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The average selling price (ASP) for overall wearable devices has declined by more than 17 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, from USD 22.62 to USD 18.59, a record low, the International Data Corporation (IDC) observed in its latest report.
Excess inventory in the online channel and fewer new launches were some of the primary reasons behind the decline in prices, the report noted. Citing a similar situation a year ago, it added, that the Smartwatch ASPs dropped to USD20.65 from USD29.24 a year ago on the back of e-tailer sales events and discounts. Although, the share of advanced smartwatches increased from 2.0 per cent to 3.2 per cent in the 1Q24. The Indian wearable device market grew by 2.1 per cent year-over-year (YoY) to 25.6 million units after growing by at least double digits consecutively since the fourth quarter of 2017. According to the IDC data, the top five vendors namely BoAt, Noise, Fire-Bolt, Boult, and Oppo, remain unchanged from a year ago. Although their collective share declined from 63.9 per cent to 59.9 per cent, the long tail of smaller vendors gained a share. Within the smartwatch category, shipments of the top three vendors declined due to high channel inventory. However, Titan and BeatXP grew by 2X and 3X, respectively. In the earwear category, all vendors from the top five grew their shipments, except Boult, the report observed. "Vendors have started focusing on retail expansion via partnerships with large format national and/or regional retail chains and bundling wearables with other product categories like smartphones, laptops, etc. It will be interesting to see if these initiatives help bring back the growth momentum, especially in the festive sales period in the second half of the year," said Anand Priya Singh, Market Analyst, Smart Wearable Devices, IDC India. Noting the increasing share of offline channels, the report adds that there was an increase of 11.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2023, while online channel shipments declined by 14.1 per cent YoY in 1Q24, its second consecutive quarter of decline. (ANI)
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