Trailblazing Indian wearable market clocks 2.5 million units in 2016

Total wearable shipments in the fourth quarter of 2016 were 675,000 units, which included both smart wearables that can run third party apps and basic wearables, which cannot. Wearables shipments declined 19.6 pc sequentially as basic wearables, that account to 86.4 pc of total wearable, declined 23.9 pc in the fourth quarter of 2016. 

“Shipments declined in the last quarter of the year after a sharp spike in third quarter owing to channel preparation for festive season in October,” Navkendar Singh, Senior Research Manager at IDC India, said in a statement. 

“However, smart wearable shipments grew 23.6 per cent in CY Q4 2016 as new vendors like Fossil’s made their entry into Indian wearable market and fresh shipments of new models from vendors like Apple and Samsung fuelled the growth”, Singh added. In terms of price, “less than $50” segment dominated the category accounting for 73 per cent of total wearable shipments. 

This segment was dominated by fitness trackers from vendors like Goqii and Xiaomi while Intex shipments shrank. According to IDC India, the traction that wearable devices market saw in 2016 would continue in 2017.

Retailers in the Asia-Pacific region are fast adopting Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence and automation strategies to boost growth, a new study has said. Retailer are moving from brick-and-mortar stores to online channels, which would lead to synergies between the physical and online platforms, said the study titled “2017 Retail Vision Study” released on Tuesday by Zebra Technologies Corporation, a global leader in providing solutions and services to enterprises. Zebra also announced the availability of its new TC5 Series touch mobile comput.