According to the founders of Hello Molly, the fashion store was created so that “every girl will have access to on-trend must-have wardrobe essentials that don’t break the bank”. This means that Hello Molly should be the go-to destination for affordable trending women styles.
Looking for the best and unbiased critical study and evaluation of Hello Molly?
If yes, you have come to the right place!
As you would know, there is a world of difference between “should be” and “is”. Does Hello Molly actually provide exquisite trending styles at affordable prices? In the first place is Hello Molly legit? This review will examine Hello in order to provide the information that will help you answer those questions and more.
Hello Molly review at a glance
- A Sydney-based fashion retailer that started in 2012
- They provide only women clothing and accessories
- They specialize in party wears; but they hold a wide product range that includes dresses, tops, playsuits, shorts, swimwear etc
- They ship to around 130 countries across the globe
- They offer free shipping (free Express shipping for Australia orders above $50, and free Standard shipping for US and New Zealand orders above $100)
- They allow returns made within 30 days of delivery date; but customers bear returns shipping cost (US only returns label cost $9.50)
- They issue store credit for returns, except it was a faulty item that was delivered
- Accepted payment methods are Master card, American Express, PayPal, and Hello Molly store credit
- Customer support is via online contact form, email ([email protected] or [email protected]).
What is Hello Molly?
The company was started in 2012 by Ena Hadziselimovic and an unnamed partner. At inception and ever since the company’s focus has been on women fashion. According to the founder, the goal is for every girl to have access to trending styles and wardrobe essentials. Thus, the company not only keeps pace with fashion styles but provide them at affordable rates. They specialize in party wears and special occasion dresses, with matching shoes and other accessories. Hello Molly sells own-branded merchandise as well as curated pieces from some of the best labels in the industry; so, you’ll find that they have a large inventory size.
The company only began going be the name Hello Molly in late 2017; until then they were called Hello Molly Fashion. However, while the company’s name saw a shortening, their operation saw an expansion. From being a business that started in the living room of the principal founder, Holly Molly quickly rose to become a global fashion retailer. The company is currently headquartered in Sydney; they have other offices in Los Angeles and Beijing; and they ship to over 130 countries across the globe.
The online store can be found at www.hellomolly.com. They have two websites – a US site and an Australian site. The sites are available in English Language. They are also mobile optimized, meaning you can shop on the go with your mobile phones and tablets.
Is Hello Molly legit or a scam?
Hello Molly is actually legit, and not a scam. You should want to know that an online platform is legit before joining the platform, especially when your hard-earned money is involved. Cyber fraudsters are on the increase; and one of the ways they rip people off is to open fake stores where they’ll lead unsuspecting customers to pay for goods that won’t be delivered. If you’ll want to get your package all the time, you should do business with only legit store.
Hello Molly comes out as such a store for many reasons. They’ve been operating for more than 6 years. Although that’s shorter than many fashion retailers in the business, it is more years than a scam store can operate. Typically, scam stores are short-lived; in only a short time (after a few persons have been ripped off), scam operation is exposed, and with such exposure the fake stores disappear. Hello Molly has walked the other path; they have shone the light on their operation, and the exposure has grown the brand.
Hello Molly also has a physical presence which shows that the store is legit. Most often than not, fake stores exist only virtually. Fake stores have no offices, warehouse, stores, and products. Thus, when one places an order in such stores, there’s nothing to deliver. However, Hello Molly has physical offices and distribution centers which confers on them the capacity to fulfill orders. When you place an order in Hello Molly, you’re guaranteed to receive delivery of the merchandise. Thus, Hello Molly is legit.
Lastly, in the 2018 Online Retail Industry Awards (ORIAS) organized by the Australia Post, Hello Molly was finalist in two categories – ‘Best Social Commerce Initiative’ and ‘Best Site Optimization & Design’. This recognition by a reputable industry watcher shows that Holly Molly is legit. There is no way a scam site will gain such nominations.
Is Hello Molly Safe?
Hello Molly is also safe to use. You also want a safe store. A safe store is one that will protect whatever information you share with it. It means nothing if a legit store is not safe because the information you share with a store is sensitive, and if it falls into the wrong hands, you’ll be defrauded or worse. Such information includes your credit card details and other personal information such as your mailing address, contact address and more. Thus, the ideal online fashion retailer must not only be legit, but also safe.
