Sell Phone Cases Online

In today’s world, cell phone cases are essential items that just about everyone owns. Not only do they help protect mobile phones, but they are also fashion statements. This fast-growing industry has plenty of room for innovation, and starting your own cell phone case business could be profitable.

With many selling opportunities available online, you can build a business that’s right for you, your budget, and your goals.

If you want to sell cell phone cases online, you can get your new business up and running relatively quickly. Before you start your business, though, it’s important to understand the steps you need to take to increase its chances of success.

Before you start building your phone case business, take some time to determine your niche and business model. You might want to conduct some market research by polling your target audience to determine the unmet need in the industry. If your potential customers are looking for certain types of cases, you could design your business to meet that demand.

It’s also important to consider how you’ll source and sell your phone cases. Drop-shipping is a popular option where you sell products and a third-party supplier takes care of the order fulfillment and shipping. Drop-shipping can be convenient, but it also means that you may be selling the same products your competitors offer. Maintaining healthy profit margins can also be a challenge.

Starting your own business website gives you the most control, but it also requires the most work. If you plan to stock phone cases, budget for a large selection of inventory. You’ll need a variety of case options for the most popular phone models, including iPhones and Androids.

Alternatively, some entrepreneurs use online marketplaces like eBay to connect with a large number of buyers, but it’s important to carefully research each marketplace’s selling fees and return policies.

Another option is to custom order print on demand cases. This option lets you offer the greatest variety to your potential customers, and you can avoid purchasing and storing large amounts of inventory. You’ll also have the advantage of being able to offer custom phone cases that customers can’t get from other vendors.

As you start to iron out the details of your business, it’s important to take the time to write a detailed business plan. Drafting a business plan forces you to focus on every element of your business, from sourcing materials and selecting your business name to establishing your shipping policies. It also helps you identify challenges and solve problems before they occur.

When you write your business plan, you’ll identify key information like your business structure, your target audience, and what makes your business unique. Include details about the products you’ll offer, their price points, and how much you’ll pay for each.

Through this process, you’ll be able to identify your business expenses, like e-commerce site development, logo creation, inventory costs, and shipping costs. As you identify these details, you’ll also get a sense of how much money you need to start your store, as well as how much money you have available to invest in the business.

If you find that you need more money than you have available, you’ll have several options. You might decide to rework your business structure to a more affordable model, start with fewer products to save on inventory costs, or look for other ways to save money. 

You could also seek out funding for your business by applying for a small business loan or looking for an investor. If you decide to seek financing for your business, having a detailed, thoughtful business plan can increase your chances of securing that funding.

As you write your business plan, identify where you’ll get your phone cases. The source will partially depend on your business structure.

If you plan to function as a retailer, you’ll need to apply for a retail license, or a resale or vendor’s license, from your state. Many wholesalers require you to have this license before they will provide product quotes.

As you explore different suppliers, pay attention to factors like minimum order sizes and prices. These minimum order requirements can affect how much inventory variety you’re able to stock, and you may need to adjust your budget to meet these minimums.

Take the time to request product samples from the vendors you’re seriously considering working with. It’s important to choose products whose quality you can stand behind, especially since you’re likely to see a higher return rate if you sell lower-quality products. Share the products with friends and family to see what they think of the products’ construction and quality. Try out the case on your own phone for a few weeks to see how it wears and performs.

As you narrow down your vendor options, do some research into each company. Look for customer complaints about supply issues, inventory quality issues, and other problems that they’ve encountered with a vendor. It’s common for a vendor to have at least one or two negative customer testimonials, but if you see multiple negative complaints describing the same issue, it could indicate that you should avoid this vendor.

Shipping can be a major expense for your business, and it plays a key role in customer satisfaction. Being able to quickly deliver your products to customers is essential, especially given how quickly other retailers and competitors like Amazon ship.

Carefully investigate shipping services and options. Not only do you need to gather shipping rates, but it’s important to consider how your product sizes and packing methods will affect shipping costs. Often, finding ways to make your packages smaller or lighter can substantially reduce your shipping costs.

