Just like "morning C and evening A", the lifestyle of "three days of circle of friends can be seen, and the mobile phone case changes every day" has been injected into the lives of young people. More and more young people will change their phone cases according to the current hot spots, seasons, moods and the color of clothes, rather than buying them when they lack a shell.
After all, the business of mobile phone cases has long ceased to be just a roadside stall or a small business of 9.9 yuan free shipping. Under the wave of new consumerism, mobile phone cases have become the trend of the times and the "skin care clothing" that everyone must have, and there is naturally a possibility of consumption upgrading.
If you still think that the phone case is only used to prevent falls, it will definitely be ridiculed by the new human beings and cannot keep up with the trend.
This accessory, which has the lowest technical content in the 3C market, has become the fashion code for contemporary young people to master social networking. Unlimited occasions, two people start, as long as one of them inadvertently flips the phone to reveal the pattern behind it, there is a high probability that another new topic will be triggered.
Flip your phone, what is the pattern behind your phone case? /Figureworm Creative
It is said that the wise do not fall in love, but in the minds of young people, the wise must not buy a mobile phone case. No matter how bitter and tired emo is usually, as long as you see the mobile phone case that makes your heart move on the Internet, you will immediately see it brightly - find the same model, place an order, pay, and do it all in one go.
Whether it is a young worker who has just entered the society, or a college student who is enjoying a campus balance card, as long as he sees his good friend sharing an interesting mobile phone case, he will not hesitate to chase after the other party to link and share the store, and he will immediately get the same skin exactly like the other party.
There are also some mobile phone case veteran players, who do not change the mobile phone case for a day and feel "stuffy and panicked" - before going out every day, do not open the storage box specially used to put the mobile phone case, from which carefully pick a mobile phone case that meets their own dress, they are embarrassed to say that they are the most beautiful boy / yuan in the whole street.
"Wise people don't fall in love, but they can't help but hoard phone cases." /Screenshot of Weibo
When the creativity of smart phones touched the ceiling and shipments fell into the dilemma of declining year after year, the only mobile phone case that could earn some face for mobile phones has undoubtedly become a need to support young people to show their personality and brighten their mood.
According to data from npd Group Inc, 75% of smartphone users will be equipped with at least one mobile phone case for their mobile phones, 25% of them have more than one protective case, and the global demand for mobile phone protective cases will reach 1.49 billion in 2020. More and more young people will change their phone cases according to the current hot spots, seasons, moods and the color of clothes, rather than buying them when they lack a shell.
In an era of self-expression and individuality, the social effects of having a stylish, trendy, and seductive phone case are more effective than drinking a new cup of tea.
What kind of phone case is the best?
Next, of course
How can the new tea and blind box not have imagined that on the track of trend competition, they will one day be defeated by the mediocre mobile phone case, and both will be labeled as "passed".
After all, the new-style tea will be tired when drinking too much, and the blind box is easy to stop beating, but buying dozens of mobile phone cases will not only not be greasy, but also extraordinarily toppled.
For example, the magic elf mobile phone case that dominates the sales champion on Taobao has made countless young people with rare hair come true to a dream full of hair, after all, it is visually better than hair growth liquid;
Young people who do not lack hair will make the mobile phone case into a treasure chest, and the old dry mother soybean sauce will have the opportunity to promote appetite when placed on the table. However, the most effective way to increase appetite is to directly print food in the phone case, whether it is snail powder or char siu bun, can achieve 1:1 high three-dimensional reduction;
This may be a boon for snail powder lovers. /Screenshot of Little Red Book
Everything you eat can be printed with a mobile phone case, and young people's love beans are naturally indispensable. More intimate sellers directly combine mobile phone cases and bags together, as long as they spend dozens of dollars, they can collect all the official websites with the same model, buy more and even discount...
Whether it's what you think of or what you can't even think of, it can become a design element of a phone case.
Just by typing the three words "mobile phone case" in Taobao, you can divide 19 categories. It's no wonder that when asked which phone case young people really like, the answer must be three words in unison: "Next".
Who can bear to refuse a good-looking and personalized mobile phone case. /Visual China
Mobile phone cases have become the most in fashion items, young people understand, merchants also understand.
From 9.9 yuan free shipping to hundreds of yuan of brand design, there are hundreds of thousands of merchants who sell mobile phone cases on the e-commerce platform alone.
As soon as the domestic mobile phone shell brand that focuses on the national tide has just settled in, it has been circled by fans. Overseas brands have also seen this lucrative market and have come across the ocean.
For example, CASETiFY, a fashion accessory brand with a sense of design, designs a unique mobile phone case, and football superstar Messi and supermodel Kylie Jenner are willing to endorse them for free. In July 2020, as soon as the mobile phone shell produced by CASETiFY and Pokémon was launched, the popularity and trend topics soared, making it difficult for ordinary fans to be enthusiastic.
