18 January 2023, Mumbai
Smart wearables are capable of acting as the preliminary alarm or a red flag alerting/forewarning the wearer in the nick of the time is something making this category a super fav of 'Young India'.
At the outset, the outlook for wearables in India remains strong in the current year with users from Tier II and III cities becoming attracted to it. In Q1 FY’22 India’s wearable shipments grew 20.1 percent Y-o-Y to 13.9 million units and the rest of the quarters' growth too is expected to remain healthy due to continuing push from brands as a catalyst and the scenario looks very bright on the back of demand tailwind.
Favourable situation
The performance-linked incentive scheme is encouraging key players in the sector to venture into local manufacturing and launch ‘Made in India’ products, further lowering their selling price, adds Joshi.
Consumers are being encouraged to spend more on wearables through aggressive discounts, new features, and a strong push from brands and channel partners, says Anisha Dumbre, Senior Market Analyst, Client Devices, IDC India.
What is selling growth driven by increasing acceptance of earwear devices and upgrades to watches from wristbands, both recording their highest annual shipments in 2022?
Crystal ball
In 2023, the Indian wearable market is expected to migrate to more sophisticated devices with enhanced audio experience being the central theme for all vendors, say most of the trade observers as the high cost associated with wearable watches is not much of a challenge anymore.
But unqualified products being dumped in India is one concern flag raised by trade watchers & experts as this is both CAPEX and working capital investment intensive and illegal imports are not going to take us anywhere.
With the usage of digital technology, no prediction could have worked for long in the past in terms of shifting the business environment throughout the supply chain for an industry as fragmented as fashion where product cycles have also decreased dramatically, from months to days and where unit economics is pretty critical given 'Competitive Landscape'.
The truth is that no customer will pay more for factory-sourced items tomorrow than they did yesterday so the USP of success is going to be smart features and cutting-edge products as simple as this.
Trade estimates put the shipments of wearables are projected to hit a staggering 117 million units in India coming year, from what we have numbers in the zone of 100 million during the ongoing year, promising it making by far the biggest/largest market threatening to overtake the US albeit still behind biggie Chinese market.
Limitless opportunities
Rather than incorporating electronic gadgets into accessories such as watches or spectacles, the next step is to incorporate them into the clothing itself. As a result, the user will not need to carry an additional accessory and will be able to wear smart device features right on their clothing.
Designers and manufacturers have been attempting to affix these gadgets to the cloth directly and already early movers are making the best out of it.
As per trade reports India shipped a historic-high 37.2 million wearable devices merely in a quarter ending September 2022 clocking a jaw-dropping growth traction/trajectory of no less than 56.4% which turns out to be a great promising story and the same does not come as a surprise to anyone given Indian demographics as India's in a unique position today.
What can make a difference
And India needs to replicate a China-like spirit and eco-system to make a big success out of this emerging category for a country of youthful demographics. We have climbed up in ease of doing business and, are helping global & Indian investors as these small things help maths add up to sew a success story.
Now India has a strong manufacturing heritage to prove the point and the innovation-led R&D in some of the companies is driving the future traction to create intrigue around these lifestyle products and the continued evolution of emerging technologies is the vanguard of this category.
What recently Vijay Sharma, Paytm said in Davos recently about why Plus one," India is the “best bet” in the global economy in itself".
There is a case for wearable devices to help solve issues plaguing fitness-conscious Indians. Product! Product! Product; The trend we are witnessing today is that it is not really naive to argue anymore that remote monitoring powered by wearables can be of great help to effectively & meaningfully monitor health parameters and, relay these vital stats to doctors/physicians Or healthcare providers over the cloud thus timely get expert advice & prescription as in preventive cure and treatment and, this is the change we are seeing today.
