4 Reasons You Need a Smartphone Case

Chances are that if you&#;ve ever owned a smartphone, you know just how delicate they can be. Fresh out of the box for only a week, and then away it goes, tumbling from your grasp and onto the floor. Considering how much we depend on our mobile devices these days, it&#;s surprising to see just how many people walk around without a decent case for it. If you&#;re one of those people that keeps your bare and case-free, here are four reasons why you should reconsider your approach.

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Benefits of Having a Smartphone Case

Better Grip

Between slips, drops, and splashes, placing a case on your can drastically improve your ability to hang onto it more securely, regardless of whether you&#;re out and about or doomscrolling at home. This way, your favourite device won&#;t easily slide through your hands and land in places you wish it didn&#;t. Get a grip with a case. Some cases offer rubberized grips or special coatings that help to maximize grip, and many of them do so without adding extra bulk or heft to the device, preserving the user experience.

Protect the Screen

We all know that the screen is usually the first thing to go after a solid drop. Well, instead of paying repair costs to fix a cracked screen, buy a case that will keep it safe instead. There are a variety you can choose from that will give that screen a much better chance of surviving those falls.

How does this work? Well, many cases actually include a raised lip that surrounds the screen. This helps to reduce the risk of any face-down falls impacting the screen itself, and you can even place your screen-down on a tabletop with peace of mind (a great solution for avoiding those pesky Google Nest cam notifications or social media updates while you&#;re trying to work).

Dirt and Spills

For most smartphone users, leaving anywhere without your only happens by mistake. No matter where it is, that seems to become more coddled and included in our daily activities than anything or anyone. But with that constant contact comes dirt, grime, and spills. Having an extra layer of protection on your means that it&#;s better suited to handle the rigours of daily life.

Personalize It

Aside from the more obvious reasons for dressing your with a case, another perk is that you get to personalize your . Whatever your taste, you&#;re sure to find a case to suit what you&#;re looking for. Plus, since so many phones today look alike, it comes in handy when you need to be sure you&#;ve got your .

Maximum Resale Value

Smartphones, especially iPhones, tend to retain their value over time. A case can minimize the risk of scratches, chipped metal frames, cracked rear glass or screens, scuffs, and other cosmetic forms of damage that could hurt resale value. Eventually, everyone upgrades, whether for the sake of wanting something shiny and new or various other reasons, so it quite literally pays to slap on a high-quality case! When it&#;s time to upgrade or find a new home for your current device, we&#;ll buy it from you at a competitive price at Mobile Klinik, so cashing in is easy!

How to Clean Your Case

During these uncertain times where staying healthy and safe is more important than ever, it&#;s good thinking to be mindful of cleanliness. Since your case will have direct contact with the world around it, this accessory should be kept especially clean. That being said, cleaning your case depends on the material it is constructed with. Most budget-friendly cases use a combination of plastics and rubber, while others use metal, leather (a favourite of many users), or even hardwoods. You might also be interested in a folio-style case that covers the screen when not in use, or you may prefer an ultra-slim case that tightly hugs the buttons and frame of the with as little additional girth as possible.

These factors contribute to cleaning methods. Some materials, like leather, won&#;t do well with alcohol wipes, for instance. Others, like rubber, act as dust and lint magnets and will require more frequent cleaning (the same applies for TPU plastic, which can feel gummy and grimy if not cleaned regularly). Try using sanitizing wipes, a damp cloth with a dab of soap, or other less abrasive cleaning methods. You might also want to give a UV sterilizing system a try, which helps to keep your and case germ-free.

Give your a little TLC. You rely on that little device day in and day out for just about everything, so it&#;s important to protect it. Mobile Klinik has everything you need to keep your safe, offering a wide selection of smartphone accessories and cases. If your caseless does get damaged, bring it in, and one of our qualified technicians will take care of it in 60 minutes or less in most situations. Find your nearest Mobile Klinik location today and stop by &#; we&#;d love to see you and your device!

There are 8.5 billion mobile device connections around the world, compared to our population of 7.6 billion people. That&#;s a lot of mobile phones!

While this sounds like the start of a sci-fi horror film, it&#;s actually a good sign if you want to create your case and accessories to sell online.

Custom cell cases, in particular, are easy to source and appeal to people who are looking to customize or extra functionality into the one device they can&#;t live without.

