Local players rule the roost

While demand shrunk marginally due to the second wave, the homegrown brands upped their game to register healthy growth in India's wearable market.

By V&D Bureau

India’s wearables market grew 118.2% year-over-year (YoY) in 2Q21, shipping overall 11.2 million units according to the wearable market report by recent International Data Corporation (IDC) India. According to the monthly report, strong shipments from homegrown brands in earwear and watches fueled this growth. 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. The earwear category also maintained its momentum as the category leader, doubling its shipments in 2Q21.

The IDC report, however, highlights that the second wave of the COVID-19 had a marginal impact on the sector 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.

In terms of trends, the quarters saw watch form factor gaining more appeal amongst the consumers, and Indian brands were quicker to leverage this and align their device portfolio. While Noise continued to lead the overall watch category list for five straight quarters with a 28.6% market share in 2Q21, it was closely followed by BoAt with a 26.9% share. Fire-bolts, another homegrown brand, entered the top five list at #4 position in just three quarters of starting its business in this category. Huami and Realme stood at #3 and #5, respectively. In the wristband category, Xiaomi continued to maintain its formidable lead with 38.9% share, followed by Oneplus and Titan with 21.7% and 21.3% market 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,” IDC India Market Analyst for Client Devices Anisha Dumbre said. “This new generation 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 will be aggressive by introducing more sub-brands and leveraging the ecosystem play in the days to come,” Dumbre stated.

The earwear category grew by 113.1% YoY in 2Q21, shipping 9.2-million-units. The report indicates that 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 2021. “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. Patron, Zebronics, Noise, Portronics, Boult Audio, and Truck were among the key prominent brands that supported the dominance of homegrown brands in this category,” the report stated.

Commenting on the outlook for the Indian wearables market, IDC India Research Manager for Client Devices Jaipal Singh 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,” He further added: “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.”

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