Shopping for Phone Cases is #$%# Complicated!

For an uncomplicated product, such as a phone case, it sure is complicated shopping for one. You used to be able to walk into a store and the category was organized by the manufacturer of the case. There were very few competitors back then—Belkin, Targus and Apple to name a few. I remember Belkin owned a corner of that market with their blue packaging. It served as a billboard for their brand in that aisle.

Well things have certainly changed in-store and on-line. There are so many cell phones on the market a brick-and-mortar store can’t carry them all. Customers are shopping by the phone manufacturer like Samsung, Apple or Motorola. On top of that they have to look for the type of phone they have such as the Samsung Galaxy S6, Apple iPhone 5C or the Motorola Moto G. Case manufacturers couldn’t keep up, so their brand name became irrelevant.

Below is a picture of what the market used to look like circa 2010 in an Apple store:

Now the phone cases are in at least 5 different places in the store. The phone cases are placed in sections by phone manufacturer, designer, miscellaneous and sale items. Here is what it looks like today in a Best Buy:

Shopping in the Manufacturer Category

Other Categories

I recently bought a phone for my son at Best Buy and they didn’t even carry a case for the phone they were selling. That seems like a no brainer to attach a sale to a phone you are buying at their store!

Not only is it about what type of phone you have but what does the case look like. The choices are staggering. First the different materials: hard plastic, rubber, wood, metal or fabric. Then, what kind of image do you want to portray:

It is decidedly easier to find a phone case on-line than to look for one in-store that expresses your unique personality. This site:  http://www.cellphonecases.com/ seems to have gotten it right and makes shopping a breeze. The customer can shop by device or by brand, choose a model and be inundated with pages of choices.

Patty Jensen

VP, Account Services — JDA, Inc. Retail Ready Design

Patty Jensen is Vice President of Account Services at JDA, Inc., a graphic design firm that specializes in supporting companies’ branding and retail efforts with a Unified Marketing approach.