Building a business around making and selling your own cases comes with a variety of benefits:

• It&#;s easy to hold inventory and ship, due to their small size.
• They&#;re relatively low cost to produce.
• You can sell them both online and in an offline kiosk.
• You can print on demand to start with a lower risk or buy in bulk for better margins.
• Every new model offers a new opportunity to cater to the 44% of smartphone owners who upgrade every two years.

As with any business where the barrier to entry is low, there&#;s going to be competition. However, all you need to succeed is a piece of this massive market.

The following is a guide that answers common questions about starting a case business, such as:

• What types of cases are there?
• Where do I get unique designs for cases?
• How do I know what cases/designs will be popular?
• Where can I sell my cases?

If making and selling cases sounds like a compelling online business idea but you don&#;t know where to start, you&#;re in the right place. Check our how to start a business guide to get started.

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Is a case business profitable?

A case business is a profitable way to make money online. Personalized case, will seemingly never go out of style.

With a 5.4% Compound Annual Growth Rate, or CAGR, The "Mobile Cases Market"Size is expected to grow from million USD In , to reach .2 Million USD by according to MarketWatch. It&#;s clear there will be no lack of customers for your case business. 

cases are also easy to handle from a management perspective. They don&#;t break often, so there are fewer returns to deal with. They typically are lightweight and cheap to ship and often have decent profit margins. You can find cases for as little as $5 on a sites and sell them for $10+&#;an easy 50% profit. 

The best part? It doesn&#;t take much upfront investment to start a case business. You can create an online store in minutes, connect it to a dropshipping app, and go live in a few hours. 

Things to consider before starting a case business

Before you get to creating your own cases, there are a few things you&#;ll need to know, like the types of cases out there and which phones you should support.

Types of cases

Some cases are more practical, while others are more visually appealing. Some offer protection, while others are more like a second &#;skin&#; than a case. Some case companies try attempt to solve all of the above.

There are a multitude of options, but here are some of the most common types to get you started.

Slim and gel cases

Photo courtesy of: Printify

Slim cases are on the thinner side and let you add an eye-catching design and some additional grip to a , often through a flexible, rubbery silicone gel material.

These are some of the cheapest options you can use to produce and design your own case, especially if you want to print them on demand (more on that later). Remember, not every customer in the market for a case wants a super bulky &#;secure&#; case.

Bumper cases

Photo courtesy of: Oberlo

Unlike slim cases, these cases usually only cover the sides/border of your (they can also come with an additional piece for protecting the back from scratches) and are often made of a harder, shock-resistant material to protect your from dings and scratches.

Folio or wallet cases

Photo courtesy of: Oberlo

Folio cases have a cover that folds over the front of your to protect the screen from dust and scratches and give the the appearance of a small notebook.

Some even have wallet-like features, such as the ability to store cash or credit cards, while others can be turned into a stand to prop up your .

You&#;ll typically find these in a leathery material, and they likely will cost more than slim cases but also appeal to more practical consumers.

Tough cases

Photo courtesy of: Oberlo

Many people look at having a case less as an aesthetic choice and more as a way to protect the hundreds of dollars they invested in their should they ever drop it.

Tough cases are bulkier and add more weight to a but afford customers greater protection.

It&#;s important to recognize this when you create case online listings and write your product descriptions for tough cases, as anything from drop tests to details about water resistance can help give customers peace of mind.

Battery cases

Photo courtesy of: AliExpress

Battery life seems to be a problem regardless of what you have these days.

While they&#;re more expensive than most cases, battery cases are also very practical and offer a lot of utility for those moments when we wish we had just a bit more juice.

Since these cases not only protect your but provide some extra charge, battery cases are a good companion for models of phones where battery life is a constant complaint.

Silicone cases

Photo courtesy of: Oberlo

Silicone is another inexpensive option for selling cases online. Silicone cases are soft and durable and also work well in high temperatures. Silicone cases provide a softer touch for customers. You can find these on dropshipping sites for around $2 per case.

Choosing which devices to focus on

It&#;s not just a matter of deciding what kind of cases you want, but what kinds of phones you want to support.

However, this can also offer an opportunity to dig into specific niches based on models. If you can foresee a need for cases for upcoming phones or spot any underserved smartphone types, there may also be an opportunity there.

