As evidenced by the strong growth in shipments and sales, a growing number of consumers are taking up wearables. A new study by eMarketer has found that the U.S. market is no exception to the global trend. By the end of the year, it forecasts that 39.5 million Americans will be using wearables, including smartwatches and fitness trackers, a 57.7% jump over 2014.
At the same time, overall market penetration will remain relatively low. It will hit about 16% this year and take a further two years to double. Some 81.7 million U.S. consumers will use wearables by 2018.
U.S. adults between the age of 25 and 34 are currently the biggest adopters of wearable devices with users between 35 and 44 following closely behind. By 2018, nearly half of internet users in these age brackets could be using a wearable device of some kind. At the same time, U.S. adults 65 and older will see the biggest growth rates every year as health monitoring devices become more pervasive.
Two key factors may be holding wearables adoption back. Along with the high price of many wearables, many consumers have yet to be convinced of the value proposition of wearables. For example, the cheapest Apple Watch starts at US$349 while the new Moto 360 sells for between US$299.99 and US$429.99. For many consumers, a lack of compelling reason to buy a wearable at such prices appears to still exist.
If there is a silver lining to the low adoption rates, it is that advertisers have yet to really embrace wearables. Expect that to change though once the use of wearables reaches mass adoption (something we already heard about).
eMarketer defines wearable users as those who wear accessories or clothing at least once per month that are embedded with internet-connected electronics and exchange data with a manufacturer or other connected device
Source : eMarketer