India’s wearable market witnessed another record quarter with shipments growing 93.8 per cent year-over-year (y-o-y) to 23.8 million units in Q3 2021 (July-September), according to the recent data from the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) India Monthly Wearable Device Tracker.

"Despite the logistic challenges and increase in freight costs, vendors remained aggressive in their shipments and were able to manage the inventory for the upcoming month-long festival sales," IDC said in its report.

Shipments in September surpassed 10 million, growing two-fold from the same month last year. This resulted in a record quarter for wearable devices in India.

Watches top category

Among wearables, watches continued to be the fastest-growing category with 4.3 million shipments in Q3 2021, while wristbands saw a seventh consecutive quarter of annual decline.

Overall, the wristwear category, which includes watches and wristbands, crossed the five million shipments mark in a single quarter.

India-based brands captured more than two-thirds of the watch market with their aggressive offerings and marketing spends on digital platforms, the report said.

Noise maintained its lead for the sixth straight quarter with a 26 per cent market share in Q3 2021, followed by BoAt with a 23.1 per cent market share.

Fire-Boltt replaced Huami for the third spot as its share jumped to 15.3 per cent in Q3 2021 from 5.5 per cent from the past quarter. Realme entered the fourth position with a 7.3 per cent market share, backed by its newly launched watches, and Amazfit was at the fifth position.

Anisha Dumbre, Market Analyst, Client Devices, IDC India, said, “While seasonality made Q3 2021 the biggest quarter for wearables, the influx of devices at the entry-level was the key growth factor."

"Throughout the quarter, Indian vendors were aggressive with their launches and channel expansion. Aggressive intent to maintain their lead helped them to further reduce the average selling price of watches to $73 (around ₹5,400), putting immense pressure on a struggling wrist band category,” said Dumbre.

"So far, these new-age brands have been able to limit the incumbent smartphone brands' ability to make any dent in their growth and continue to dominate the hearables and wristwear categories,” added Dumbre.

Earwear market

The earwear category that includes TWS, neckbands, and wireless over-the-ear headphones, clocked the highest shipments in wearables at 18.7 million units with a significant 77.9 per cent y-o-y growth in Q3 2021.

BoAt continued to lead the segment with a 48 per cent share, recording nine million units for the quarter.

Realme replaced OnePlus for the second position with an 8.5 per cent market share. OnePlus moved to the third position recording a 7.2 per cent market share while Samsung settled at the fourth position with a 5.3 per cent share.

Ptron retained its fifth position with a 3.7 per cent share. Its shipments grew 81.9 per cent during the quarter.

A total of 7.4 million TWS devices in the earwear category were shipped, growing 70.5 per cent y-o-y in Q3 2021. As players continued to target entry-level price points, 86.4 per cent of the TWS devices fell under the $50 ( around ₹3,700) price segment. BoAt also led the TWS category with a 37.3 per cent share in the Q3 2021.

“The proliferation of new entrants in the mass market segment has increased competition, putting a lot of pressure on brands to differentiate in a market that is getting inundated with lookalike products,” said Jaipal Singh, Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India.

Singh further added, “Celebrity endorsements are a key tactic for brand recall. However, to maintain the growth momentum they must invest more in newer designs and aesthetics, as well as newer collaborations with existing franchises. This can help create unique product experiences that will not only help associate with new customers but can also open new avenues to sell these products.”

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW