CASETiFY announces revenue & growth data for the first time as it expands Thai retail operation
CASETiFY, the global tech accessory brand headquartered in Hong Kong and popular amongst Gen Z, millennials, and Hollywood celebrities, has announced for the first time in its 10 years of operations relevant data regarding its business size, growth strategy, and business ambitions. As announced, CASETiFY posted in 2020 a collective revenue of >USD$125m, 70%CAGR in the last five years, and has the ambition to become a USD$3bn revenue company by following an omnichannel approach that will see the opening of 100 new stores globally, 20 of them in the United States. It also opened its first pop-up store in Bangkok and plans to open a flagship store in Thailand in 2023.
Aiming to launch a permanent store in the Thai market
After the opening of the first pop-up store in Bangkok, CASETiFY sales grew rapidly online. This has resulted in double-digit growth compared to the previous year. It's also gained a new customer base in Thailand. CASETiFY is confident in Thailand's potential by aiming to enter the Thai market fully. The plan is to permanently open CASETiFY Studio by 2023. The brand plans to create activities that will connect with Thai customers more closely, including continuous collaborations with leading domestic brands and Thai designers and artists.
“We are very excited about the launch of the first CASETiFY Pop-Up Store in Thailand. We will always meet with a group of Thai customers who always support us by ordering products online. After this, we will provide specials to Thai customers. It is also open for Thai designers and creatives to bring Thainess to the CASETiFY brand in the future,” said Wesley.
Building a USD$3bn fashion business out of phone cases
Founded in 2011, Hong Kong born CASETiFY has been growing consistently through e-commerce, achieving in 2020 a collective revenue of >USD$125m per year with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of +70% in the last 5 years. As a key driver, CASETiFY has built a strong product differentiation and desirability by turning phone cases and other tech accessories into highly coveted fashion accessories. According to CEO and Co-Founder, Wes Ng, “CASETiFY products are a canvas for self-expression. Through endless customization options, outstanding brand collaborations, and an obsession over protective materials, customers can choose accessories that truly connect with them as individuals. Our job is to build a creative hub that can provide enough choices to connect with every fashion style and every personality. Whether it’s a celebration of pop culture or a minimalistic clear design, CASETiFY will have it”.
In terms of consumer penetration, CASETiFY enjoys the highest level of awareness amongst Gen Z, reaching 1 in 5 Gen Z consumers through social media. CASETiFY is also the #1 searched tech accessory brand in the world, according to Google Trends. The company is projected to upkeep its growth and become a $3 billion company by 2025, which is estimated to be around 15% of the global tech accessory market.
In June 2021, CASETiFY, led by CEO and co-founder Wesley Ng had previously received an eight-figure U.S. Dollar investment from C Ventures, the Venture Capital firm founded by Adrian Cheng.
In its growth strategy, CASETiFY expects much of its growth to come from its offline retail shop openings and views physical stores as a means to increase market awareness and penetration through local touchpoints with consumers and the wider creative community, which CASETiFY strongly supports through its profit-sharing artist program.
Most recently, the brand was nominated by American publication FastCompany to receive the 2022 World Changing Ideas Award. Leveraging the Re/CASETiFY recycling technology and used phone cases donated by consumers of the brand, CASETiFY avoided 28,000 kilograms of used mobile phone cases from hitting the landfill, reducing the company’s carbon footprint by as much as 20%. In collaboration with the environmental organization earthday.org, CASETiFY has also planted over 165,000 trees.
CASETiFY Fashion Retail in Figures: Sales per square foot.
To put figures into CASETiFY’s emergence as an offline fashion retail location, while brands such as Lululemon post yearly sales per square foot as high as USD$1,560, in 2021 CASETiFY already achieved a yearly average of USD$1,441 sales per square foot across its 18 Asia-Pacific located stores, making a strong entry into the global fashion retail industry. The brand’s top location in Landmark (Hong Kong) has posted USD$2,500 per square foot, a figure much closer to the global average of Tiffany & Co. (USD$2,951). Other brands that sell fewer dollars per square foot than CASETiFY according to Emarketer and internal calculations include Coach ($1,183) or Pricesmart ($1,036).
After its business case is proven by success in Asia Pacific, CASETiFY announces today its Global Retail Expansion Plan, where it will target to open 100 stores by 2025, with 20 of them being based in the United States. The brand opened its first store in Santa Clara, CA. The opening flagship store in Thailand is planned for 2023.
Internal data shows that CASETiFY Studio offline retail locations drive new customer acquisition with customers citing digital in-store displays, the high quality and variety of product offerings and the colorful decoration as the highlights. Apart from the United States, CASETiFY is launching stores in 5 additional global cities in the next few months - Sydney (AU), Shanghai, Taipei, Seoul, Tokyo, and Bangkok.