In January this year, CASETiFY officially announced its entry into the Tmall flagship store. A large number of CASETiFY die-hard fans stayed in front of the computer and mobile phone to grab the shell overnight, and instantly completed the record of millions of daily sales.
Although a CASETiFY mobile phone case costs 400 yuan at any time, the sales volume is very eye-catching. /CASETiFY Tmall official flagship store
Some merchants have taken a different approach, condensing the business of making mobile phone cases into a DIY manufacturing machine, allowing young people to design a unique mobile phone case by the way.
Even luxury brands have found unlimited business opportunities brought by trendy passwords, and have personally joined the ranks of making mobile phone cases, trying to let young people who can't afford luxury clothing and bags buy the cheapest luxury goods in the whole cabinet.
This seems to confirm Luo Yonghao's joking remark five years ago: "Selling mobile phones is not as good as selling mobile phone cases to make money." ”
How profitable is this business
For contemporary young people, the saying that "the circle of friends can be seen for three days, and the mobile phone case changes every day" seems to be too much - just like "morning C and late A", the lifestyle of frequently changing mobile phone cases has been injected into the lives of young people.
After all, the mobile phone has become an external organ of the human body, and the mobile phone case naturally "integrates" with us. There's nothing wrong with "dressing" the body and then protecting it and loving it.
Everyone has a mobile phone, which is already a normal phenomenon in contemporary society. /Figureworm Creative
Pushing back the time back to the era of a feature phone more than a decade ago, no one will really protect the phone. It was the era when Nokia, which was known for its quality, dominated the world, and mobile phones could be used normally when they fell down the 4th floor, and not many people were willing to add a burden to the hardcore mobile phones that could block bullets and smash walnuts.
If there is really a way to protect the mobile phone, you can only rely on the usual more care, the plastic body fell to the ground, how to say that it will leave a not so good scratch.
So in 2007, a month before the iPhone was scheduled to hit the shelves, Jobs proposed to change the iPhone's screen material from plastic to glass, because the latter is less likely to leave scratches and easier to touch.
The iPhone became popular, driving smart phones into the market, so that the touch screen completely replaced the button + small screen. But the screen becomes larger but it is easier to be scratched or broken, the money spent to repair the screen is very painful, and young people have begun to find ways to protect mobile phones and keep the screen.
The popularity of the iPhone has led to the entry of smartphones into the market, and has also made the phone case a "necessity". /Visual China
The domestic mobile phone case market also began to rise at that time. Many manufacturers who originally stayed in Huaqiang North to make mobile phone accessories and even cottage machines have turned to mobile phone cases after experiencing the "big reshuffle". Originally made of silicone mobile phone keyboard to do silicone mobile phone shell, shell hardware processing began to do metal shell, engaged in mobile phone beauty merchants made a rhinestone shell.
Among them, starting from the production of iPhone4 mobile phone cases, Jiemet, which is currently oem for Large Mobile Phone Manufacturers such as Huawei, Samsung, vivo, specializes in anti-fall and waterproof, not only made the mobile phone case a brand, but also entered the Shenzhen Stock Exchange as a listed company. According to the financial report, in 2021, the revenue of Gemmet exceeded 700 million yuan, and the gross profit margin of its own brand was as high as 57.6%, which made countless mobile phone shell manufacturers envious.
Smartphones began to "one by one", and the profit margin of mobile phone cases was also getting bigger and bigger. Someone once roughly calculated that a ten-dollar mobile phone case can also gain a market share of 20 billion yuan.
The latest data released by the Academy of Information and Communications Technology shows that the overall penetration rate of smartphones in the mainland has reached more than 95%. In 2021, the overall shipment of mobile phones in the domestic market totaled 351 million units, an increase of 13.9% year-on-year; only in terms of mobile phone shipments, the demand for domestic mobile phone cases was at least more than 350 million.
Such a profitable market naturally attracts players from all walks of life to pour into it, and capital also pours in. For example, CASETiFY, a trend brand that has successfully sold millions of dollars a day just after opening a store, received tens of millions of dollars in C capital A round financing in June last year; half a year later, another tide of mobile phone shell brand Play Shell Factory also received tens of millions of yuan A round financing from Xiaomi and Shunwei Capital.
The play shell factory that plays the intelligent manufacturing route has captured the characteristics of young people's enthusiasm for DIY and the pursuit of trendy IP. /Visual China
Although the mobile phone shell market has a good prospect, mobile phone manufacturers are not happy. Some mobile phone manufacturers who did not want to be named were interviewed by Wall Street Technology Eye, worried that their market would be robbed by mobile phone cases. "Not only to compete with our peers, but also to make innovations that mobile phone cases can't do, it's difficult for us."
This is indeed a fact - after all, the current mobile phone has reached the ceiling of innovation, but it has added some corner functions, and by the way, it comes with a popular "advanced color matching", which is essentially a soup change without changing the medicine. In the eyes of those young people who have long seen through the laws of mobile phone marketing, instead of changing the machine, it is better to spend dozens of dollars to buy a new mobile phone case practical and cost-effective.
