I had a look at the article linked to in@MugPlate's post about the redesign. It was actually mostly favourable:
So, what’s good about the redesign?
I’ve been thinking for some time that navigation and filtering can really take the fun out of ecommerce, in a category like fashion at least. That doesn’t mean I don’t need faceted navigation, just that websites could often do a better job of serendipitous product discovery without scrolling through a full catalogue.
This dynamic has arguably always been a part of online shopping – how can retailers make a site inspirational and different whilst also ensuring we can all find the precise things we want?
But beyond standing out from the crowd, there are new(er) dynamics with which retailers must contend. Ecommerce and media is in a different place to 2017. Firstly, everybody is on TikTok or Instagram all day, scrolling through vertical videos. How can browsing an ecommerce catalogue on your phone aspire to deliver the same levels of serotonin? When we are in ‘inspire me’ mode, we want video and we want to scroll, we don’t want to swim in a sea of checkboxes and dropdowns.
To this end, I think the Uniqlo homepage does a good job of delivering hero products, categories, and yes, even editorial. This is achieved with big imagery and often full-screen video, too.
There are much simpler ways to inspire though. For example, I do like the styling shots for the Uniqlo:C collection - they're simply better photographs than the usual static, face-to-camera catalogue look. Also, each item the model is wearing is referenced, so you can buy more of the look if you want (always wondered why don't retailers don't do that as a matter of course). I would have included a screenshot, but that would mean trying to find the page again. You can access the usual 'catalogue' layout of the collection from the search button on the home page.