Indian wearables shipments crosses one million mark: IDC

Nearly 1 million units of wearables were shipped in 2018Q2 with top three brands retaining their position in the overall wearables market, according to a report by International Data Corporation (IDC).

This growth can be largely attributed to a precautionary measure against the expected implementation of national standard norms by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for the wearables category in the middle of 2018Q2. In anticipation of this, companies shipped high numbers of units before the BIS implementation in the country, it said.

Additionally, e-tailers brought in more shipments to meet the demand coming via various online shopping sales in June and July. The market remains attractive for new entrants, as it witnessed the entry of the new players from the fashion e-commerce, IOT and startups verticals in this quarter.

"After a relatively slow 2017, the market looks like finding its footing in 2018. Companies have increased their marketing spend, exploring alternate channels to sell their devices, and updating their platforms to increase the gamification and maximize the user engagement" said Jaipal Singh, Associate Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India.

Outside of wristbands, which accounted for almost 90 per cent of the shipments during the quarter, watches with wearable computing also grew 34 per cent sequentially on back of new launches and affordable finance schemes in the channel.

In the smartwatch category, watches which can run third-party applications on the device itself, Apple has emerged as a clear leader with one out of every three watches sold in India during the quarter belongs to this company.

Xiaomi maintained its leadership of the market with a 46 per cent market share and 31 per cent quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) growth in the 2018Q2.

GOQii remained at second position with a healthy 74 per cent annual growth and 36 per cent sequential growth in shipments.

Titan with its Fastrack's Reflex range saw a healthy 56 per cent sequential increase in its overall shipments and maintained its position. However, its shipments saw a 45 per cent decline in its annual growth as it channelized its inventory before launching new devices to the market

Fitbit replaced Fossil as the 4th largest wearables company as its shipments got quadrupled in Q218 when compared to the previous quarter. Fitbit introduced the Versa watch, adding one more device in its watch portfolio in the 2018Q2. However, bands remain the top-selling category for the brand with Flex 2 contributing more than half to its overall shipments in this quarter.

Lenovo was able to secure a position in the top five after three quarters. It launched three new models to strengthen its position in the fitness band category, which helped the brand to register a strong triple-digit growth in the 2018Q2. .

FORECAST

With the implementation of the product standardisation norms for wearables devices in India, IDC expects the long tail of wearable vendors, which includes many small and white label brands, to face the challenge of getting marginalised in the next few quarters.

The brands who are aggressive on pricing will be the prime beneficiary of this consolidation

"Today, health is becoming a priority in urban India and consumers are opting for the fitness bands to monitor their routine, and are also comfortable to spend on fitness devices to have a healthy lifestyle. However, large numbers of users are still facing difficulties to see the real value from these devices in absence of any tangible benefits," said Navkendar Singh, Associate Research Director, IDC India.