According to researchers, an average person is in the habit of checking his smartphone about 46 times everyday. To reduce this urge and make the process of checking up on notifications, to-do lists and reminders easier, the tech giants introduced handy wearable devices. And today, it seems that India is also catching up to the trend and accepting wrist-wearable devices into their daily lives.
The wearable device market in India grew 41.9 per cent in the second quarter as compared to the first quarter of 2016, reports research firm International Data Corporation(IDC). The total number of shipments in the 2nd quarter stood at over 567,000 units(> 400,000 in the 1st quarter), out of which the basic wearables — those who cannot run third-party apps — contributed nearly 94 per cent. This means that Indians are more into buying fitness bands from Fitbit, GoQii, and others rather than a full-fledged smartwatch.
Commenting on the same, Raj Nimesh, Senior Market Analyst, Client Devices, IDC, says,
The wearable market has advanced to a stage where awareness is no more a roadblock. New vendors are continuously entering the market and existing vendors are offering better product features.
In addition to this, there is surprising change in the market share of the wearable segment this fiscal quarter. Indian health and fitness firm GOQii has grabbed the number 1 position, leaving behind the wildly popular Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi in the wearable market. It led the wearable device market in India with a 16.1 per cent share as compared to the 10.3 per cent marketshare of Xiaomi. US HQed Fitbit, which recently debuted its fitness bands in India, also joined the party with a 6.7 per cent market share coming third on the list.
The access to a personal trainer has been the unique selling point of the vendor and with the launch of second generation of device, GOQii has created an ecosystem including partnership with diagnostic centres and doctors,
added IDC in the report released on Tuesday.
The fourth and fifth spot were secured by new entrants, Garmin and Huawei, with a market share of 1.4% and 1% respectively. The report mentions that the sales volume of Garmin rose 2.5 times over the last quarter, and the popularity of the brand is on the rise in the country. It is followed by Intex, who also holds a significant chunk in ‘others’ category and was one of the major drivers of the market, said the research firm.
The reports emphasizes that the sub $50(about Rs. 3,300) makes up for about 83 per cent of the total market share, and comprises of fitness bands prominently from Intex, GOQii and Mi — used by consumers for first experience or gifting purposes. But, the research firm expects products in higher price ranges to have a broader market share as the market adapts and consumer demand evolves.
Online e-commerce orders accounted for 9.2% of total shipments as low end products drove the market. The researchers are currently of the opinion that the smart wearable device segment is expected to see a sudden surge as lower range wearable devices are expected to be launched by the end of this year.
