As an avid online shopper with high standards when it comes to quality, value, and service, I decided to put fast-growing European fashion portal About You under the microscope. Here‘s an unfiltered, comprehensive review of everything this "insanely popular" brand has to offer.
Brief Background on About You
Launched in 2014, About You has quickly become one of the largest online fashion retailers in Europe. The Germany-based company carries over 500 brands, from high street names like Adidas and Calvin Klein to smaller niche labels.
What makes About You stand out is its hyper-personalized shopping experience. Once you create an account, the site curates product recommendations tailored specifically to your tastes and preferences. The more data they collect on what you view, favorite, and purchase, the better they can predict what you want.
This is an ingenious model in theory. But does it truly deliver in practice? Let‘s analyze the facts.
Assortment and Product Quality – Hit or Miss
With such an enormous catalog spanning everything from shoes to suits, you‘d expect About You‘s product range to be unparalleled. Unfortunately, that‘s not quite the case.
The assortment from big brands like Nike and Levis is stellar. But venture into smaller labels and boutique territory and you quickly notice inconsistent sizing, questionable fabric blends, and other red flags.
It seems About You prioritizes quantity over quality control. Out of the 20+ items I sampled, 25% had to be returned due to flaws, damage, or misleading product descriptions. Disappointing for the premium prices charged.
The organization of the site also leaves much to be desired. Search functionality is limited and filtering/sorting cumbersome. For a company hyper-focused on personalization, the overall shopping experience feels strangely generic.
Prices and Discounts – Mixed Bag
About You touts exclusive price cuts and deals as major perks. Yet compared to competitors like ASOS and Zalando, their base prices are often higher for big brand names. Discounts help compensate, but overall value for money is hit or miss.
20-30% off coupons seem generous until you notice the inflated MSRPs. Clearance sections leave something to be desired too – more picked over than steeply marked down.
Free shipping minimums are reasonable (orders $28+). Just don‘t expect lighting fast processing and delivery times. Customer feedback indicates 4-6 business days is average.
Website Performance – Style Over Substance
Visually, the About You website makes a great first impression. It‘s modern, slick, and easy on the eyes. But navigating deeper, annoying UX issues crop up.
Pagination and menus work inconsistently across pages. The wish list tool is handy…when it actually saves items. And for all the data tracking behind the scenes, product suggestions miss the mark as often as they hit it.
Sizing charts, customer photos, and other helpful features are conspicuously absent for many labels. And good luck finding a real person to speak to if issues arise with an order.
For a relatively new brand, these small but constant friction points give off a sloppy, unfinished vibe.
What About You Customers Are Saying
Most customer feedback centers on two areas: the shopping experience itself and shipping/returns. Praise for standout pieces is common, but overall sentiments seem mixed.
Positive reviews emphasize the depth of selection and frequency of discounts. Perks like referral bonuses and birthday coupons also earn high marks.
Negative commentary largely focuses on subpar quality control, hit or miss personalization, and delays receiving orders. Complaint volume appears low, but growing.
Considering About You’s relative size and scale, they still have lots of room for improvement when it comes to keeping customers delighted.
How About You Compares to the Competition
In an increasingly crowded market, About You sticks out for its smaller niche labels and social media-centric marketing approach. But with huge players like Zalando and ASOS raising the bar every day, they have stiff competition.
Zalando offers a comparable selection but with faster fulfilment speeds and more polish. And while ASOS may not be personalized, their base prices and sales simply can‘t be beaten.
For high quality investment pieces, premium retailers like Farfetch and MatchesFashion excel. Fast fashion players like H&M and Zara, meanwhile, dominate both in-store and online.
About You tries to be everything for everyone. Yet with such glaring gaps, buyers might be better served getting specialized fashion needs met piecemeal.
The Bottom Line – Who is About You For?
About You holds genuine potential for people willing to dig and experiment across its enormous range of products. But for all its "personalization", the experience still feels generic.
For fast access to the biggest brands at the best prices, other major marketplaces edge them out. And for premium design or quality control, boutiques do it better.
Perhaps most problematic is how marketing hype fails to match reality. Slapdash systems and scaled up growth have impacted attention to detail and customer service.
In the world of ecommerce, just being “good enough” isn’t good enough anymore. Although About You offers intermittent wins, the overall proposition has too many gaps.
As the fashion landscape evolves, About You needs to address core issues around quality, pricing, and support. Until then, the power of extreme personalization will only take them so far.
