Las Vegas, Nevada, January 6, 2015 – Age, income, and gender vary greatly among fitness tracker and smartwatch owners, according to the new NPD Connected Intelligence Consumers and Wearables Report.
Fitness trackers, which have a strong presence in the wearables market, have gained a large mainstream following. According to the report 36 percent of fitness tracker owners in the US are 35-54 years old, 41 percent had an average income of more than $100,000, and 54 percent were women. One-in-ten U.S. adults now own a fitness tracker.
Smartwatches haven’t caught on as quickly, with only two percent penetration, and appeal to a much different segment of the market. More than two-thirds (69 percent) of smartwatch owners are 18-34 years old, skew mostly towards the male population (71 percent) and nearly half (48 percent) had an income below $45,000.
“There is no ‘average’ consumer for the wearables market; the fitness tracker and smartwatch target consumer are fundamentally different,” said Wes Henderek, director NPD Connected Intelligence. “While we expect smartwatch ownership to grow more rapidly over the next year, there will remain a clear place for the fitness tracker due to its size, battery life, and focus on one specific use case - as opposed to the smartwatch which is trying to be a little bit of everything for everyone.”
METHODOLOGY
The Consumers and Wearables report is delivered twice a year as part of the Connected Intelligence WEAR practice. The report is based on a survey of 5,000 U.S. consumers, age 18 and older that was completed in December 2014. This information was then calibrated against life-to-date unit sales of wearable devices from the NPD Retail Tracking Service, as well as Civic Science results relating to wearable device ownership.
About Connected Intelligence
Connected Intelligence provides competitive intelligence and insight on the rapidly evolving consumer’s connected environment. The service focuses on the three core components of the connected market: the device, the broadband access that provides the connectivity and the content that drives consumer behavior. These three pillars of adoption are leveraged to view consumer adoption and use of home-based devices, mobile devices and the emerging wearable technology world to provide a comprehensive view of the competitive landscape, how it will evolve and what the various vendors can do to best position themselves in this evolving market. For more information: http://www.connected-intelligence.com. Follow Connected Intelligence on Twitter: @npdci.
About The NPD Group, Inc.
The NPD Group provides global information and advisory services to drive better business decisions. By combining unique data assets with unmatched industry expertise, we help our clients track their markets, understand consumers, and drive profitable growth. Sectors covered include automotive, beauty, consumer electronics, entertainment, fashion, food / foodservice, home, luxury, mobile, office supplies, sports, technology, toys, and video games. For more information, visit www.npd.com and npdgroupblog.com. Follow us on Twitter: @npdtech and @npdgroup.
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