Some devices you may want to consider before you design or make custom cases are:

iPhone models

• iPhone 8
• iPhone X
• iPhone 11
• iPhone 12
• iPhone 12 Pro Max
• iPhone 13 mini
• iPhone 13 Pro
• iPhone 13 Pro Max
• iPhone 14
• iPhone 14 Pro
• iPhone 14 Plus

Samsung Galaxy models

• Galaxy S
• Galaxy A
• Galaxy F
• Galaxy M
• Galaxy Z

Xiaomi models

• Mi 9
• Mi 10
• Mi 11
• Xiaomi 11
• Xiaomi 12

To start do some basic keyword research in Google&#;s Keyword Planner or KWFinder to get a look at search volume as a reflection of demand for cases for specific types of phones. If you plan on using Google Ads to sell your products, it&#;s definitely worth looking into this before you &#;&#;make your case for .

How to make your own case business

The best case businesses didn&#;t become successful overnight. Even with some trial and error, these brands followed a business plan and grew at a sustainable pace. Use this step-by-step guide to structure your own business model and create your own case business:

1. Identify a need in the market

You won&#;t be able to successfully design your own case based on effort alone. Think about a niche in the market that no one is fulfilling yet. Is it a case that&#;s best for outdoor adventures? Is it a line of cases designed by local artists in your region? Figure out what types should exist that currently aren&#;t being offered by big brands&#;and then create cases online to fill those gaps. While many consumers are even trying to create DIY cases, there&#;s still plenty of opportunity to capture a slice of the market.

Andrew Moore of Felony Case, says in a Shopify Masters interview that when starting his case business he &#;saw a need in the iPhone case market. At the time, they had the basic cases you could buy at Dollarama, the Dollar Store, or at a kiosk in the mall where they are super cheap.&#; 

In his research, Andrew found the other side of the market consisted of expensive, protective iPhone cases. But neither cases were aesthetically pleasing.

He saw a need &#;where more fashion-forward people might be looking for an iPhone case, something unique.&#; Think, a woman with a thousand dollar handbag probably doesn&#;t want a cheap case from the mall or a bulky protective case. So Andrew went with fashionable cases that also offered protection in case someone drops their . 

2. Develop a business plan

A business plan guides your entire journey when you create your own case business. It can help clarify your strategy, identify roadblocks, understand what you&#;ll need in terms of resources, and assess your business idea before you launch it.

Ask yourself: what is the ultimate goal for this product? Do you want to design your own case to be a brand name sold in Nordstrom or Urban Outfitters? Do you want to create a premium brand sold in boutique shops? Do you want to start an ecommerce store and sell to your own following? Maybe you want to donate a portion of your sales to a well-respected charity, as a business owner, you&#;re ultimately in charge.

Identify your business goals and keep them in mind as you build out your case brand.

3. Identify your target audience

Determining a target audience is key to selling products online successfully. Your goal isn&#;t just to identify a case or accessory that should exist, but also find a target market for the product. After all, your design and planning work is of little use if there&#;s no buyers for your product. 

Useful data points to understand before you make custom cases include:

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• Age range
• Occupation
• Spending patterns
• Interest
• Lifestyle
• Habits and routines

How you collect this information is up to you. New businesses often go to social media and use tools like Facebook Audience Insights to reach new audiences. Others may go straight to their customers and survey them. Knowing how to build an list, can also be very helpful for marketing and customer insights.

Consider the pros and cons of targeting certain demographics. For example, young people tend to be trendy and are more receptive to viral marketing and word of mouth. They also have limited funds. Middle-aged buyers may be able to afford more expensive cases, but also may be less concerned with being trend-conscious and prefer particular styles.

4. Start designing

The design step when you make your case for will be your biggest differentiator when selling custom cases online. It&#;s also where you can let your creativity shine. The first batch you release to the public will speak to your brand, so make sure you craft something awesome to put your stake in the ground.

There are two ways to go about designing your cases:

1. Work with designers and artists. Design communities like Dribbble are great places to shop around for designers based on the aesthetic you&#;re looking for. Or, if you&#;re looking for cost-effective designs, you can always find them on Fiverr. Try to look specifically for designers that do custom designs to help you create your own case.