Change under the new consumerism
But the seemingly booming mobile phone case market does not have a head brand that can really produce influence.
After all, the production of mobile phone cases is itself an industry with zero technical threshold and low competitive barriers. Determine the material of the mobile phone case, you can make a mold according to the shape of the mobile phone case, and after mass production, you can directly take it to the market for sale.
The production of mobile phone cases is itself an industry with zero technical threshold and low competitive barriers. /Figureworm Creative
In the early years, whenever the wind of the new iPhone model about to be listed spread throughout the network, savvy mobile phone case manufacturers would inquire or guess the appearance data of the new machine through various channels, and open a mold and produce mobile phone cases before the new machine was released.
When Apple CEO Tim Cook appeared at the new product launch site to introduce new products, mobile phone cases that adapt to new products often began to be packaged and flowed to the market; and Huaqiang North, China's largest electronic product distribution center, even a month or two before the new iPhone was launched, mobile phone cases have blossomed everywhere.
Shenzhen Huaqiang North, a pilgrimage resort for mobile phone case enthusiasts. /Screenshot of Weibo
Use the time difference to "gamble on the shell", bet right can make a lot of money, bet wrong will lose a lot. And when the shape of the iPhone has changed to become minimal, the "gambling shell" has become a chicken rib and has lost the need to exist.
On the other hand, some original mobile phone cases are sold for two or three hundred, and in the hands of some e-commerce stores and local vendors, they have become "factory tail goods" of 9.9 yuan per price.
The quality of mobile phone cases on the market is uneven and the gap is huge, and the main force of the mobile phone case market is still the low-cost miscellaneous brand mobile phone cases produced by those small workshops, and even mixed with a lot of "cottage goods".
It is also true that many original mobile phone case brands have begun to increase their efforts to apply for patents, pay attention to quality, cooperate with a number of well-known IP to produce "explosive models", and also work with e-commerce platforms to combat pirated mobile phone cases and increase the right to speak in the market for genuine mobile phone cases. Some brands even launched a mobile phone case technology conference to use the secret technology to narrow the distance between manufacturers and consumers.
For example, the domestic tide play brand Donglaiye combines the original cultural trend with mobile phone case consumption. / Donglai also official Weibo
A previous article of "Leopard Change" quoted industry insiders as saying that with the original IP blessing of the genuine mobile phone case, in addition to attracting fans to buy, the pricing can also reach about 3 times that of the ordinary mobile phone case.
At the same time, the industry has also introduced the first domestic general specification for mobile phone cases, from the aspects of mobile phone case product appearance, safety, environmental adaptability, function and environmental protection, standardized the quality technical requirements and test methods of ordinary mobile phone case sleeves and anti-drop mobile phone cases, waterproof mobile phone cases, decorative mobile phone cases and other functional mobile phone cases.
This also shows another consumption phenomenon - contemporary young people who love to replace mobile phone cases are actually willing to spend a lot of money to buy a unique and personalized high-quality mobile phone case; and those low-quality mobile phone cases will gradually get out of the survival of the fittest in the market.
After all, the business of mobile phone cases has long ceased to be just a roadside stall or a small business of 9.9 yuan free shipping. Under the wave of new consumerism, mobile phone cases have become the trend of the times and the "skin care clothing" that everyone must have, and there is naturally a possibility of consumption upgrading.
With the rise of new consumerism, mobile phone cases have long ceased to be just roadside stalls or small businesses with 9.9 yuan free shipping. / People's Vision / Visual China
And young people", "crazy for the shell", in fact, is just to follow the trend - in the affordable range of the price to spend a sum of money can harvest happiness, which young people will not accept it?
Even if a bunch of mobile phone cases are bought back, they come and go to use "in fact, there are so many"; one night rubbing hot phone cases bought, after the heat subsided, it lost its meaning of existence. And those mobile phone cases that can no longer be used after changing mobile phones are either piled up in the corner of the wall and yellowed, or have been forgotten in some corner.
But rational young consumers still make up the majority. After all, in terms of self-expression, no young person is willing to "collide" with others.
Mobile phone shells have invaded the hinterland of young people's trends, and "small roles" have spawned hundreds of billions of big businesses? Retail Krypton Planet 2022-04-26
Mobile phone case robbed the business of mobile phone Wall Street technology eye 2022-4-25
"It is better to change the machine than to change the shell", young people pay for the sky-high price of mobile phone case ZAKER 2022-4-17
Mobile phone cases make more money than mobile phones: young people's "second face" supports hundreds of billions of business Tech Planet 2022-3-22
Huaqiang North mobile phone "gambling shell" jianghu: iPhone price reduction "gambling shell" ends Phoenix WEEKLY Finance 2020-8-9
The author is Lianghao
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