Wearable adoption is low in US and Europe
Consumers in US and Europe haven't quite warmed up to wearables, according to a new report from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. Smartwatch adoption in both markets remains below the five percent mark, despite multiple models being available for a few years now.
This isn't exactly a surprising finding, because smartwatch sales are pretty bad. Depending on who you choose to believe, they were between 2.7 and 6.1 million units in the third quarter of last year (we're still waiting on the numbers for 2016 from the likes of IDC and Canalys). Apple Watch rules this space, but it is hardly a major market as you can see.
With that in mind, it is easy to understand why only 4.2 percent of consumers in US and 3.8 percent in Europe have a smartwatch: they're just not selling all that well. However, things are looking better for fitness bands, which also have the upper hand in terms of price.
"Fitness bands continue to outsell more advanced smartwatches," says Lauren Guenveur, Consumer Insight director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. "In the fourth quarter of 2016, just 35 percent of wearables purchased in the US were smartwatches, a decline from 40 percent in the third quarter of 2016. Apple was the top smartwatch brand in the US, capturing a 50 percent share vs. 24 percent in the third quarter of 2016. The next nearest competitor was Samsung at 17.4 percent, while the remainder of the market was fragmented among smaller suppliers."
Things are looking slightly better for smartwatches in Europe, where they account for 38 percent of wearable sales. In Great Britain, that figure rises to 45 percent. At the opposite end, in the four major markets Kantar Worldpanel ComTech monitors in Europe, is France with 30 percent.
Kantar says that the main reason why consumers are not buying wearables is because manufacturers have failed to make a case for owning one. They're expensive, the functionality may not interest them, and the idea of wearing a watch sounds unappealing.
And, as a result, only eight percent of consumers in US and 12.1 percent in Europe plan to buy a wearable device in 2017. That may not translate into actual sales, though. In Europe, 39 percent of those potential buyers are looking at a smartwatch. However, Kantar Worldpanel ComTech remains optimistic.
"An old saying may apply here -- 'jack of all trades, master of none'. It is a fitting metaphor for the current state of the wearables market, but for consumers looking for a specific use case instead of general functionality, the future holds some promise."
Photo credit: Blablo101/Shutterstock