2. Design your own cases. You can also create cases online with your own design mock-ups in Photoshop or Photopea, and many case print-on-demand services like CaseApp and Printful also have case mock-up generators you can use. Beyond the case design consider using unique fonts to showcase your brand name or logo. Using materials such as acrylic can also help your custom designs stand out as well.

Be wary that not all case suppliers will print on the sides of the case. Many will only print on the back, so make sure you pay attention to that during the design phase and when looking for a supplier.

Try to source several different designs so you&#;re not just betting on one idea, and get feedback as early as you can:

• Post your designs on image-first social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest, and use engagement (likes, shares, comments) as an indicator of interest. You can even put some money into promoting your designs to a wider, more relevant audience and see which ones do best.
• Ask friends and family for their input.
• Reddit is great for feedback if you're selling to a specific niche. Post your designs in a relevant subreddit (e.g.: r/pugs if you're selling cases for pug owners). The anonymity of Reddit will help you solicit good input.

Speaking to a niche market, a group of people who feel passionately about a specific interest, when you design your own case will give you an edge in terms of garnering interest. After all, accessories like cases for many people are simply a way to show off to the world who they are.

5. Source your cases

Once you&#;ve got designs you feel good about, it&#;s time to actually make custom cases and bring them to life. Unless you&#;re willing to invest thousands in your own printing equipment to make your case for , you have three main options when it comes to getting your cases made.

1. Find a manufacturer

Finding a manufacturer to create your own case is the route you&#;ll likely want to go in order to maximize your profits. Alibaba offers a directory of manufacturers in China who make a variety of high-quality case types, from slim to folio to battery.

While you will have to buy in bulk with a minimum order quantity that&#;s anywhere from 10 to 200 or more, you&#;ll have the potential to offer better prices and make more off of each sale when each case potentially costs you as little as $1.

You can also choose to partner with a local manufacturer to appeal to consumers who are interested in supporting businesses in their own country. Either way, be sure to order a sample first before you go in on a bulk order.

It&#;s worth noting that you don&#;t necessarily need inventory on hand in order to make sales. Sales can be used to decide which cases you actually order so you&#;re not stuck with hundreds of cases that just aren&#;t selling.

Since inventory won&#;t take up much room, if you&#;re confident about your cases, you can invest in an offline sales presence by setting up a cart or kiosk in a high traffic area like a mall.

2. Use a print-on-demand service 

Printful and Printify are just two of the many services that let you print cases on demand. While selling on demand will eat into your margins a bit more, it also takes shipping and fulfillment off your plate so you don&#;t need to keep any cases on hand or even order them in bulk.

If you&#;re selling these cases on your own Shopify store, print-on-demand services can integrate with your online storefront, taking care of fulfilling orders and customer support, so all you need to worry about is making sales.

Whether it&#;s a t-shirt, an enamel pin, jewelry, or a case, validating which designs people like can be tricky. These print-on-demand services offer a low-risk way to test ideas to design your own case, especially for slim cases.

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3. Dropship existing cases

Instead of making your own custom cases, you can use a dropshipping model so all you really need to worry about is building a website and making sales.

The only major downsides are that you&#;ll have far less control over the product and lower margins, but in exchange, the product, shipping, and fulfillment are taken care of for you. 

It&#;s as easy as using an app like DSers to import cases from Aliexpress into your Shopify store.

Read more: How to Find and Work With Reliable Dropshipping Suppliers

6. Choose a brand name and logo

If it looks like you can manufacture and make custom cases at a reasonable cost, you&#;re ready to create your public image. This starts with choosing a business name and logo. 

You can use a free design tool like Shopify logo maker to help craft a logo and build your brand. You&#;ll have to answer a few questions about your business, then the logo maker will suggest a logo from hundreds of available templates.

The best part? You don&#;t have to stop at your logo. You can download visual assets for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube to create a consistent identity across all your channels.

Customers like brands with a good story, so try weaving yours into your brand name, logo, and website. If you&#;re manufacturing cases, you&#;ll want to have this ready before the first batch is finished. Then you can start selling your cases right away.

Resources:

7. Choose a price point

Pricing your cases is one of the keystone decisions you need to make. It impacts nearly every area of your business, from cash flow to profit margins to deciding what expenses you can afford.

Your pricing strategy ties into understanding your audience. Choose a price point that covers your manufacturing costs, but doesn&#;t deter the customers you&#;ll need to launch a successful case business. Remember, you want to aim for high enough profit margins that you can comfortably scale if your designs take off. Trial and error here is your friend.

