Wearables research and fitness tech insights

This article is a summary of the insights generated from a Bryter survey of 2,000 consumers in the UK and US, to measure adoption of and usage of smart watches and activity trackers, with additional questions asked of the more than 700 owners of these devices to explore why they bought them and how they use them.

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Introduction

Wearable technology and has been around since the early 1970’s when Pulsar launched the world’s first electronic digital watch. In 2009, the introduction of the Fitbit Classic, the first activity tracker, changed the concept of wristwear and the meaning behind going for a walk. But the real game-changer was the release of the first Apple Watch in 2015 when smartwatches became smart, and the category really took off (1).

Since then, wearables (smartwatches and activity trackers*) have continued to evolve, adding additional functionality to serve a range of needs beyond fitness and health tracking, to include communication, mobile payments and entertainment. For some they are no longer a novelty but a necessity to manage different aspects of everyday life Within the smartwatch category, we have also seen data on personal health evolve from tracking to include a range of other measurements including heart rate, blood oxygen, temperature and even sleep patterns.

* Smartwatch defined as Apple, Samsung brands and activity trackers defined as Garmin, Fitbit, Nuband brands.

Ownership

At a total level, smart watch ownership is higher than activity trackers (23% vs 17%).

Smart watches are more popular in the US (27% own) compared to the UK (20% own), with activity trackers slightly more popular in the UK (19% own) vs the US (16% own)

Smart watches are slightly more popular amongst men (26% own vs 21% of women), with no differences between the sexes for activity trackers.

Ownership of smart watch and fitness trackers

Following a general pattern of smart or connected devices popularity of smart watches declines with age, whereas activity tracker ownership peaks around middle-age.

What features do wearable owners use?

Overall, fitness and health monitoring features come out on top (83%) compared to phone notifications (63%)*. With women more likely to use the fitness/activity tracking features than men (71% vs 60%).

The older generation are more likely to use the fitness/activity tracking features.Younger users aged 18-34 years’ old have adopted the use of wearables as lifestyle tools as well as health and fitness tools and use more features on these devices, especially music features (35%), mobile payments (32%) and voice commands (32%).

At a market level, consumers in the US tend to use a wider variety of wearable features than those in the UK (av. number of mentions 4.86 in US vs 4.25 in UK). Fitness and health features are on par (84% UK vs 82% US), but usage of phone notifications features are higher amongst US consumers (58% in UK vs 69% in US).

Smart watch owners are more likely to use phone features whereas activity tracker owners are more likely to use fitness and health features. Although these results may be a result of wearable functionality rather than customer preference, with smartwatches typically having more phone features available.

Top benefits of wearables

Health and fitness tracking is the most frequently cited benefit of wearable devices at 38% (users and non-users combined), and this perception significantly increases with age.

The younger generation are more likely to note a wider range of benefits and capabilities around communication, entertainment and making payments suggesting they’re more open to these devices as a multifunctional lifestyle device, rather than just something to track steps or help the user get fit.

Both smart watch and activity tracker owners see the health/fitness tracking as the main benefit of owning a wearable, and this view is significantly higher for activity tracker owners vs smartwatch owners (57% vs 40%). However, smart watch owners are more likely to note a wider range of wearable benefits compared to activity tracker owners such as messaging and phone call capabilities (21%), hands-free payment capabilities (13%) and general notification capabilities (10%). Although this is likely contributed to the wider range of smartwatch features.

What will drive future purchases?

Health and fitness benefits continue to dominate the narrative around wearables ownership, and those who say they are interested in owning a wearable in the future are attracted to the health and fitness benefits these devices can offer. Health, fitness goals and monitoring general wellbeing are the top mentions for those who are considering buying a wearable in the future, followed by the convenience of not having to carry their phone with them everywhere.

Key action points for the industry

1. Health and fitness sit at the core of both smartwatches and activity trackers, although consumers have started to see the wider capabilities and benefits offered by smartwatches as central to their proposition. Smartwatch manufacturers should continue to push the additional lifestyle benefits of these devices as a way to differentiate from activity trackers and justify a higher price point.
2. Activity trackers are still predominantly seen as devices to support health and fitness. While we may typically associate fitness and activity with a younger cohort, when it comes to wearables the older generation (over 55s) are more likely to use them for this purpose and see this as the main benefit. This points to a warm target audience which is often overlooked in communications. Opportunities exist to target this audience with a compelling narrative around health and fitness for older users.
3. To overcome barriers to ownership the industry needs to convince younger consumers of the efficiency and lifestyle benefits that can come with ownership of a wearable, and older consumers of the associated health and fitness benefits.
4. There is still a level of concern, particularly amongst US consumers about the security of wearables and their data being vulnerable to hackers. Brands should dial-up comms on data security to alleviate concerns.

Read more

If you would like to access a full copy of the report that contains additional data and insights on the wearable category, you can download the full report here

Bryter is a leading insights consultancy specialising in smart technology and IoT research. Read about how market research and insights can can be used to understand audiences and help manufacturers successfully develop, test and market the next generation of smart devices