Hello Molly states that they are committed to ensuring that the information they collect from customers is secure, and that to ensure this they employ some physical, electronic and managerial procedures such as pseudonymisation and encryption. That said, we’ll like to see more details and specifics such as the encryption level used. However, the lack of such specifics does not mean that the store is not safe. In fact, we can say that Hello Molly is safe because they are among the online fashion stores that have not suffered a data breach.
Products
Product Range
You want a store that has a wide product range. You wouldn’t want to get your bottoms in one store, and go to another store to get your top. Instead, you’ll want to get your fashion items in one store. Apart from the convenience it affords, there is also cost savings. First, your order amount will be high and you might qualify for big order discounts. Also, where the store offers flat shipping rates, you’ll get to pay for only one order shipment to get all your items, as against paying multiple shipping costs to ship from different stores.
In this regard, Hello Molly ticks the box. They provide women fashion and the hold the full gamut. You’ll find different styles of dresses, tops, bottoms, casual wears, shoes, accessories and more. The product categories in the site (and the different items you’ll find in each category) are as follows:
- Dresses – Party dresses, Day dresses, Printed dresses, Maxi dresses, and more
- Rompers – Party Rompers, Day Rompers, Printed Rompers, Jumpsuit
- Tops – Crop tops, sleeveless tops, short sleeved and long sleeved tops, Bodysuits and Bralets, Outerwear, Sweaters, Co-ord
- Bottoms – Skirts, Shorts, Pants, Jeans, Co-ords
- Shoes – Heels, Boots, Sandals, Flats
- Accessories – Bags, Bandanas, Beauty products, Belts, Blankets, Stocking, Sunglasses, Jewelry, Magic Bra, Headwear, Watches, Home wear
- Swim items – Swim wear (such as Bikinis and One pieces) inflatable beds, Towels, Beach pillows, Beach bags, drink holders and more.
Holly Molly Dresses
Holly Molly Collections
Holly Molly Top
Holly Molly PlaySuits
Holly Molly Bottom
Holly Molly SwimSuits
Holly Molly Shoes
Holly Molly Accessories
Inventory Size and Product Quality
It’s not enough that a fashion store has a wide product range. It’s also important that the store has a lot of items in each product type. A large inventory of each product type means that when choosing any item, you’ll have a large inventory to choose from, and you’ll be more likely to find something that you like
In this regard, Hello Molly ticks the box. At the time of writing this review, there were literally over two thousand styles in the dresses section alone. The rompers section had over 500 styles; the skirts section had over 100 styles; and so on. Hello Molly also releases 100 new styles every week; so you’ll be spoilt with choice in the site. If you’re into branded clothing, you’ll also find joy in Hello Molly. They draw a lot of collections from over 40 reputable brands which includes Ace of Something, Dear Emilia, Hazel clothes, Morgan and Taylor, Runaway, Verali, and Windor Smith.
Another important consideration is the quality of products in the store. Hello Molly also ticks the box in these regards because they provide pieces made from quality materials and with excellent tailoring. The hallmark of quality is standing the test of time; and customers have commented that items from Hello Molly remain in shape after numerous washes. In the many customers’ reviews platforms online, negative reviews of the product quality in Hello Molly are very few. Generally, customers highly rate the quality of items in the store.
Prices and Related Policies
Price
The price of items in a store is the first thing most customers look at because nobody wants to pay above what’s reasonable for any item. Thus, for even a legit fashion store to survive, items in the store should be perceived as reasonably priced. Hello Molly knows this and promises affordable items that won’t make you break the bank.
The best way to gauge the affordability of prices in a store is to compare the prices with those of other stores. When this is done, Hello Molly does not come out as affordable, but you won’t have to break the bank either. For example, at the time of writing this review, most of the dresses and rompers in the store were priced at $64 – $85 and skirts were priced at $52 – $83. If affordable price is the watchword, you’ll definitely balk at those prices, especially as there are fashion retailers where you can get similar clothing for far less.
Promotions
Customers want to get the best value from any purchase. Promotions provide that because they offer customers the opportunity to get items for free or for less than the full price. As a result customers are always on the lookout for promotions. Thus, the ideal online fashion store should run a lot of promotions.
