Garmin bargain
Garmin has kicked off the Black Friday Month (it’s hardly just a Friday anymore) with some hefty sales. The Fenix 6 has been spotted with discounts of $150, while Amazon was selling the Fenix 5 range at up to a 50 percent discount this past weekend. While the latter sale appears for have disappeared as quickly as it began, anyone in the market for a new, sporty-first smartwatch should probably keep their eyes open for the Next Big Deal.
The NPD Take:
- As we noted a few weeks ago, ownership of smartwatches and fitness trackers has increased significantly since the beginning of the pandemic, but sales have not kept up. This means there are a lot of new (or returning) wearables owners toting older watches that have been reclaimed from a drawer. As we enter the holiday period, it seems that wearables could be primed for a boost in sales if positioned correctly as Garmin is trying to do.
Track what to expect when expecting
Garmin was not just about discounts this past week. The company added a new tracking option that, frankly, we’re amazed no one seems to have thought of before: pregnancy tracking. The new feature offers expecting mothers an array of details, such as measuring progress based on the due date and, more importantly, how your fitness and performance status will change during pregnancy. This helps you to adapt features such as heart rate alerts, hydration needs, or switching up (even pausing) your exercise regime. The new set of features even includes a contraction time for when the big day is imminent. The new features are available on a wide range of Garmin devices including the Fenix, Forerunner, Venu and Vivoactive models
The NPD Take:
- It’s a smart additional feature (or range of features we should say) and one that we fully expect other smartwatch companies to jump on. Will it drive more consumers to smartwatches? Probably not, but it could make the difference as to which device these consumers pick, especially if the are more actively-inclined (the core base for Garmin anyway)