Website Closers® presents a one-of-a-kind eCommerce Brand that pioneered unique Phone Cases that define their brand’s success. They took the standard idea of a protective phone cover and dialed it up to eleven with their highly fashionable, functional, and highly unique products, which have grown so popular that they have been organically embraced by A-Listers like Taylor Swift and Kylie Jenner.
They put their nose to the grindstone throughout the last 3 years, bringing their growth thus far to $14 million in annual revenue. They’re on pace to hit $20 million in 2024, and with proper funding, the brand has the potential to reach $100 million in 3 to 5 years. The brand is super-sticky with consumers, not just because of the celebrity endorsements, which are voluminous, but also because they want to purchase more and more of them so they have many options to choose from when they go out (much like a purse). To this end, the brand sees a Repeat Order Rate of 40%, which is proof positive that people love these high quality products.
Business Broker Takeaways:
1. Proprietary Products (Moats). Their customers’ phones aren’t the only things that they keep safe. They have proprietary protection in place for their brand through patents and global trademark registrations, keeping any competitors from infringing on their designs. This step has been incredibly important for the long-term growth of the brand as they received accolades and attention from the Wall Street Journal, SPY.com, A-listers, and, of course, the everyday consumer eager to turn their phones into fabulous fashion accessories. This is not a phone case company, but a fashion accessory company with customers buying different cases to compliment seasons, outfits, occasions and events. To this end, many additional products in adjacent categories would be fitting under this brand.
2. Engaged, Social Driven Audience. The love that celebrities have shown the brand hasn’t gone unnoticed by other customers. The organic marketing that these celebrities generate through their selfies has contributed to the average of 550,000 visitors the company’s site sees per month, with their organic traffic rate sitting at 83% of mix. Additionally, since their products act as both accessory and protection, customers often return to pick up more customization options for their phone. Their Repeat Purchase Rate is 40%, and their average product rating is difficult-to-achieve 4.8-stars.
3. Strong Content and UGC Marketing. Their marketing campaign encourages an ongoing dialogue with customers, building the brand/buyer bond while spreading awareness of their products. They work with influencers to promote their cases, run Meta, Google, and programmatic ads, and frequently send their 1.1 million email subscribers and 150,000 SMS subs messages to encourage repeat purchases. Their SEO campaign is focused on their product name in organic searches, which has proven to be a very successful source over year-over-year (YOY) growth.
Their brand has flourished to the point of being able to offer 250 active SKUs across 4 categories, with no SKU concentration in their sales. Their average customer is a woman between the ages of 24 and 54 interested in bold, attention-grabbing products. These women are proud fashionistas with their finger on the pulse of the latest trends, which means that they’re more likely to notice what’s hot among their favorite celebrities.
Operations
The company’s team consists of 1 employee, an operations manager, and 4 contractors, acting as a graphic artist, a social media coordinator, and two customer service agents. Current ownership oversees the team through email and group calls, and they have cultivated a culture that puts the customer first across all departments. This team is anticipated to stay on with the business postsale unless the buyer has an operations team in place.
Two owners divide their tasks between them. One is responsible for overseeing marketing/site metrics, cashflow/financials, website UX updates and inventory, while the other looks after social media, marketing content/tactics, website UI updates and customer service. Ownership is excited for the future of this brand and is willing to retain equity for the right buyer.
Scale Opportunities
There are various untapped sales and marketing channels that are primed for the brand’s expansion and represent massive opportunities for the brand. They already have several new products in the pipeline waiting to be launched, and by continually adding new and higher priced products, they can steadily add to their revenue, increase AOV and promote cross-selling. Expanding into maleoriented phone cases is also promising, as male celebrities like Ryan Reynolds have already organically picked the product up.
The brand is primed to start selling wholesale. Scaling into this channel would be seamless and their products are already in wholesale packaging with GS1 labeled UPCs. They have existing requests from Best Buy, Verizon, and Revolve Clothing for wholesale, which would be a great opportunity for a buyer with more experience dealing with the wholesale/big box market.
While Amazon’s Brand Registry is in place, the company has not yet begun to sell on the world’s largest shopping platform. Huge opportunity exists to extend the brand’s reach by selling on Amazon.
The company could bolster their marketing campaign by continuing to scale their paid ads and by utilizing new channels like TikTok. They can establish celebrity partnerships with Taylor Swift and some of the other celebrities on their customer list to promote their products, and optimize their marketing by taking steps like hiring an in-house media buyer to save on agency fees. Brand partnership opportunities are emerging as well including a recent outreach by CoverGirl.
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Mexico, and South America have proven to be profitable prospects to scale in for a larger international customer base.
The brand and product mix lends itself well to the subscription model, particularly considering the already high repeat purchase rate and the consistent release of new designs every other week.
Finally, the company has already initiated discussions with Tapcart, a reputable app responsible for creating apps for many of the major brands on Shopify Plus. They can have an app designed for the business and ready to go live within 30 to 45 days, which would open the potential for advertising through free push notifications and a new marketing channel.
Conclusion
This is one opportunity that shouldn’t be put on hold. They have been recognized by celebrities and everyday customers alike as a fashionable-yet-functional statement piece to protect their phones, while having a proprietary shape that makes them more comfortable to hold over traditional alternatives. They’re primed through growth with their new pipeline, and a buyer who knows their way around Amazon and/or wholesale will enjoy plenty of opportunities to send this phenomenal brand to the next level.