You’ll know an online fashion retailer that is generous with promotions the moment you get to the landing page of their website. It’ll feature different price slashing discounts and other promos. Unfortunately, we saw none of those price slashing discounts in the landing page of Hello Molly’s website. All we saw was a student discount that gave students 10% off their purchases. However, there was nothing like a sign-up bonus, a loyalty bonus, or a referral bonus. Digging deeper into the site, we saw a “payments, promos, gift vouchers store credits” page that explained that Hello Molly do run promos, but that at the time, there were no promo codes available.
In our opinion, a fashion site that is serious about promos will have at least one promo running at any particular time. That said; if you want a site that’ll give you the opportunity to get amazing deals via promos, Hello Molly just might not be it.
Financing
Sometimes there are items you’ll find in a fashion store that you’ll love to have; but you just can’t because the funds to get them are not readily available. That situation can be avoided in Hello Molly because they have a financing arrangement with AfterPay. As the name suggests, AfterPay allows you to get items now and pay later.
AfterPay allows you to pay up in four equal installments in two weeks intervals. If you’re a first-time user of AfterPay, you’ll pay the first installment at the time of the purchase; and every two weeks after, an installment will be automatically taken from your nominated card. But if you’re an existing customer of AfterPay, the first installment will be due 14 days after your purchase; and the other installment payments will follow every other 14 days.
One of the good parts of AfterPay financing is that it is interest-free, which means that you’ll not pay anything over and above the amount of your order. However, to use AfterPay, your order must be up to $1,000, and you must be resident in Australia.
Payment Method
You want to be able to make payment for your order without stress. For that, you’ll want the online store to support a wide range of payment methods, so that finding one to use will not be an issue no matter where you are resident.
In this regard, Hello Molly does not really shine. They accept payment from only Master card, American Express, PayPal, AfterPay, and Hello Molly store credit. They do not accept check (cheque) or COD (Cash on Delivery); there’s also no support for any of the web wallets or crypto currencies such as bitcoin.
However, with Master card and PayPal supported, you shouldn’t have any problem paying for your order; but if alternative payment method is a concern of yours, you’ll not find joy in Hello Molly.
Shipping Details
If you plan to make purchases from an online store, you’ll have to look at the shipping policy of the store, because the merchandise will have to leave the store and get to you. The three important shipping considerations are: Shipping destinations, Shipping times, and shipping cost.
Shipping Destinations
Online stores do not ship to every location on the planet. So before using an online store, you should want to know if the store ships to where you’ll want to receive the package. You’ll have to plan to receive your package in any of the locations that an online store serves, or you’ll have to look at another online store that serves your location. In this regard, the ideal online store will ship to many locations across the globe so that where you’re located will most likely be covered.
Online stores do not ship to every location on the planet. So before using an online store, you should want to know if the store ships to where you’ll want to receive the package. You’ll have to plan to receive your package in any of the locations that an online store serves, or you’ll have to look at another online store that serves your location. In this regard, the ideal online store will ship to many locations across the globe so that where you’re located will most likely be covered.
Shipping Times and Shipping Cost
You want to know how long it will take to get your package after placing your order. In this regard, the ideal online store will not keep you waiting for too long. Also, you want to know how much it will cost for your package to get to you. Shipping costs add to the expenditure on the merchandise; and high shipping costs might make the items too expensive to purchase. Thus, the ideal store will have shipping costs that are as low as possible.
In terms of shipping times; Hello Molly has one of the fastest order processing times in the industry. All orders received before 2pm (local Sydney time) on a business day is shipped out that same day; while orders received after 2pm will be shipped out the next business day. After that how long it takes to get to you will depend on the carrier. If you’ve checked reviews of other online fashion retailer, you’ll find that the order processing time of Hello Molly is worth emulating. This is because some of the retailer’s process orders as fast as Hello Mello only when it’s expedited delivery; but for domestic Standard delivery and international orders, processing time can be as long as five business days. That said; the fast processing time means that orders are dispatched on time to the carrier, and you’re more likely to get your package on time.
In terms of shipping costs, Hello Molly employs a policy which encourages customers to spend more in the store; because the higher the order amount, the lower its shipping cost. For domestic Australia shipment, all orders are shipped expressly which takes 1 – 2 business days. It cost $6.95 for all orders under $50, and is free for all orders above $50. For New Zealand Orders, there are two delivery options – Express Delivery which is still 1 – 2 business days, and Standard Delivery which takes 2 – 5 business days. Standard delivery cost $10 for orders under $70; it cost $5 for orders between $70 and $100; and it’s free for orders above $100. The Express Delivery cost $15 for all orders under $70; it cost $10 for orders between $70 and $150; and it cost $5 for orders above $150.
