Buckaroo is celebrating 15 years! As part of our anniversary, we’re giving the stage to payment experts, e-commerce specialists, and entrepreneurs. Together, we reflect on the past, discuss today’s trends, and share a glimpse of what’s ahead.
Marcel Hooft (CEO and founder of Smartphonehoesjes.nl) joins Bas van den Houten (CCO Smartphonehoesjeszakelijk.nl) to look back at their incredible growth. They also offer a sneak peek of their brand-new HQ—of course, with proper distancing, face masks, and a disinfected camera crew—and share their vision for the future.
The Hooft brothers started selling smartphone cases over ten years ago—from their student attic. It didn’t take long before they expanded to the entire ground floor. Marcel Hooft recalls it as a "logistical nightmare". They rented one building, then another. Smartphonehoesjes kept outgrowing itself.
"A major milestone was when PostNL called us thinking there was a system error because our order volume was so high," says Marcel. "They had paused the shipments, assuming it couldn’t be right. But it definitely was."
As Marcel shared in a previous interview (Inspiring Cases: Smartphonehoesjes), the company serves both B2C and B2B markets. And it’s more than just a popular webshop.
"We sell phone cases from well-known brands, but we also have our own in-house brands. On top of that, we produce for other businesses—everything from branded accessories for events like Tomorrowland to fashion collabs with brands like MyJewellery and Loavies. We also create influencer merchandise (think Enzo Knol), and branded gear for hospitality, retail, construction—you name it. Consumers can even design their own custom case."
And yes—Smartphonehoesjes is always, always the first to launch a case for every new phone. Even before it’s officially released. How? Marcel: "We get the specs in advance, so our manufacturer knows exactly where the cutouts for the camera and connectors need to go. What the phone actually looks like or can do? That’s a mystery to us too."
How do you see yourself growing in the next few years? Bas: "We’ll keep expanding with new products, our own brands, new markets, more countries, and exciting partnerships. But we also value long-term collaborations—like the one we have with Buckaroo—to keep optimising our payment flow."
Marcel adds: "I really like the Buckaroo Smart Checkout. It remembers each customer’s preferred payment method and puts it at the top of the list. We even customised our checkout with our logo. We love testing features like these."
Bas: "When it comes to online conversion, we want to prevent customer drop-off at checkout. We simplified our checkout form to show fewer fields, which made the page much clearer. Since testing this, we’ve seen a drop in abandonment rates—and that’s the ultimate goal."