These are four different cases for the iPhone 14 pro max.
Which would you choose?
The slimmer design, the durable model, a fun art one or something with your
name on it like this?
In 2011, a graphic designer in Hong Kong thought, why not have all 4 in 1?
His solution was casetify.
Originally an app that turned Instagram pictures into phone cases.
Today, it's a global tech accessory brand specializing in high quality,
customized phone cases and more.
My favorite favorite of all time has to be like this one just because of how
happy and bright it is, especially with the like matching little Casetify phone
strap.
In addition to its customizable phone cases, the company is well known for its
collaborations with hundreds of famous brands and names.
Here's how Casetify built a 300 million tech accessory empire.
To understand the company's growth and how it has sold over 15 million phone
cases. We have to go back to 2011.
The iPhone four just launched and Wesley Ning just got his hands on one.
I thought to myself I needed a phone case to protect my phone, but then when
I looked at the market, it's all boring, you know, they all looks the
same.
In the past, cases for your phone were mostly utilitarian brands like Otterbox,
Speck and Belkin were mainly marketed for things like water resistance or drop
protection.
And I was an Instagram addict back then, so I thought, okay, if I make an app
that could turn your Instagram photos into a customized phone case, would
people buy them?
Ning started Casetify, which was originally called Case to Gram in 2011.
Companies that originate online like Casetify are considered digitally native
vertical brands or sometimes called Instagram brands.
These types of brands can reach a lot of different consumers through social
media.
They're putting themselves directly in front of their consumer.
The way I see it, Casetify customers are there not a specific demographics to
describe it, but more like people who wanted to represent themselves
creatively?
I take a whole moment of my day just to like go through my phone cases and see
which one matches the most.
It's like picking out jewelry.
24 year old Hailey Raiss is a florist in Chicago.
She bought her first Casetify case back in 2020 when she saw someone post a
press flower case on social media.
She says today she has 30 cases from Casetify.
The phone charm is $52 and the phone case itself is $68.
Casetify products are not cheap.
Most cases range from $50 to $90, and the company has seen negative feedback
from the pricing.
Some customers have turned to social platforms like TikTok to share how their
cases broke or fell apart.
But experts say Gen-z shoppers are big spenders when it comes to
self-expression.
I always go after, like the phone cases that have too much color and that will
pop and then, like add it to my daily life.
I drink coffee all the time, so like I have a coffee phone case.
I feel like Casetify is still like such a big thing.
It's because they stay on trend.
They know what's trending, they know what people want to put in their tiktoks
and what they want to put on their Instagrams.
A recent study found that in the e-commerce space, Gen-z is more likely
to try new brands than any other generation of shoppers.
However, Gen Z's brand loyalty is much weaker than other generations, meaning
it's easy to grab the attention of new Gen Z customers but harder to keep them
coming back.
It's not necessarily something that's unique to Gen Z, though.
It's a facet of youth culture and the ability to tap into what is cool and new
with young adults that, let's face it, most of us do pay attention to, even if
we've aged out of that cohort.
One way Casetify stands out is through influencer marketing.
I love when Kylie Jenner posts.
Okay, I do.
She was another reason why I knew I needed a case to buy case because she
had one. And if she has one, I want to be like Kylie.
Having someone that you trust validate that brand and their products as being
high quality, as being worth worth.
Your money is a massive help in a very crowded e-commerce and social media
advertising space.
Casetify phone cases are primarily collaborations with artists, celebrities
and iconic characters from Basquiat and Olivia Rodrigo to Sailor Moon in the
Disney Princesses.
Getting most of your success from trending items, people or commodities is
a risky game, and it can get even riskier as trends die down in the face
of youth culture changes.
A brand's ability to tap in and to continually reinvent and ensure that
they understand their customer over time is an extremely tall order.
Casetify decided to expand its inventory lineup in 2014 to include Apple Watch
bands as well as Airpod and computer cases.
I remember when the Apple Watch was first launched and the night we were
just working in the office doing markup and then just launched the product the
day after. I think that is really speed.
The introduction of additional products absolutely makes sense.
It's a key way that brands can continue to grow and earn additional share of
wallet from their shoppers.
During a series a funding round in 2021, Casetify accepted its first ever
investment from SI Ventures and its founder, Adrian.
Chang. I respect him his vision into how he looked at business and art and
cultural, and also he have a vision of how to bring Casetify into retail
footprints around the world.
Today, Casetify has 26 retail locations.
If you walked into our store, you can see you almost have a feeling like
walking into a candy store.
That is exactly the feeling that that I wanted our customers to have.
And also, you can design your own one of a kind phone cases at the stores and
get the products in about 30 minutes.
That's instant gratification.
Ning says that seeing and feeling the products in real life will help
customers understand the price tag, which is feedback Casetify has been
getting for years.
And Tassin says most people actually prefer to shop in stores.
It helps to build trust with consumers.
We know that consumers trust brands with physical retail presence more so
than they trust online brands.
It's a pretty significant trust gap between brands with a physical presence
and e-commerce only brands.
So it does help to reassure consumers and to let them really see your full
range of products and explore those products in person.
In 2020, Casetify reached $125 Million in sales across their e-commerce site
and physical stores.
But by the end of 2022, Casetify increased its sales by 140%, reaching
300 million in revenue.
And fans like Hayley say they are always ready to buy a new phone case.
Everyone has their own kind of collecting kind of thing.
So some people collect shoes, some people collect purses.
I feel like with phone cases it's just the same thing.
There's limited edition ones, there's ones that come out with collabs with
your phone case. You use it all the time like it's not on display.
It's with you all day.
But experts like Tassin say that Akkada case defies continued success, will be
to grow with the customers as well.
The ability for a brand to age with a shopper so as they grow up to be
consistently part of their lives is really, really tough, especially with
Gen Z because they uniquely have less brand loyalty than other generations do.
So it's one thing to win the attention of a young consumer.
It's another thing to grow with them over time and continue to serve their
needs.
Although it's hard to tell what is cool ahead of time, Casetify plans to stay on
top of trends and in the game for a long time.
I'll always say to the team, you know, the perfect picture would be everyone
have a casetify.
So we casetify the world one case at a time.