For Orders shipping to the US, the Standard Delivery takes 4 – 9 business days and the Express Delivery takes 3 – 4 business days. The Standard Delivery cost $10 for orders under $70; it cost $5 for orders of $70 – $100; and it is free for all orders above $100. The Express Delivery cost $15 for all orders under $100; and cost $5 for all orders above $100.
For Orders shipping to Canada, Express delivery will take 3 – 5 business days; and cost $15 for orders under $100, and $5 for orders above $100. Orders shipping to Asia Pacific will take 3 – 4 business days; it cost $20 for orders under $70, $15 for orders between $70 and $150, and $10 for orders above $150. For orders shipping to the UK will take 4 – 5 business days, and orders shipping to the rest of the world will take 5 – 7 business days. However, they have same cost; it’s $30 for orders under $70, it’s $25 for orders between $70 and $150, and it’s $15 for orders above $150.
However, it should be noted that for international orders, you’ll have to pay all custom duties and related charges upon delivery of the package (even if you reject the package).
There are many takeaways from the shipping cost and times. First, delivery time estimates are relatively short and so is order processing time; so, you should expect fast delivery. Customer reviews from independent online platforms such as Trust Pilot shows that customers are largely pleased with how fast Hello Molly delivered. Also, free shipping is offered; albeit to only three locations (Australia, New Zealand and the US). We’ll like to see free shipping applying to many more locations. Another good thing is that the amount that qualifies an order for free shipping is low ($50+ for Australia orders, $100+ for US and New Zealand orders).
One of the things we didn’t like about the shipping policy of Hello Molly is their statement that: “Hello Molly is not liable for missing parcels due to errors on the customer or carrier’s part”. I can understand if they refuse to be held liable when it’s due an error from the customer; but I just don’t get it that my parcel didn’t get to me, and the store will tell me that it’s missing due to an error on the carrier’s part, but that they (the store) are not liable. I just can’t take that especially when it is the store that chose the carrier and arranged the whole delivery. In our opinion, an online fashion store should take responsibility for the package until it gets to the door of the customer.
Returns Policy
One risk associated with online purchase is that when the item is delivered to you and you’re actually holding it in your hand, you may not be totally satisfied with it. It may not have the same wow factor it did when you were viewing it on your computer screen; it may be that it got damaged on its way to you; it is even possible that an item different from what you ordered is what is delivered to you. And with fashion products being sized items; it’s may be that the item is too small or too big, and does not fit. Thus, the ideal store should allow you to return any item in you order that you are not totally satisfied with.
Like most of the online fashion retailers, Hello Molly allows returns. Their return policy allows a 30 days window from the date of delivery for you to return any item back to them. 30 days is like the industry average because most of the online fashion stores allow 30 days. So, you’ll not be pressed against time when making your returns.
However, for the merchandise to be accepted by Hello Molly, they must be unworn and unwashed, they should not have any stains or scents (perfumed); and they should have all tags attached (including Hello Molly Handtags). In the case of footwears, they must be returned with the original shoebox in its original conditions.
Note that not every item can be returned. Every item marked Final Sale cannot be returned. Also, for health and hygiene reasons, certain items cannot be returned including intimates, stockings, hair accessories, hats, earrings, cosmetics/ beauty products (including self-tanners).
To return any item, you’ll have to download and print a return form from their website; fill it, package the item (including the filled return form), and post it to Hello Molly. If you cannot print the return form, you may simply include the paper invoice that came with the order.
To ease the returns process, Hello Molly now offers a prepaid and pre-addressed returns label for US returns. However, customers bear the cost of all returns in Hello Molly. No returns shipping cost will be refunded. When you use the returns label, you’ll not be paying for shipping at the time; but the return label is priced at $9.50, and it will be deducted from your refund when it is being issued. We’ve come to love online fashion retailers that offer free returns, and were a little disappointed that Hello Molly does not.