It’s also a good idea to test a few different shipments. Ask friends and family across the country to help. Ship boxes of products and track not only how quickly they arrive at their destination but also the condition the products are in when they arrive.

These test shipments can help you evaluate your product packaging and shipping methods, and if you identify a shipping problem early on, you can save yourself money and prevent customer frustration.

As you work toward starting your business and identifying more details and tasks you need to tackle, you’ll likely discover that you need to put together a team of professionals to help you:

• Business mentor: A mentor can guide and advise you on all the steps of starting and running a new business.
• Business lawyer: A business lawyer can help you with everything from starting an LLC to registering your business name.
• Graphic designer: A graphic designer can help you create a logo, establish your brand’s color palette, and even edit your product images so they look their best.
• Product photographer: A talented photographer can take quality photos that may help sell your products.
• Copywriter: A copywriter can write compelling website copy and product descriptions to help drive sales.
• Accountant: An accountant can help you develop your sales and income tracking methods and can do your business taxes to ensure you comply with state and federal tax laws.

This is also the time to develop important policies for things like shipping and returns. Clearly present these policies on your website to protect your business from customer disputes.

Give thought to your internal policies too. Establish a policy for how you’ll address customer complaints. With this type of policy in place, you can provide a consistent approach to these issues. If you ever hire someone to help you with your business, you can use your policy to guide your staff.

When it’s time to create an e-commerce website, it’s important to choose an online store builder that’s within your budget but also gives you the functionality your storefront needs.

Jotform Store Builder makes it incredibly easy to build your e-commerce business, even if you don’t have any coding or design experience. The platform’s drag-and-drop interface is easy to use, and more than 80 ready-to-use widgets can enhance your store’s design and operation. It’s also easy to add product images and descriptions to your store, so you can have it up and running in minutes.

Jotform Store Builder features more than 100 online store templates that can further streamline the process. You can even make a personalized store app by uploading your logo, choosing your color scheme, and adding your products and pricing. 

Jotform Store Builder accepts more than 40+ payment gateways, including essentials like PayPal, Square, Stripe, Venmo, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. There are no additional transaction fees when you collect payments, and PCI compliance helps keep transactions safe and secure.

As you start adding products to your store, it’s important to create detailed, engaging, and clear product descriptions. You’ll also need to take quality product photos that show your products in the best light.

Don’t forget the importance of incorporating SEO keywords into your website copy. An SEO strategy can help drive traffic to your site, and it’s a valuable marketing technique. You may want to work with consultants or freelancers who can help you maximize your site’s SEO for the best results.

In addition to optimizing your site for search engines, it’s important to focus on other marketing strategies too. Start building your social media following early, even before you’ve launched your e-commerce site. With an established social media following, you’ll have an active audience to share your website launch with. Your social media followers can also be helpful when you need to conduct market research, get feedback on your store’s performance, and test new product ideas.

Creating a social media posting schedule can help you build up your social accounts, but there are additional techniques you can use as well. You might want to buy Facebook ads designed to reach your target audience, driving interested potential customers to your social media pages and your website.

Influencer marketing can also help you gain followers quickly, allowing your business to reach new audiences. In addition, your marketing might include digital paid ads that direct viewers back to your phone case store.

It’s a great idea to invest in email marketing as well. Building an email list allows you to quickly and easily reach your customers, and email marketing is affordable. Consider creating a signup form for your website and encouraging visitors to subscribe by offering them a discount or other special offer when they do.

Email marketing gives you the advantage of not having to deal with social media algorithms to reach your entire list. Plus, with the ability to segment lists, you can target your marketing to different customers to maximize its effectiveness.

The cell phone case industry is full of promising business opportunities. Selling phone cases online eliminates the need for a brick and mortar store and lets you connect with a broad customer base.

As with any business, you’ll need to put in plenty of time researching and planning your cell phone case business. But with platforms like Jotform Store Builder, you can easily and quickly create your online store and start selling your products right away.