FAQ section in all the pages of the Hollister website that we purred through. It took a search to get an FAQ nestled somewhere in one .cn extension. However, it was not detailed. That said, given the importance of an FAQ, we’ll want to find links to a detailed FAQ either in the landing page of the website or in the support pages of the website.
Because the self help resources are lacking or inadequate, if you have questions, you’ll be better off directly contacting the customer support department of Hollister. To their credit, they support a wide range of contact channels, which include social media support via twitter, an email service, a live chat service, and a telephone service.
For the twitter service, you can send your submissions to @hollistercohelp; and for the e-mail service, you can open a support ticket or send them an email directly from your email account. If you’ll rather have instant feedback, you use the live chat (accessible from the hollisterco website) or the telephone service. For telephone support, Hollister provides a number of toll free lines which means that you don’t have to worry about charges when seeking assistance from Hollister.
However, it should be said that the area where Hollister has received most negative reviews is their customer support service. The poor ratings you’ll find of Hollister in the independent customer review platforms centers around unsatisfactory service from the store’s support agents. Reviews include basic customer support failures such as the support department not responding to support submissions, or largely being unhelpful.
What we didn’t like was that Hollister did not respond to any of the negative reviews even in some of the more popular customers’ reviews platform such as Trustpilot.com and Sitejabber.com. Very often we find fashion stores seeking out aggrieved customers in these reviews platforms; and this has led to the resolution of many previously unresolved issues. That said, because of the plethora of customer support complaints, the support department of Hollister didn’t particularly come out as effective; and because of their absence in the independent review platforms, they also did not come out as reactive either.
Hollister Co. comes out as a serious fashion retailer. The American brand is known for its Southern California (SoCal) inspired styles and offers a variety of lifestyle and casual wears. Hollister has lived up to its mission to provide excellent youthful fashion styles at knock off prices. The store features good fashion pieces and their prices are very competitive. In terms of service, they ship to some 82 worldwide locations; though the coverage is not great it is relatively good. Also, free shipping is offered to all locations, albeit for orders over $99. To ensure customer satisfaction, they have a very generous return window, and will even issue store credit if the items are returned late.
However, delivery times can be improved upon; while the cost of return is relatively high. Also, while there are different means to contact the customer support department, the evidence shows that support service tends to produce frowns than smiles.
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