When the returned item has reached Hello Molly, they’ll take 5 – 7 business days to process the returns and issue the refund. Even during rush hours, Hello Molly process refunds quickly; whatever the case you should expect to get your refund in, at most, 10 days after the returns is received by them. If you consider that many online fashion stores can keep you waiting for over a month for refunds, you’ll want to fall in love with the refund policy of Hello Molly. However, there is something about it that may not be too pleasing. Hello Molly issues most refunds as store credits. They will only issue cash for returns when the reason for returning any item is that the item was faulty when delivered to you.
Customer Support
When using an online store, you may have questions or issues that you’ll want to contact the store about. Therefore, you’ll want a store that provides various channels for contacting them. More importantly, you’ll want a store that provides the necessary assistance when contacted.
In this regards, Hello Molly shines brightly. The first step to getting answers is by visiting the FAQ page in their website. The page holds answers to many of the questions that customers have asked in the past. The topics covered include: delivery; order issues; payments, promos, gift vouchers and store credits; product stock; returns refunds; and technical.
To directly contact a customer support rep of Hello Molly, you can use an online contact form on their website, an email service or a phone service. For the email service, Hello Molly provides two email addresses; for general enquiries, you may send your mails to [email protected], but for enquiries relating to returns and exchanges, your mails should be sent to [email protected]. When you send them a mail, you’ll have to wait for some while to get a response. Thankfully, Hello Molly won’t keep you waiting for too long, as they answer mails within 24 hours.
To use the telephone service, your calls should be put through to +61 2 9017 0300. The telephone service is available only between 9:30am and 5:00pm AEST from Monday to Friday. It’s somewhat disappointing that the telephone service is not available round the clock.
You’ll agree that while it’s important that an online store provides different channels for contacting them, it’s even more important that the store is responsive when contacted, and that their response is helpful and actually solves the problem that necessitated the contact. In this regard, Hello Molly is worth emulating.
Hello Molly responds swiftly to all email submissions (most times within a few hours). Also, the responses are not only fast in coming but also very helpful. In Trust Pilot (an independent customer review platform), you’ll find reviews with comments such as: “always super quick to respond to any queries”, “customer support was top notch”, “Customer support was super helpful and quick to reply”, “problem sorted”, “customer support agent is awesome… very fast and efficient”, and so much more.
We’ve reviewed numerous online fashion stores, and for every review, we check independent customers’ review platforms to see what customer that have bought from the store have to say about it. We can say that, it’s rare to see an online fashion store whose support service customers rave about as they do about Hello Molly. That said; you can be sure that you’ll get needed assistance when you make your online purchases from Hello Molly.
Pros
- A wide product range, and a large inventory
- Free shipping is offered (albeit applicable to only three countries)
- Orders are dispatched in 1 – 2 days, and delivery is fast
- Returns window is a full 30 days
- There’s a buy-now-pay-later financing plan (albeit for only Australia customers
- Excellent customer support service that delivers prompt and helpful responses
Cons:
- The store is lacking in promotions
- Store credits are issued for returns, except the returns is of faulty items
- Limited payment methods – only Master card, American Express, PayPal, and Hello Molly store credit
- Telephone support is not available 24/ 7
Summary
There’s no doubt that Hello Molly is a legit online fashion store. Though they’re relatively younger than many of the competition, their offerings (products and service) do not show it. They provide only women clothing and accessories. They offer a wide product range and hold an unbelievably large inventory in almost every product category; thus, you’ll definitely find something that you like. Quality of items is also very good generally. Though Hello Molly claim that they provide affordable items; you’ll find that the items are a little bit pricey.
Unfortunately, they don’t run frequent price slashing discounts. However, if you’re up for buy-now-pay-later plans, you can use AfterPay and pay for your order in four installments over 6 – 8 weeks. Though, there are limited payment options, with global options such as PayPal and Master card, you shouldn’t have issues with paying for your order. Delivery is fast; and there is free delivery for customers in Australia, New Zealand and the US. You should know that Hello Molly says they won’t be liable if your parcel goes missing due to a fault of the carrier.
If your parcel does get to you, Hello Molly wants to ensure that you’re happy; so, you can return any item that you are not totally satisfied with within 30 days of the delivery date, and you’ll be issued store credits. To get a refund of cash, the returns must be because the item delivered was faulty.
Do you have any experience with Hello Molly? If yes, you may use the comment section below to give use your brief Hello Molly review.
0 Comments