Table of Contents
Overview
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- What you need to know
- Definition
Executive Summary
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- The issues
- Wearable tech not for everyone
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- Figure 1: Ownership and intent to purchase, October 2017
- Heavy competition from other tech spheres
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- Figure 2: Sales of laptops, smartphones, tablets, and televisions, 2013-17
- Falling sales at specialists place bottom lines in the red
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- Figure 3: Brands under consideration for wearable tech purchases, October 2017
- The opportunities
- Upgrades
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- Figure 4: Historical upgrades and intent to upgrade, October 2017
- The gift market
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- Figure 5: Intent to gift wearable tech, October 2017
- Leaving the phone at home
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- Figure 6: Features sought in tracking devices, October 2017
- What it means
The Market – What You Need to Know
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- Collapse of bands and clips curbs growth in 2017
- Poor year ahead, bright decade to follow
- Sports drives, sleep lags
- Half of tech sales up for grabs
Market Size and Forecast
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- Decline in basic trackers hampers unit sales
- Average selling price rising
- Bright decade ahead
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- Figure 7: US manufacturer shipments of wearable tech, 2011-17
Market Breakdown
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- Fitness dominant
- Drones to clip wings of wearable cameras
- Price drops combine with improvements in VR/AR
- Growth in hearables and smartwatches
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- Figure 8: US manufacturer shipments of wearable tech, by segment, 2011-17
Market Perspective
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- Households spending $2,000 annually on tech hardware
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- Figure 9: Sales of laptops, smartphones, tablets, and televisions, 2013-17
- Competition for gift purchases
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- Figure 10: Intent to gift technology, wearable products vs personal products, October 2017
Market Factors
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- Sports participation
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- Figure 11: Sports participation and fitness tracker ownership by sport played, September 2016
- Tracking sleep
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- Figure 12: Sleep self-assessment, by generation, December 2016
Key Players – What You Need to Know
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- New products stimulating specialists
- Apple Watch reigns
- Transformative experiences
What’s Working?
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- Halo surrounds smartphone leaders
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- Figure 13: Top brands under consideration for wearable tech purchases, October 2017
What’s Struggling?
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- Marquee brands see sales decline
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- Figure 14: Second tier of brands under consideration for wearable tech purchases, October 2017
- Fitbit’s terrible, no good, very bad year
- Fitbit turnaround via the Ionic, Flyer
- GoPro in turnaround with Hero6, Karma, Fusion
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- Figure 15: Global sales of Fitbit, GoPro, and Garmin fitness division, 2012-17
What’s Next?
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- AR glasses
- NFC
- Language translation
- Blood glucose monitoring
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- Figure 16: Interest in tracking blood glucose levels, by race and Hispanic origin, October 2017
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- Figure 17: Interest in tracking blood glucose levels, by age, October 2017
The Consumer – What You Need to Know
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- No more than 52% interested in any category
- Smartwatch, Fitbit owners plan to upgrade
- Ringing in the holidays with an Apple Watch
- Calling is second most-desired feature in trackers
- Diverse array of VR experiences sought
Ownership and Interest
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- Bands/clips suffer as ownership meets interest
- Terminal penetration for fitness bands/clips expected at 39%
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- Figure 18: Ownership and interest in ownership, October 2017
- Young men top mark for personal purchasing of wearables
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- Figure 19: Number of wearable tech products owned and desired, by gender and age, October 2017
- Wishing dad a Happy Father’s Day
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- Figure 20: Number of products owned and desired, by parental status, October 2017
- Hispanics favor wearable tech
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- Figure 21: Number of products owned and desired, by race and Hispanic origin, October 2017
Upgrading
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- Upgrades/replacements are 40% of tracker sales
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- Figure 22: Historical upgrades and intent to upgrade, October 2017
- Former upgraders ready to buy again
- Fitbit and Apple owners show brand loyalty with intent to upgrade
- Men more active upgraders
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- Figure 23: Historical upgrades and intent to upgrade, by gender, October 2017
- Keeping 18-34s top of mind
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- Figure 24: Historical upgrades and intent to upgrade fitness trackers, by age, October 2017
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- Figure 25: Historical upgrades and intent to upgrade smartwatches and wearable cameras, by age, October 2017
Gifting
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- One quarter plan to gift wearable in next year
- Apple Watch a top wearable gift
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- Figure 26: Intent to gift wearable tech, October 2017
- Hispanics ready to gift
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- Figure 27: Intent to gift wearable tech, by race/Hispanic origin, October 2017
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- Figure 28: Sports participation and fitness tracker ownership by sport played, Hispanics vs non-Hispanics, September 2016
- Gift marketing to target both sexes
- Counting seniors out as gift givers.
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- Figure 29: Intent to gift wearable tech, by gender and age, October 2017
- His and hers
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- Figure 30: Intent to gift wearable tech, by parental status, October 2017
Desired Features in Fitness Trackers
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- Lack of cellular potential deal breaker
- NFC features need demonstration
- Live events bringing contactless payments mainstream
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- Figure 31: Features sought in tracking devices, October 2017
- Three keys to desirability: tracking, calling, and texting
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- Figure 32: TURF analysis – Features, October 2017
- Older ages better fit for trackers, younger for smartwatches
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- Figure 33: Interest in tracking and communication features, by age, October 2017
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- Figure 34: Interest in high-tech features, by age, October 2017
- Women see fitness, men see tech
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- Figure 35: Interest in tracking and communication features, by gender, October 2017
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- Figure 36: Interest in high-tech wearable features, by gender, October 2017
- Digital assistants to become de rigueur for name brands
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- Figure 37: Interest in wearable tech features, by location of residence, October 2017
Interest in Virtual Reality Headsets
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- Interest in VR headsets high, penetration low
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- Figure 38: Ownership and interest in ownership of VR headsets, by gender and age, October 2017
- Price points a problem for tethered headsets
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- Figure 39: Ownership and interest in ownership of VR headsets, by household income, October 2017
- Millennial Hispanics a top audience for VR
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- Figure 40: Ownership and interest in ownership of VR headsets, by race and Hispanic origin, October 2017
- Kids and their parents
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- Figure 41: Ownership and interest in ownership of VR headsets, by parental status, October 2017
- Last but not least...men aged 18-34
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- Figure 42: Ownership and interest in ownership of VR headsets, by gender and age, October 2017
Interest in Virtual Reality Activities
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- Far more than gaming desired
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- Figure 43: Interest in VR activities, October 2017
- Three activities reach 90% of potential users
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- Figure 44: TURF analysis – Virtual reality activities, October 2017
- Women, older adults seek more diverse array of experiences
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- Figure 45: Interest in VR activities, by gender, October 2017
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- Figure 46: Interest in VR activities, by age, October 2017
- Bringing people from further away together
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- Figure 47: Interest in VR activities, by location of residence, October 2017
Appendix – Data Sources and Abbreviations
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- Data sources
- Sales data
- Consumer survey data
- TURF methodology
- Abbreviations and terms
- Abbreviations
- Terms
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