8. Create your online store

You know how to make your case for , now where can you sell cases? A good place to start is by building an online store. 

Now, this sounds like a challenging task versus listing your products on online selling sites. These marketplaces can help build brand awareness during the early stages, but you&#;ll want your own digital home in the long run. It&#;ll help maintain control of your brand and retain more profits. 

For Felony Case, Andrew recommends focusing on your website first, then moving to online marketplaces. He explains, &#;Our website and retailers have been the two biggest sources of traffic and sales.&#; He&#;s found that when people find a Felony case on Etsy or Amazon, they do a Google search to see if the brand is credible. &#;They want to find your website directly just to validate the brand, make sure it looks legit.&#;

Shoppers will probably check social media profiles like Instagram and Facebook to see if you&#;re active there too. &#;I think all these touchpoints work hand in hand,&#; Andrew says, &#;and give your brand that full 360 view online.&#; 

9. Market your business

Now that you&#;ve figured out your market, your product, and your supply chain, it&#;s time to figure out how and where to sell your cases.

While marketplaces like Etsy and Amazon are good places to list your cases, you can also open an online store for own your brand, expand your marketing efforts, and build a long-term business.

As far as marketing goes, the following are recommended channels and tactics you should try, as well as resources for how to execute them:

• Search engine marketing. Search engine marketing helps you reach people who are searching for cases for particular smartphones. The buying intention behind these searches means you&#;ll get the most relevant clicks through to your products and the phones you support. You can achieve this organically through SEO or by paying to promote through Google Ads.
• Facebook advertising. If you&#;re targeting a specific interest group with your designs, Facebook ads can help you market to people who fit a certain profile.
• Instagram marketing. Instagram is a highly visual platform, perfect for showing off your designs with the option for paid advertising as well.
• Influencer marketing. Partnering with micro-celebrities, YouTubers, Instagrammers, TikTokers, etc. lets you harness their influence and established audiences to get your cases in front of more people.
• Word of mouth. While posting on social media and working with influencers can get you far, don&#;t forget word of mouth. If your customers love your cases, that&#;s a huge opportunity for some extra marketing juice. Ask that your customers leave a review, or use testimonials in your marketing (with permission of course.)

When you&#;re writing product descriptions for your phones, be as specific as possible in your messaging and consider the biggest selling points for your cases. Maybe your cases aren&#;t the strongest in world, but are slim instead! Or maybe your custom iPhone clear cases are the strongest on the market. Speak to your customer about what matters most to them!

Anything from the material to water resistance to a video of your case passing a drop test can make your cases more appealing to potential customers beyond just their design.

How to make cases

You might want to make your own cases to sell instead of outsourcing them from a supplier. To make the designs for your cases, you can draw something by hand and scan it to the computer, create graphic art digitally in a tool like Photoshop or Canva, or hire a professional to create a design for you.

Launching your own case startup

Don&#;t get bogged down by the competition for cases. Like any other competitive market, what you need to focus on is appealing to the right niche and getting your products in front of these people. Start your business as a side hustle, then learn and grow it into a full-out small business.

Over time, you can figure out winning designs and cases, as well as ways to source them to increase your margins so you can double down on selling them.

Illustration by Rachel Tunstall

case business FAQ

How do I start a case business?

 

1. Identify a market need.
2. Create a business plan.
3. Identify a target audience.
4. Design your cases.
5. Find a manufacturer.
6. Choose a brand name and logo.
7. Choose a price point.
8. Create your ecommerce website.
9. Market your business.

How much is the case industry worth?

With a 5.4% Compound Annual Growth Rate, or CAGR, The "Mobile Cases Market"Size is expected to grow from million USD In , to reach .2 Million USD by  according to MarketWatch.

Are cases good for dropshipping?

cases are an excellent dropshipping product because they are lightweight and easy to source. You can find hundreds of different models from suppliers like Alibaba or AliExpress, sell them in your online store, and never hold a single item in inventory.

How much does it cost to start a case business?

Starting a case business is more an investment of time than money. You can start a free trial with Shopify and import cases for free from dropshipping suppliers. You only pay for items when customers order them. After your free trial, you&#;ll pay as low at $39 per month to run your Shopify store.

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