Homegrown brands see healthy growth in India’s wearables market: IDC

Fuelled by strong shipments from homegrown brands in earwear and watches, the wearables market in India grew 118.2% year-over-year (YoY) in the second quarter of this year, shipping 11.2 million units, according to the recent findings from IDC.

Watches continued to be the fastest-growing category accounting for 81.2% share in the wristwear category that includes watches and wristbands, up from 35.0% a year ago, as per the IDC Monthly Wearable Device Tracker. The earwear category also maintained its momentum, doubling its shipments in 2Q21 and remains the largest category in wearables, it said.

The second wave of the COVID-19 had a marginal impact as the overall wearable shipments declined by 1.3% sequentially in 2Q21. Partial lockdowns, weekend curfews, and disrupted supply chains resulted in a skewed slump in the early-quarter shipments. However, unlike last year the market was quick to recover as the vendors stocked the channels to fulfill the pent-up consumer demand in June’21, revealed the study.

Over the quarters, the watch form factor seems to be appealing to the consumers, and Indian brands have been quicker to leverage this trend and align their device portfolio. Among the top five brands, three spots are captured by Indian brands, while Huami and Realme are at third and fifth positions, respectively.

Noise continues to be the leading player in the overall watch category for five straight quarters with a 28.6% share in 2Q21 and closely followed by boAt with a 26.9% share. Fire-boltt, another homegrown brand, has entered at fourth position in just three quarters of starting its business in this category.

However, Xiaomi maintains its formidable lead in the wristband category with 38.9% share, followed by Oneplus and Titan with 21.7% and 21.3% share, respectively.

“Affordability has been the key for Indian brands, and these brands have been immensely successful in gaining a significant portion of the watch market with competitive pricing, aggressive marketing, and faster adoption of new features,” said Anisha Dumbre, Market Analyst, Client Devices, IDC India. “These new generations of homegrown brands are digitally native, aware of their limitations and selectively targeting the gaps. However, they need to be watchful of the China-based brands, who going forward will be aggressive by introducing more sub-brands and leveraging the ecosystem play,” added Dumbre.

The earwear category grew by 113.1% YoY in 2Q21, shipping 9.2-million-units. BoAt’s aggressive shipments and diverse portfolio helped it gain a dominant 45.5% share in 2Q21. It also led the TWS category with a 39.6% share in the quarter. OnePlus finished second with an 8.5% category share in the second quarter of this year. Even in the earwear category, the homegrown brands have a strong dominance as their share has reached 71.5% in 2Q21 from just 31.2% in 2Q20. Ptron, Zebronics, Noise, Portronics, Boult Audio, and Truke were among the key prominent brands that supported the dominance of homegrown brands in this category.

Jaipal Singh, Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India, said, “The robust growth in wearable is attracting brands who have businesses around devices and accessories to expand their presence across all wearable categories. Thus, the influx of new entrants remains a key driver of growth.”

“As we approach the festive season, vendors and channel partners are gearing up for record level of demand with the intention of further corrections in the prices. An upside of over 35% seems an easily achievable feat in 2H21 when compared to 2H20. However, vendors will be selective in their channel inventory with focus remains on etailers as concerns around COVID-19 third wave still prevails in the country,” added Singh.